Michael Jones at the terrific business-oriented ALL THINGS DISNEY blog posed this question as he asked about GIVING DISNEY’S D23 MEMBERSHIP CLUB A CHANCE: Can you name another company (besides Apple) that has a large a following as Disney and yet has no official outlet?
Disney has a large and rabid online fanbase. No doubt about it. Other companies do as well.
And in today’s world of TwitMyFace social marketing, any company that has a large and vocal fan base should be aware enough of their surroundings to monitor the online goings-on of their consumers. In 2000, Coca-Cola issues a cease-and-desist order to a fan who had created a fan website, vintagecocacola.com (the site is currently down). The claim was that the user was cybersquatting on Coca-Cola’s trademark, but ignores that there can exceptions if the trademarked name is not used for profit (as is the case with most fan-based sites). Coca-Cola’s stance was that they were merely protecting their trademark… though they recognize that in doing so they may upset their most loyal, well-meaning fans.
