• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 4 hours ago

Leaning into the surge for "fandom" marketing, Walt Disney has inked a deal with TikTok allowing creators to fashion new content using Disney characters from movies, TV and other platforms.

Are there any inherent risks -- and will it help to curtail misuse of the company’s intellectual property (IP)?

If the deal sounds familiar, the agreement comes just months after Disney struck a deal with Open AI to allow creators to use Disney characters via its video-focus Sora AI-platforms.

And then almost as quickly, Open AI killed the deal with the realization that it needed to close down Sora and shift its resources and capabilities to other areas.

The effort in both cases was to allow Disney loyal fans -- with guardrails and restrictions -- to allow them to use its IP to spin new content issues for its characters and storylines.

This comes from issues going back decades. There has been a significant, long-standing issue with fans and now online creators using Disney characters in inappropriate ways long before modern AI and other tools emerged.

Disney has fought against unauthorized and mature content use for decades to protect its family-friendly image.

At the same time, consumers want more from their consumer-facing companies -- that’s where fandom comes in.

Modern fans of consumer products expect to interact, co-create, and feel a sense of "ownership."

In that regard, companies are moving away from strictly rigid corporate marketing efforts and are looking to give tools -- especially for "super-fans" -- to enable them to organically market for companies.

While all consumer product companies are seeing this, Disney, and other media companies are on the front lines -- especially from a popular entertainment perspective, using their owned characters and storylines.

But this may not be the end of the story. Edgy and passionate fans will continue to test the boundaries and find more ways -- with racy or inappropriate content, with the help of other AI platforms and large language models -- to gain ever more freedom.