CASE STUDY: The Local Lens — How We Built a UK-Focused Social Ecosystem for Disney Parks

A localisation strategy that grew a UK community, shaped global rollouts, and powered some of Disney’s most successful campaigns.

Overview

During my time leading social media for Disney Parks across the UK & EMEA, I developed and championed a localisation philosophy we eventually called the Local Lens.

The idea was simple:

Disney is a global destination — but people plan their holidays locally.

Across years of campaigns, channel launches, creator programmes and brand moments, this approach transformed our UK social ecosystem, built one of the strongest domestic Disney Park communities in the world, and influenced global teams to replicate the model.

The Challenge

Disney Parks content was world-class — but it was also global.

UK audiences often struggled to see themselves in a story filmed thousands of miles away. We needed to bridge the emotional and practical gap between:

“That looks magical” → “That could be my holiday.”

In short: We needed to make global destinations feel local.

The Strategy: Build a Local Lens for Every Channel

Instead of running a “UK version” of a global content feed, we reframed the approach entirely:

We weren’t just building a brand account. We were building the UK’s biggest fan account for Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Paris and Disney Cruise Line.

We weren’t just translating content. We were translating meaning: UK humour, UK emotions, UK planning needs, UK creators, UK cultural moments.

We weren’t just amplifying global stories. We were telling the UK story of Disney.

This became the foundation of the UK’s first dedicated Disney Parks Instagram channel: @DisneyParksUK.

The Execution

1. Launching & Refreshing @DisneyParksUK

During my tenure, I led the strategy and creative direction for what became the UK’s flagship Disney Parks social channel.

From a standing start, we grew the community to 180,000+ highly engaged followers, leading the market in localised storytelling for Disney’s three key destinations. Our positioning:

“We are the number-one fan account for UK Disney travellers.”

This guided everything — tone, visuals, creators, and content structure.

2. Post-Covid Reopening: Reframing the Magic for UK Travellers

When Walt Disney World Resort reopened globally, we didn’t simply reuse U.S. content.

We reframed the experience through a UK lens:

• “Here’s what it’s like returning to Disney from the UK.”
• UK creators experiencing the 50th Anniversary celebration.
• Local travel realities (flight tips, timing, weather, planning).
• UK voices, UK humour, UK families.

Engagement surged because the experience felt attainable, not abstract.

3. Creator-Led Local Campaigns

We continuously collaborated with UK creators and UK Disney fans whose voices felt authentic to the audience.

Two standout campaigns:

#HowDoYouDisney
A storytelling-first, creator-led movement that generated tens of millions of views across UK creators and our channels — celebrating the UK way of doing Disney.

#DoYouKnowDisneyCruise
A TikTok and Instagram push highlighting UK-friendly Disney Cruise Line experiences.

Again, creator-first, audience-first, local-first.

These campaigns didn’t succeed because they were flashy.

They succeeded because they felt true to the UK audience.

 
4. “UK’s Biggest Disney Fan” — A Cultural Moment

One of the most successful Disney Parks UK campaigns ever conceived and led under my team was UK’s Biggest Disney Fan.

This became a cross-platform cultural moment that reached hundreds of millions across social, PR, and broadcast media.

Why did it work?

Because it wasn’t a global idea retrofitted for the UK.

It was a UK-native concept born from understanding this audience’s identity, passion, and sense of fun.

This is the Local Lens at full power.

 
5. Localisation Became a Global Playbook

As performance grew, our UK-local strategy gained international attention.

Teams across:

Australia
Spain
The Netherlands
The Middle East

…began adapting the Local Lens model to their own markets.

Each market saw rapid audience growth and strong engagement, proving that localisation scales when built on insight, not translation.

 
6. Bringing the Local Lens to YouTube

When challenged to grow a domestic audience on Disney UK’s YouTube channel, we applied the same principle: Tell local stories about a global brand.

I conceptualised a new YouTube series grounded in “Disney in the UK” — exploring the domestic locations, cultural roots and stories that inspired some of Disney’s most iconic films.

This brought Disney storytelling into the audience’s world, not the other way around.

Watch time, retention, and UK affinity rose as a result.

The Results 

Without sharing proprietary data, the outcomes were clear and widely visible:

• Built one of the most engaged Disney Parks communities outside the U.S.
• Grew @DisneyParksUK from zero to 180K passionate followers
• Creator campaigns achieving tens of millions of views
• “UK’s Biggest Disney Fan” becoming a national cultural moment
• Major improvements in local relevance, sentiment and organic performance
• Successful commercial campaign performance due to strong organic reach
• Local Lens philosophy adopted across multiple global markets

The Local Lens didn’t just create better content.

It created a community that trusted us — and acted on what we shared.

Why This Matters for Destination Brands Today

Travellers don’t book based on global narratives. They book based on local meaning, local reassurance, local emotion.

A family in Manchester planning a Florida holiday has completely different questions, fears and hopes than a family in Orlando.

The Local Lens bridges that gap.

It transforms global marketing into story-led localisation that drives real planning intent — the kind that leads to bookings.

Takeaway

Your destination can be global.

Your content can’t be.

To build trust, drive intent and convert audiences, your storytelling has to reflect:

• Their culture
• Their travel behaviour
• Their humour
• Their planning mindset
• Their questions
• Their world

That’s what the Local Lens does.

Want to apply the Local Lens to your own destination?

If you’re a travel, destination, hospitality or theme park brand looking to build a loyal UK audience through story-led local strategy, I’d love to help.

Let’s talk.