Working for the mouse

Go ahead, take a good look. This is my home, my workshop, my sanctuary, and at times... my prison. Cubicle number 6125, from drafting press releases to coordinating media visits, this is the place where the magic happens.

If you're anything like I used to be, if someone told you that they do 'public relations' for a living you'd probably have very little idea (if any at all) of what that means. There are lots of different careers that fit under the public relations umbrella: public affairs, media relations, crisis communication, investor relations, and lots more. But I'll spare you the details on those because what I really want to tell you about is what I do for Disney.

Like I just said, there are lots of different types of public relations and Disney is a large enough company that they do it all. So there are lots of different PR departments in our company which are even further divided and specialized to the markets and niches that they operate within. The segment of the company I work for is called Disney Destinations. Our business is fairly self explanitory: I support Disney Destinations around the world including Disneyland, Walt Disney World, Disneyland Paris, Hong Kong Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney.
Our department's official name is Worldwide Sales & Travel Operations, Public Relations, and we focus on media relations, though occasionally we do stick our thumb in the various other public relations pies that are out there. Also, our business focusses on travel agents. We have a consumer PR team that works the media that goes to the average Joe, but all of the publications that I interact with are travel trade publications that wind up in the hands of travel agents.

First of all, I have to say how much I love working for Disney. In PR, we write. That's our craft. If you don't like to write, this is not the career for you. That said, writing for Disney is awesome! Not only is it a fun product to write about, but reporters want to print what you give them. Almost anything Disney does is newsworthy to a travel industry reporter. If you write it, they'll print it. It's helping me build a nice portfolio. I also spend a lot of time translating press releases into spanish, I ghost-write a monthly column that we publish all over Latin America and I get to help out in the creation of fun projects like podcasts for Travelocity or special events for groups like AAA.

It's our job to maintain good relationships with the reporters and editors in our industry. So in a sense, we are the 'wine and dine' department for the media. Whenever media come into town we get to take them around the parks to show them what's new, or like I did this last week, we had to coordinate filming podcasts in all of the parks and many of the resort hotels. It's really great. I can't tell you how much fun this aspect of my job is. Simply stated: guess who else gets wined and dined when the media come into town?

And last but not least, I can't forget to mention the Disney Difference. Anyone who has ever worked for any large organization will notice that there is what might be refered to as a 'company culture.' This is as true as ever at Disney. We're all cast members. We all contribute to the show that gets put on for the guests. The corporation cares about its employees and goes out of its way to let you know you are appreciated. Not gonna lie, free theme park admission is a plus. You get all sorts of discounts at Disney and all over Orlando. This really is a great place to work. A great environment and great people. Now I'd be lying if I told you that everyday is perfect, but what job is?

Now this isn't everything that I do, but it's a big chunk of it. I hope this blog has helped you understand a little more about what I do. We don't know if this is where we'll end up spending my career or not, I've got to graduate first. But if we do end up here at some point in my career, it wouldn't be so bad.