‘All Anybody Wanted to Talk About Was That Commercial’
Former quarterback Phil Simms takes us behind the scenes of the 1987 Disney ad that overshadowed his first Super Bowl victory.
You know the slogan: “I’m going to Disney World!” For decades, the phrase has been embedded in our lexicon, often uttered, both genuinely and sarcastically, in response to, “Well, you’ve done it all, so now what?” The “What’s Next?” ad, as Disney refers to it, is one of the company’s most visible marketing coups. It’s more than just its famous catchphrase, though. When the first edition aired the morning after Super Bowl XXI in January 1987, viewers were stunned — how did they get this commercial, with the game footage and Giants quarterback Phil Simms saying the line, on TV that quickly?
We spoke to Simms himself about the making of the famous ad for our Land of the Giants podcast (the new season of which focuses on Disney’s colossal cultural impact; you can listen to the latest episode here). He remembers the TV spot almost overshadowing his victory. “The next day, all anybody wanted to talk about was that commercial,” Simms says. “It was amazing.”
“What’s Next?” was an instant classic, a pre-internet viral hit that helped burnish Disney’s image as a real maker of magic at a time when the company needed it the most. The ad was also one of the first of many major successes for CEO Michael Eisner, who was about to lead Disney into its “renaissance” era that would last through the ’90s. To learn more about how the first ad came together — from a flash of inspiration by Eisner’s wife, Jane, to the chaotic scene at the Rose Bowl — Vulture talked to not just Simms but also Simms’s former agent, David Fishof, and Tom Elrod, Disney’s then-president of marketing and entertainment. As Elrod says, “To make it a reality seems easy now, but it wasn’t back then.”
“Simms thought we were nuts”
Tom Elrod, former president of marketing and entertainment at Disney: Michael Eisner was the CEO then. There was a dinner that he and his wife, Jane, had with the couple Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, who had piloted the first aircraft to fly around the world without refueling. They were describing, just in a casual conversation, the amazing flight and somebody asked them, “Well, what would you possibly do after that?” and I think Jeana Yeager said, “Well, I’ll go to Disneyland.” Jane thought would be a good commercial.
Michael called me and we tried to figure out how to incorporate that, who would say it, how would it be said, and under what circumstances would it be impressive to hear it? As a creative team, we came up with sports championships. Of course, the Super Bowl was the most important one. Right after the final gun, would we be able to run out, grab this guy, and have him say the words? What could you possibly do after the Super Bowl? “Well, I’ll go to Disney World.”
David Fishof, Phil Simms’s former agent: It was quite an interesting week. Disney reached out to me and said they have this idea. They’re gonna do John Elway and Simms — they figured one of them would be the MVP. I said, “Great.” You want to make sure you’re putting your client with good companies. Nothing’s like Disney.
Elrod: It took a lot of effort. The most important component was the NFL. They were the ones that allowed us on the field, that provided camera crews, not only for the saying of the phrase but also for the highlights of the game. Without them, there’s no way any of it would have happened. And Simms thought we were nuts.
Phil Simms: I said, “Nope, I’m not doing it.” I’m getting ready to play the Super Bowl this week and I don’t want to be thinking about, Oh, I’m going to do this if we win.
Fishof: We agreed on a fee, win or lose.
Simms: It was 50 [thousand]. I never even thought about the money. No, it was the fact that I thought, We’re crossing lines here. Football, the sport, the game — I don’t want to cross that line and bring some other property into it. That’s really what it was about for me.
Fishof: I had to wear him down on everything. He didn’t want to do any commercials. He didn’t want to write a book. Football always came first.
Simms: Things were going really well. We practiced great. I mean, the team was on fire for real, so that made me feel good.
Fishof: I think [then-Giants coach Bill] Parcells had his ear: “You don’t want to become a media star. You’re a football player. Don’t go Hollywood on me, Simms.” Meanwhile, Parcells would do every endorsement, every appearance he could get.
Simms: As the week got toward the end, I was extremely relaxed and not worried about the game. He caught me in the right moment. I said, “Okay, I’ll do it. Leave me alone. Quit bugging me.”
Elrod: I had a crew there that I knew would be able to get it done because there was no room for, “Oh, we couldn’t get it done” or “this was a problem and it didn’t happen.” It had to happen. There’s no excuse for it not happening. One shot; this is it.
“Phil, Don’t Forget”
Simms: That game, I was never thinking of anything but just playing. I didn’t hear the crowd, I didn’t get nervous, I didn’t feel all the emotion of being in the game.
