時事新聞:第一屆迪士尼粉絲大會幕後花絮

【英文原文】

Behind the scenes at Disney's first fan convention
Last Friday, Johnny Depp came onto a stage at the Anaheim Convention Center and wowed the crowd by appearing in full costume as Captain Jack Sparrow, the star of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. On the same stage, actors John Travolta and Nicholas Cage dropped by, and singer Miley Cyrus performed -- all surprises for star-struck fans who bought tickets to attend "D23 Expo", Walt Disney's first-ever in-house convention for its faithful.

To me, this conjured déjà vu: Where had I seen this before? Oh, yes, the very same stars, including Depp as Captain Jack, had appeared at a private presentation the Disney Studio held late last year for journalists and analysts. But of course, this was the whole point of D23 -- a chance for real people, folks who have nothing to do with the media spindustrial complex, to get up close to their idols, go behind the scenes, and get the lowdown on what is coming next across Disney's vast film, TV, Web, resort, travel and consumer products divisions.

It was an interesting experiment in one of the few burgeoning trends in media today, a move toward selling already-loyal customers premium memberships that offer access to things they wouldn't normally see. It was a small glimpse at how an industry hungry for growth is trying new ways to find it. And it gave new meaning to the term "Mickey Mouse Club."

The broad concept behind D23 -- the 23 is a reference to 1923, the year young Walt left Kansas and arrived in Hollywood -- was to create an official fan club for all things Disney. D23 Expo is the company's own version of Comic-Con,the geekfest held in San Diego each summer that in recent years has been pretty much co-opted by the Hollywood studios who use it as a venue to hawk their biggest projects and stars -- many that have not a whit to do with comic books -- in front of an influential young audience and a boatload of press.

D23 Expo, which ended its four-day debut yesterday, was essentially Disney-Con -- and anyone could attend for $37 a day or $81 for the whole event (and members of the D23 club, which was founded earlier this year, get a discount.)

Because of its theme parks in particular, brand affinity is an area where Disney thinks it holds a clear advantage over its peers. Once, when I mentioned a rival movie studio to a senior Disney executive, he replied "there is a difference between a brand and a logo."

And it's hard to bet against Disney right now, which holds the mantle as the world's largest media company with a market valuation of nearly $53 billion. It is using that size to its advantage, recently agreeing to buy Marvel Entertainment -- the comic book company now churning out box office hits like Iron Man and Spider-Man -- for $4 billion. (It also announced a deal last week with fantasy-film director Guillermo Del Toro, adding even more heft to the idea that Disney is aggressively going after the young male market.)

I strolled D23 Expo on Saturday, the third day of the event, and probably the biggest in terms of attendance. (Officially, the company would only say that "tens of thousands" were on hand).

Having written extensively about Disney, it was interesting to see disparate elements of what I've observed internally at the company -- such as showrooms of Disney-branded furniture and folks from its hush-hush "Imagineering" division that builds theme-park attractions -- assembled in one place.

The convention floor itself did not feel crowded and was lower-key than you might expect, though there was a mini-stampede at a booth when a plate of mouse-ear-shaped chicken nuggets came out. Some exhibits were better than others (a shout-out to the the Lego mural and booth for "Lost University", a clever new online spin-off of the hit TV show on Disney's ABC network.)

Amid all the Disney and Pixar fare you'd expect stood a fairly anachronistic white "Action News" van from ABC's owned and operated Fresno, Ca. TV station tucked next to a far more heavily trafficked interactive games area. "We're just happy to be here," said the man minding the van.

Notably absent from the festivities was ESPN, the sports programming juggernaut that accounts for roughly a third of Disney's profits. There was, however, a subtle nod to Disney's partner in ESPN, 20% owner Hearst Corp., which also is a partners with Disney on other cable channels including A&E and Lifetime: signage on a barbecue concession outside noted that it served only "grass-fed beef from Hearst Ranch".

Saturday night there was a live auction that included a holiday dinner party at the corporate commissary in Burbank. During the day, the big event was a presentation by Jay Rasulo, the head of Disney's parks and resorts division.

During it, the arena attached to the convention center was nearly filled with several thousand people who hooted and applauded at every item Rasulo unveiled -- from new attractions at Disney's various theme parks to the pending arrival of two new Disney cruise ships. Star Wars storm troopers joined Rasulo onstage when he concluded by announcing a major upgrade a longstanding attraction related to the film at Disneyland.

Sitting there, I couldn't help but marvel that the crowd had paid to see what is essentially a sales pitch when they could have just gone literally across the street to Disneyland for the real deal. Yet they loved every word and image.

Of course this audience was already pre-sold on Disney, and what they were really paying for was the feeling of being an insider. But more than that was an inescapable irony: in the digital age, with all its virtual means to connect with consumers, the most valuable customer just might be the one you can get to come meet you in person.

