I love the Disney brand from a many different angles.  I live near Orlando, and several times a month, my family and I enjoy spending an afternoon at Walt Disney World.  I’m also a big fan of the Disney Channel, because it’s decent entertainment for my kids.  I could go on and on…

Quite honestly, they are a marketing juggernaut.  From a masterful plan surrounding Hannah Montana to the superb job they have done with  vacation planning to the most magical place on earth.

With all of the great work they have executed,  they still have a lot to learn when it comes to some of their email marketing campaigns. 

I receive the Disney Insider each week and there are some elements I really like about the message.  The Fan Spotlight showcases user submitted stories about their favorite Disney moment. There is also a section titled "Ask Dave"  in which subscribers submit questions regarding all things Disney and they are answered by Dave. 

I like subscriber-submitted content in emails when it is appropriate.  In this case’ I think it works really well.  However, it can get lost in the shuffle of so many other pieces of content in the email message. 

The weekly "Main Attraction"  is a necessary element.  This takes up the bulk of the space, as it should, and is the main focus of the subject line.  However it could almost be lost amidst all the other content surrounding it, including "Special Insider Offer", "In Next Week’s Issue",  "History and Trivia" and the countless links below.

Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with enough content for a weekly newsletter.  I think in this instance, Disney has the opposite problem. There are clear definitions for where each area starts and stops, which helps a great deal,  but the hefty volume of content could be too much for subscribers to read.  I almost find this message overwhelming.

I appreciate that Disney has links to finish reading the longer articles.  This actually serves a dual-purpose.  The email is kept shorter (yet still a bit unmanageable in my opinion).  And Disney can see what their subscribers’ are most interested in by tracking click-throughs.

With a weekly deployment, Disney might be better off trimming down the overall content and perhaps eliminating a few content blocks  to encourage subscribers to return each week to read the message.