New technology is a friend, not a foe, to Hollywood’s creative community. This was the message delivered by Disney CEO Bob Iger at the Canva Create event held at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park on May 23, 2024.
Iger, an investor and board member of Canva, praised the online design platform for embracing generative AI tools and other advanced technologies. These innovations make high-end visual media design tools accessible to everyday users. Canva, based in Sydney, Australia, has become a digital media powerhouse valued at $40 billion in 2022, coinciding with Iger’s investment during his brief retirement from Disney.
Canva Create, held for the first time in the U.S., combined a showcase of new platform features with a conference on creativity. The event attracted around 3,500 attendees. Iger took the stage with Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins to discuss brand-building, company culture, and the role of technology in storytelling.
Embracing Technology’s Role in Storytelling
Iger emphasized that new technologies have been pivotal in Disney’s success over the past century. He highlighted Walt Disney’s early adoption of technology to enhance storytelling, underscoring its enduring impact.
“Walt Disney himself was a big believer in using technology in the early days to tell better stories. And he thought that technology in the hands of a great storyteller was unbelievably powerful,” Iger said.
Addressing concerns about generative AI’s potential to replace human labor in content creation, Iger argued for a different perspective. He urged the creative community to focus on how technology can improve storytelling and expand audience reach.
“Don’t fixate on its ability to be disruptive—fixate on [tech’s] ability to make us better and tell better stories. Not only better stories, but to reach more people,” Iger stated.
Iger stressed that resisting technological advancement is futile. Instead, he encouraged embracing change and using it to enhance creative production.
“You’re never going to get in the way of it. There isn’t a generation of human beings that has ever been able to stand the way of technological advancement,” Iger said. “What we try to do is embrace the change that technology has created, and use it as the wind behind our backs instead of wind in our faces.”
Perkins prompted Iger to share how he became an investor in Canva. Iger recounted that his wife, USC Annenberg School dean Willow Bay, used Canva tools to design a manual for an espresso maker. Initially mistaking it for a professionally produced manual, Iger was impressed when Bay revealed she used Canva. This led him to invest in the company, admiring its technology and creative ethos.
Iger advised Canva’s founders to stay true to their core ideals of simplifying tech tools and fostering creativity. He compared Canva’s values to those of enduring brands like Disney and Coca-Cola, emphasizing the importance of maintaining core values amidst change.
“There’s this belief sometimes that adjusting your values is necessary to adjust to the world that has changed,” Iger said. “Think about what Canva is today and the business you have today because of the values that were imbued in the brand and the company culture years ago. That value creation should be ongoing. Abandoning those core values that got you where you are is what, in my opinion, results in the extinction of brands and companies.”
Bob Iger’s message at the Canva Create event was clear: embrace technological advancements to enhance storytelling and maintain core values to ensure long-term success.