A Friday Visit with Jim Korkis: “What’s Next?”
By Dave Shute
Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.
I’M GOING TO WALT DISNEY WORLD
By Jim Korkis
Disney refers to the famous marketing campaign that the rest of us know as “I’m Going to Walt Disney World!” as “What’s Next?”
After a series of game highlights set to the tune “When You Wish upon a Star”, the camera cuts to a player in the immediate aftermath of a Super Bowl win and an unseen narrator poses the famous question, “(Blank), you’ve just won the Super Bowl, what are you going to do next?”
The player looks gleefully into the camera and answers that he is going to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. The commercial ends with an image of fireworks exploding over Cinderella’s Castle at Walt Disney World, or Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland.
The narrator is Mark Champion, a veteran radio play-by-play announcer for several football teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Detroit Pistons and the Detroit Lions. He got the job because a college classmate was a marketing director at Disney.
(c) Gretchen Carlson
Typically, the celebrity records two different versions, one mentioning Disneyland and the other Walt Disney World. Disney gives them an “MVP” all-expense paid trip, flying them on a private jet to Disneyland or Walt Disney World and then puts their family up in a suite for the duration of their vacation. They also are made the Grand Marshall of a parade and take part in various events for Disney during their stay.
As former Disney CEO Michael Eisner recalled, “In January 1987, we were launching Disneyland’s Star Tours, an attraction based on Star Wars. After the ribbon-cutting ceremony, my wife, Jane, and I had dinner with George Lucas, as well as Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who had just become the first people to fly around the world without stopping.
“It was late and the conversation hit a lull as we waited for our food. So I asked Dick and Jeana, ‘Well, now that you’ve accomplished the pinnacle of your aspirations, what could you possibly do next?’ Rutan responded, without hesitation, ‘I’m going to Disneyland’. And of course I go, ‘Wow, that’s cool! You made the right choice’ But my wife interjects: ‘You know, that’s a good slogan.’ And so that is how it all began.”
Just weeks later, Disney launched the series of commercials following Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987. That first commercial was done by reluctant quarterback Phil Simms who was paid $75,000 (later the price was dropped for others to around $30,000) and was the MVP for the game.
Simms played for the New York Giants who beat the Denver Broncos 39-20. Broncos quarterback John Elway had been offered a similar amount of money whether his team won or lost so Disney hedged its bets.
Disney had produced halftime shows for the NFL so had a good relationship with the organization and paid them for having access on the field after the game.
Disney then followed this up with making three more such commercials in 1987, following other major sporting championships. These included hiring yachtsman Dennis Conner, after winning the America’s Cup; NBA star Magic Johnson, after the Lakers won the NBA Finals, and MLB player Frank Viola, after the Twins won the World Series that year.
Other commercials featuring non-Super Bowl participants included Bruce Springsteen, Gretchen Carlson (Miss America 1989), Santa Claus (1997), Michael Jordan, Nancy Kerrigan and even American Idol winners like Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze and Scotty McCrerry.
However, it is the NFL Super Bowl games that most people remember. The commercial has aired after every Super Bowl since 1987, except for one. In 2005, the commercial did not air although the reason for this absence has never been made clear.
* * * * *
Thanks, Jim! In the “small world” department, I once exchanged phone numbers with and asked out on a date someone who’s been part of this campaign–Gretchen Carlson. (Gretchen: if you are reading this (and why would you not be?)–think the Apartments at Nautica.)
But then I met the lovely Amy Girl, and we just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary!
And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!
In the meantime, check out his books, including his latest, Call Me Walt, and his Secret Stories of Walt Disney World: Things You Never You Never Knew
, which reprints much material first written for this site, all published by Theme Park Press.
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