The Business Strategies of Ray A. Kroc and Walt Disney

1. Your Trusted Friends

2. Ray A. Kroc • Eric Schlosser focuses on the story of Kroc in this chapter • Kroc founded the McDonald’s corporation in 1955 and bought the rights in 1960 • Kroc utilized the assembly line as the way • Had an agreement with Walt Disney about a McDonald’s in the park, but because lack of agreement on prices the park never allowed a McDonald’s on opening day • It would be a partnership that would leave a lot o money for both side of the people • Implemented core values of the franchise: quality, service, cleanliness,and value http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/our_story/our_history/the_ray_kroc_story.html

3. Slide 2 continued • Ray A. Kroc and Walt Disney used a marketing technique known as “Kid Customers” which targets children will meals and toys inside modeled completely around what things most appeal to young children • i.e. Disneyland is one big theme park for children where their imagination becomes a reality and in McDonald’s there are toys in the meals and the main meal children know is a Happy Meal • The McDonald’s also went down the same line as Disney. Disney has Mickey Mouse, so McDonald’s created Ronald McDonald • Obviously both targeting children, because adults don’t always choose to go to a children centered place, but their nagging crying children do • Genius tactic I might add!!!

4. Walt Disney-Wernher von Braun • Von Braun, in the mid-1950s, helped and cohosted a series of television shows on space exploration • Helped with the building and advertising of Disney’s “Tomorrowland” • Wernher von Braun designed the ride at Disneyland called Rocket to the Moon • It was a smart move by Walt Disney to gain credibility about his “Tomorrowland” by having a scientist of rocket science designing a ride and cohosting/producing some animated films • Walt Disney pioneered the marketing strategy know as Synergy; evidence of that is still in practice today. If you go to Disneyland you will see a huge sum of workers there and that is the main part of synergy, Synergy is the interaction of multiple elements in a system to produce an effect different from or greater than the sum of their individual effects. A little help from everyone goes a long way!! http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/vonbraun/disney_article.html

5. Coca Cola & other Corporations • Coca-Cola and other major corporations began advertising at school hallways and around all of District 11 in Colorado • Those company's target young adults because they are the largest consumers of the so-called “liquid candy” • Beverage companies in the US spent roughly $3.2 billion marketing carbonated beverages in 2006, with nearly a half billion dollars of that marketing aimed directly at youth ages 2–17. (7) And each year, youth see hundreds of television ads for sugar-containing drinks • Two out of three adults and one out of three children in the United States are overweight or obese, (1,2) and the nation spends an estimated $190 billion a year treating obesity-related health conditions http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-drinks-fact-sheet/

6. Key Terms in Chapter • Ray A. Kroc • McDonald’s • Walt Disney • Richard and “Mac” McDonald • Disneyland • NBC • “Kid Customers” • Coca Cola • Synergy Marketing • Wernher von Braun • Heinz Haber

7. Critical Questions • Do you think that the fact huge corporations share similar techniques is the reason they gain so much success? • Did Colorado not care about the health risks all those ads can have on their citizens because of the money? • Should the number of ads in one place or in one commercial break be regulated?