Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
You know the slogan: Im going to Disney World!
ad, as Disney refers to it, is one of the companys most visible marketing coups.
Its more than just its famous catchphrase, though.
He remembers the TV spot almost overshadowing his victory.
The next day, all anybody wanted to talk about was that commercial, Simms says.
As Elrod says, To make it a reality seems easy now, but it wasnt back then.
and I think Jeana Yeager said, Well, Ill go to Disneyland.
Jane thought would be a good commercial.
As a creative team, we came up with sports championships.
Of course, the Super Bowl was the most important one.
What could you possibly do after the Super Bowl?
Well, Ill go to Disney World.
David Fishof, Phil Simmss former agent:It was quite an interesting week.
Disney reached out to me and said they have this idea.
Theyre gonna do John Elway and Simms they figured one of them would be the MVP.
I said, Great.
You want to check that youre putting your client with good companies.
Elrod:It took a lot of effort.
The most important component was the NFL.
Without them, theres no way any of it would have happened.
And Simms thought we were nuts.
Phil Simms:I said, Nope, Im not doing it.
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,Were crossing lines here.
Thats really what it was about for me.
Fishof:I had to wear him down on everything.
He didnt want to do any commercials.
He didnt want to write a book.
Football always came first.
Simms:Things were going really well.
I mean, the team was on fire for real, so that made me feel good.
Youre a football player.
Dont go Hollywood on me, Simms.
Meanwhile, Parcells would do every endorsement, every appearance he could get.
He caught me in the right moment.
I said, Okay, Ill do it.
Theres no excuse for it not happening.
One shot; this is it.
Fishof:Ill always remember it.
I think, for him, it was finally getting acknowledged for who he was.
Simms:Five seconds, the game is going to be over.
I was like,I cant believe this.
Elrod:Its not like it was a surprise.
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.
Elrod:It wasnt a set-up shot for the camera crew.
And thats 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.
Simms:I said it Im not going to overstate it at least 15 to 20 times.
And you wanted some human-emotion elements of him cheering, walking off the field.
Back then, it was 16mm film footage youre cutting out.
It was four or five hours.
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.
Elrod:I dont have them anymore, but the outtakes are hysterical.
Simms goes, What the hell am I doing?!
Its in crossword puzzles.
Simms:Whats hilarious about it is that I did play a really good game.
Fishof:All the news stations covered it.
Simms:It was amazing.
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.
In the advertising world, there arent many organizations that could pull it off like we did.
Disneys a can-do outfit and we made it important that we were gonna get this thing done.
Fishof:They didnt make us go to Disneyland at that time.
They offered but it wasnt mandatory.
I think now they make them go.
If you say, Im going to Disneyland, you gotta go.
Simms:It wasnt really part of the deal.
Back then, I had a couple of things going on.
One of them was going onThe Tonight Show.
I was like,Man, I love that show, Johnny Carson.
And then I find out, as I say yes, that Johnny Carson wasnt even there.
But it was somebody I knew somewhat well, Garry Shandling.
God rest his soul; hes 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.
Its 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:Its in crossword puzzles.
Its onJeopardy!every once in a while.
Im very glad I did it.
And being the first one to ever do it, Its a badge of honor.
Elrod:Now it seems easy and I think theyve got it down to a science with the NFL.
But in the very beginning, it was amazing we ever got any of them.
It was a logistical achievement as well as a creative achievement.
That comes up constantly.
Right up there with winning the Super Bowl, Im going to Disney World is a close second.