【中文譯文】

上週五，《加勒比海盜》中的明星演員強尼•戴普（Johnny Depp）出現在了阿納海姆會議中心。他以一身傑克船長的全副裝扮亮相，引來觀衆一片尖叫。當天出現在會場的還有男演員約翰•特拉沃爾塔（John Travolta）和尼古拉斯•凱奇（Nicholas Cage），歌手麥莉•塞勒斯（Miley Cyrus）更是在現場放歌。這一切都給那些買票參加華特迪士尼（Walt Disney）首屆室內集會，即“D23博覽會”的追星迪士尼迷們帶來了無窮的驚喜，是對他們身爲忠實粉絲的嘉獎。

這一景象讓我覺得似曾相識：我以前在哪裏見過？哦，對了，正是這同一撥明星，包括傑克船長打扮的戴普，曾經出現在去年年末爲各方記者和分析師舉辦的迪士尼製片廠內部展演中。但毋庸置疑，這就是D23博覽會的重點所在：它爲那些與媒體產業毫不相干的普通人提供了和自己偶像親近的機會，讓他們能夠走進幕後，瞭解迪士尼公司的電影、電視、網絡、酒店、旅遊和消費者產品等部門的最新動態。

這是如今媒體業中爲數不多的迅猛發展方向中一個有趣的嘗試：向那些忠實度很高的顧客銷售優惠的會員資格，讓他們能夠體驗平時見不到的東西。這也讓我們瞥見一個渴望增長的行業是如何創新探索的，同時這也賦予了“米老鼠俱樂部”以新的內涵。

D23博覽會有着宏大的概念，那就是要創造一個專屬迪士尼的官方粉絲俱樂部。其中，23代表着1923年，正是那一年，年輕的華爾特離開了堪薩斯州來到了好萊塢。D23博覽會可以說是國際動漫展的迪士尼版本：每年夏天，盛大的國際動漫展會都會在聖地亞哥舉行。近幾年來，許多好萊塢的製片廠都會和動漫展進行合作，尋找平臺來展示他們最大的項目和明星。儘管許多製片廠和漫畫扯不上一點關係，但畢竟國際動漫展是面向有影響力的年輕觀衆和衆多媒體的最佳途徑。

爲期四天的D23博覽會可以說是一場純粹的迪士尼展會——誰都可以花37美元參加單日的展會，或者花上81美元來享受四日的全部活動（而在今年早些時候成立的D23俱樂部的成員還可以享受折扣）。

迪士尼公司認爲自己和同行的比較優勢在於其品牌的親和力，尤其是要歸功於公司旗下的主題公園。有一次我向迪士尼資深高管問起對於一家競爭電影製片廠的看法，他回答說“品牌和標誌之間是有很大區別的”。

而如今想要反駁迪士尼公司的觀點並非易事。它作爲世界上最大的媒體公司，擁有將近530億美元的市值，是該行業的權威。它也正在利用自己的規模優勢。最近迪士尼公司同意斥資40億美元收購驚奇娛樂公司（Marvel Entertainment）——這家漫畫公司憑藉《鋼鐵俠》（Iron Man）和《蜘蛛俠》（Spider-Man）創下了電影票房紀錄。（在上週迪士尼公司還宣佈了和幻想片電影導演葛雷摩•戴•託羅（Guillermo Del Toro）達成的協議，即迪士尼將把更多的注意力投入到年輕男性這塊市場）。

我在上週六即展會的第三天漫步於D23博覽會中，當天可能是參加人數最多的一天了。（官方報道中，迪士尼可能只會說“有幾萬人”到場。）

我已經在之前的文章中對迪士尼進行過寬泛的描寫，而我所觀察到的公司內部的迥異元素也十分有趣：例如陳列着帶有迪士尼商標的傢俱展示廳，同時也是那些極度保密的“幻想工程”部門即設計主題公園娛樂設施的員工們的辦公室。

展會的樓層並不感覺擁擠，並且比想象中的更爲低調。但是每當一盤米老鼠耳朵形狀的雞塊端到展臺時，總會有一次小擁搶。有科技含量的展品比較出類拔萃：如由樂高積木拼成的壁畫和“失落大學”（Lost University，迪士尼旗下的ABC電視網主打電視節目的網絡衍生劇集）都大受喜愛。

在你所期盼的各種迪士尼和皮克斯（Pixar）的展臺中，橫泊着一輛格格不入的老式白色麪包車。這是由ABC擁有和運營的加州弗萊斯諾電視臺“新聞進行時”的工作車，安插在一個非常擁擠的遊戲區域。“我們非常樂意在這裏”，一名負責照看麪包車的男子說道。

值得注意的是ESPN這家體育節目巨頭沒有現身在慶祝活動中。它爲迪士尼公司提供了將近1/3的利潤。而擁有ESPN公司20%股份的赫斯特公司（Hearst Corp.）和迪士尼共同擁有其他一些有線頻道，包括藝術與娛樂頻道（A&E）以及生活頻道（Lifetime）都來參加了：室外的燒烤專區指示牌上寫着“赫斯特公司專區”。

週六的晚上在波爾班克舉行了一場現場拍賣會，期間還提供給假日晚餐派對。週六的白天，這一重大活動是由傑•拉素羅（Jay Rasulo）主持的，他是迪士尼公園和酒店部門的總管。

在此期間，與會議中心相連接的活動場所擠滿了上千人。從迪士尼不同主題公園的新設施到懸掛着的兩艘迪士尼遊船，每當傑•拉素羅揭開一件拍賣品時，人羣就會爆發出歡呼聲和掌聲。當他最後宣佈一件重要的與電影《星球大戰》相關的爲時甚久的升級版迪士尼樂園景觀時，星球大戰中的風暴騎兵和傑•拉素羅一起出現在了舞臺上。

坐在會場，我不禁驚異於這些觀衆竟然付了錢來看這些在迪士尼樂園時就能看到的真品。但是，他們津津樂道於每一個詞和每一個形象。

當然，這些觀衆早就爲迪士尼公司買過單了。但他們的錢其實是花在了體驗作爲內部人員的感受上。但是在這背後是一個無法擺脫的諷刺：在數字時代中，儘管可以通過各種虛擬方式與消費者相聯繫，但是最有價值的消費者可能只是那個能讓他來親自見你的人。