• Trade fair provides exclusive preview of Disney product range and future strategies
• Introduction of Disney’s new company structure in Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• Media company consolidates business activities

On 30 June 2010 Walt Disney Company Germany opened the doors of Cologne’s Cinedom for their Disney Expo 2010. The media and family entertainment group presented 700 attendees, partners and exhibitors with their entire range of products and licences as well as their new company structure for Disney in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The Expo targeted cooperation and retail partners, licensees and retail partners.

Countless presentations and product displays at almost 60 booths provided visitors with information on latest Disney products and franchises as well as an overview of all business activities and licensed Disney themes. Top properties for 2010/2011 include the latest Pixar’s movie adventure „Toy Story 3“, the Wii™ action adventure game “Mickey Epic”, the feature film “Tron Legacy”, and the “Fairies Franchise” around the popular fairy TinkerBell.

Robert Langer, Country Manager for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, introduced future core areas and the new company structure for Disney Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Key principle of the new management structure: Cross-divisional operations replace the former focus on product categories. The reorganization applies to all Disney divisions in German-speaking territories and will strengthen Disney’s position on local markets. Part of the new concept to improve business performance, achieve greater flexibility and increase customer orientation is pooling the distribution of media and digital products. In addition, a newly created retail team develops cross-product retail solutions.

Consolidation of retail activities
Colin Kendrick, Vice President and General Manager of the newly created “Retail and Direct to Consumer” division provided an overview of their new retail concept and their integrated retail team. Due to the new company structure DCP will be able to bundle future retail activities and Disney-branded services more efficiently and synchronize with the demands of retailers and their customers. The new approach spans products and services like DVDs, Blu-ray Discs and Games, Merchandising and Publishing, or Digital Content. The product-independent support concept facilitates customer focus and services and helps to effectively exploit the diversity of Disney brands at the point of sale.

After the show Disney and their licensees donated all products on display to charity. Half of the products go to “Die Arche e.V.” in Cologne and Düsseldorf, the other half is raffled in aid of “Artists for Kids” at the exclusive Charity Tombola in Munich on occasion of the “Toy Story 3” movie debut.