Disneyland Paris invites start-ups to make the ultimate elevator pitch

May 23, 2018, 9:17 AM · Creating theme park attractions demands a team effort. Specialists in media, architecture, engineering, and countless other disciplines must come together to create all the elements that make a theme park attraction a unique and compelling experience for visitors. Almost always, theme parks look beyond their own teams when creating attractions, seeking outside companies that can contribute to the right mix of skill, talent, and experience for a project.

The Disneyland Paris Resort has a new outreach effort designed to find start-ups that can bring fresh approaches to technology and design to the resort. To launch The Castle Hub, the resort recently invited eight teams of entrepreneurs to pitch their concepts for a partnership with Disney.

"The Castle Hub is intended to support innovation and the growth of European start-ups – particularly in France. It is part of our responsibility as the industry leader to find young companies and help them to develop," Julien Kauffmann, Vice President of Transformation at Disneyland Paris, said.

In business, the "elevator pitch" is the quick summary of your project that you can deliver in the minute or two that an executive who wouldn't give you an appointment time is stuck as your captive audience in an elevator, riding to their floor. Disneyland Paris invited the eight teams to give their elevator pitches to resort executives, but because this is Disney, they didn't just hold the pitches in some random office.

No, they held the pitches in an actual elevator. And not just any elevator. The DLP entrepreneurs had to pitch while riding The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

One might not typically associate "Disney" with "sadism," but what better way to make the point about what Disney's trying to do here? The less that the theme park business is numbers on computer screens and more it's screaming and laughing in the park, the better for all involved.

(And, by the way, if any company needs a spokesperson experienced in talking while riding theme park rides, call me.)

Disneyland Paris selected two start-ups to work with the resort, one for a "unique magic serum which creates a luminescent plant experience" and the other for "coloring books which turn into personalised cartoons."

Replies (1)

May 23, 2018 at 10:03 AM

I LOVE this!

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