Disney has officially finished its latest round of layoffs, and company leaders are telling their teams what changes were made — and why.
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The cuts affected divisions across Disney, though marketing was hit especially hard. CEO Josh D’Amaro told staffers on Tuesday that the company decided to “streamline” its enterprise marketing and brand groups to “serve consumers in an even more connected way.”
Asad Ayaz, Disney’s chief brand and marketing officer, gave employees more context about the changes in a memo on Wednesday night.
“Over the past few months, the marketing leadership team and I have been working together to design a thoughtful go-forward structure for our unified marketing organization that will unlock innovation, reduce complexity, and build critical capabilities,” Ayaz said in the memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.
Alan Bergman, Disney’s studios chief, echoed that in a separate memo on Wednesday, writing that the “unified marketing structure” is “one of the larger transformations taking place” at Disney.
In Ayaz’s memo, he added that Disney’s leadership studied how marketing is changing “to meet the disruption happening across all industries” and build an organization that’s “nimble and modern.”
After that review, Ayaz said Disney “found overlap in some roles and functions,” adding that some remaining staffers have been offered “new roles or responsibilities to ensure we have the necessary capabilities to take us into the future.”
Ayaz was promoted this year to become Disney’s chief marketing and brand officer, a newly created role that was designed to consolidate its marketing across its entertainment, sports, and experiences divisions. He previously served as the company’s chief brand officer.
At the time of Ayaz’s promotion in January, former CEO Bob Iger said Disney needed a companywide role to ensure “brand consistency.”
Some Hulu staffers were affected by this week’s layoffs. Disney has been integrating Hulu into Disney+ to build a one-stop shop for streaming subscribers that it hopes will boost engagement.
Besides growing the streaming business, Disney also must win back Wall Street by keeping the parks business humming while preserving declining profits in its traditional TV business.
Read the full memo from Ayaz below:
Team,By now, you are aware that organizational changes have been taking place across several areas of the company, including marketing. It has been a hard week, and I know news like this can be very difficult. That is why I want to take this opportunity to be transparent about what is changing in marketing and why.Over the past few months, the marketing leadership team and I have been working together to design a thoughtful go-forward structure for our unified marketing organization that will unlock innovation, reduce complexity, and build critical capabilities. We carefully considered how the global marketing function is evolving to meet the disruption happening across all industries so we could design an org that is nimble and modern — fueling world-class creativity and serving consumers and fans in an even more connected and seamless way.While we have made a great deal of progress, especially with an effort of this scale, there has also been a reduction in certain roles across some of our teams. This difficult news has now been communicated to all employees who have been impacted this week.As part of this work, we found overlap in some roles and functions and identified new skills we need going forward. This means that some team members have also been offered new roles or responsibilities to ensure we have the necessary capabilities to take us into the future.I am mindful of the real, personal impact changes like these can have. We are working closely with our HR partners to ensure that those impacted this week are being supported through this process, and I appreciate everyone’s patience and sensitivity as we support our friends and trusted colleagues through this time.Please know that I am incredibly proud of the exceptional work this team does every day — and today’s changes take nothing away from the accomplishments of everyone who has been part of our marketing team.I remain confident in the strength of our team and what comes next. Thank you for your continued work, your professionalism, and your compassion for one another as we navigate this transformative time together. Please reach out to me, your leader, or your HR partner if you need anything.Asad
