Disney has made one of the most high-profile marketing moves of 2026 so far.
On 14 January 2026, The Walt Disney Company announced a new enterprise marketing and brand organisation and named Asad Ayaz as Chief Marketing and Brand Officer. In the role, Ayaz reports to CEO Bob Iger and also works with Disney’s segment chairs across the business.
Disney said the new structure is designed to bring its marketing teams closer together across the company’s businesses and create more continuity and agility in the way it engages consumers globally. The remit covers shared capabilities across Disney Entertainment, Disney Experiences and ESPN.
Ayaz is hardly a new face inside Disney. He has spent more than two decades at the company and previously served as Chief Brand Officer. He has also led marketing for major Disney brands and franchises, including work across film, streaming and broader brand management.
What makes this appointment interesting is that Disney is not just changing a title. It is building a more centralised system for how one of the most powerful entertainment brands in the world shows up across movies, TV, streaming, parks, sport and consumer touchpoints.
That matters because Disney is no longer just selling box office tickets or theme park visits in isolation. It is managing a huge web of relationships across franchises, subscriptions, experiences, merchandise and fandom. When marketing is fragmented, those touchpoints can feel disconnected. When they are joined up, the whole Disney flywheel becomes stronger.
My read is that this move is about making Disney feel more consistent and more coordinated at a time when attention is scattered and every entertainment company is fighting for relevance across multiple screens and platforms. With Ayaz now overseeing both brand and shared marketing muscle, expect more connected storytelling, smarter use of franchise power, and tighter alignment between what Disney says in the market and how it turns that attention into ongoing consumer engagement.
For your readers, this is a strong appointments story because it is not simply “Disney hires a new marketer”. It is Disney reorganising how marketing works at the enterprise level, and putting a proven insider in charge of keeping the magic coherent across a very complicated global business.