Disney Parks began a Let the Memories Begin campaign featuring guest-generated videos and plans to begin airing them in TV commercials.
In a press conference announcing the initiative, an executive said Disney views "social media as the new age of the scrapbook."
Here's a YouTube example of the commercials:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_QA0uC2U0Y
The family scenes are very cute.
As with anything Disney does, though, this will be user-generated content with a heavy hand -- expect all of the selected guest videos to be painstakingly wholesome.
All of the videos will go through an approval process before being posted on the Let the Memories Begin site, and Disney may reproduce them on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Disney retains the copyright for guest videos.
The Disney ad campaign highlights how big brands have discovered the intersection of video and social media.
For example, in a variation on the theme, Norwegian Cruise Line invites visitors to create videos with the cruise line's Vacation You app in the YouTube Vacationer channel.
In other news, word about the Disney Parks social media foray occurs as Steve Wadsworth, the president of Disney Interactive Media Group, resigned Sept. 23.
The unit posted substantial losses in its last quarterly results amidst struggles over building a viable gaming business.