Fishof: I’ll always remember it. I think, for him, it was finally getting acknowledged for who he was. Everything was “Elway, Elway, Elway” and then to go out and have the greatest game ever, he deserved the recognition.
Simms: Five seconds, the game is going to be over. I can’t remember their name but I get punched on my left side and they go, “Phil, don’t forget we’re doing ‘I’m going to Disney World.’” I was like, I can’t believe this.
Elrod: It’s not like it was a surprise. But when people have just won a major championship, they tend to forget everything except the celebration, so you gotta tap them on the shoulder and say, “Hey, we’re here.”
Fishof: I honestly forgot about it. I was just so excited when they won. What an exulting moment.
Simms: We were all running around and jumping on each other. It was a great feeling and you just want to absorb it. I remember walking around, shaking hands, and every once in a while I’d go, Oh my gosh, we really did win the Super Bowl.
Elrod: It wasn’t a set-up shot for the camera crew. So however they’re celebrating, holding their kid or hugging a teammate or running off the field or whatever, we wanted that spontaneity. And that’s how it happened.
Fishof: Simms marched off the field. I think he forgot about it and they had to remind him. And then he had to do both of them, Disney World and Disneyland.
Elrod: Disneyland or Disney World — split the country between Disneyland on the West Coast and Disney World on the East Coast.
Simms: I said it — I’m not going to overstate it — at least 15 to 20 times. I have this smile on my face because I’m sitting there going, I can’t believe I’m doing a commercial within 30 seconds of when the Super Bowl is over.
Elrod: We get the line done, but then we also had to get the footage of the highlights from the game. And you wanted some human-emotion elements of him cheering, walking off the field. Back then, it was 16mm film footage you’re cutting out. It was four or five hours.
Elrod: Once we selected highlights that made sense, we married them to “When You Wish Upon a Star” music and put the line at the end, Disneyland or Disney World. It was right before dawn that we finished it. I made the final okay and it was satellite-distributed to the networks for the morning shows.
Simms: If I’d had the knowledge that’s out there now about it, I probably would have been a little more, uh, into it.
Elrod: I don’t have them anymore, but the outtakes are hysterical. Simms goes, “What the hell am I doing?!”
“It’s in crossword puzzles. It’s on Jeopardy!”
Elrod: I watched it air on Good Morning America and The Today Show both — that was the most important, thrilling thing of all.
Simms: What’s hilarious about it is that I did play a really good game. We did win the Super Bowl and the next day, all anybody wanted to talk about was that commercial.
Fishof: All the news stations covered it.
Simms: It was amazing. “Was it real? Did you do it there? How does this work?” Um, hey, we did win. Can you say congratulations about winning the game before we start talking about the commercial?
Elrod: Eisner was just overjoyed. That he and Jane participated in the initial idea of the commercial and that we, as an organization reporting to him, did it, he took great pride. In the advertising world, there aren’t many organizations that could pull it off like we did. Disney’s a can-do outfit and we made it important that we were gonna get this thing done.
Fishof: They didn’t make us go to Disneyland at that time. They offered but it wasn’t mandatory. I think now they make them go. If you say, “I’m going to Disneyland,” you gotta go.
Simms: It wasn’t really part of the deal. Back then, I had a couple of things going on. One of them was going on The Tonight Show. I was like, Man, I love that show, Johnny Carson. And then I find out, as I say yes, that Johnny Carson wasn’t even there. But it was somebody I knew somewhat well, Garry Shandling. God rest his soul; he’s passed away. He was an awesome dude so I was glad to do it with him, too.
Fishof: I love that we were part of the first one. It’s been quite a successful campaign.
Elrod: It certainly was one of the most important accomplishments of my Disney career. Everybody who was involved in that — writers, editors, creative people brainstorming — also took great pride in it. We knew right away that we were going to do this thing time and time again. This was going to be an evergreen kind of commercial.
Simms: It’s in crossword puzzles. It’s on Jeopardy! every once in a while. I’m very glad I did it. And being the first one to ever do it, It’s a badge of honor.
Elrod: Now it seems easy and I think they’ve got it down to a science with the NFL. But in the very beginning, it was amazing we ever got any of them. That was part of the magic of the commercial — it not only became a common phrase you say after you accomplish something but it was also about, “How in the hell did they get that thing on the air the next morning?” It was a logistical achievement as well as a creative achievement.
Simms: If I’m speaking at a dinner, it’s all, “He won two Super Bowls, but he was the first person to say, ‘I’m going to Disney World.’” That comes up constantly. Right up there with winning the Super Bowl, “I’m going to Disney World” is a close second.
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