Ridinger will focus on strategy and talent relations, working closely with internal executives and marketing and publicity teams.
Disney Studios has hired former Netflix marketing executive René Ridinger to lead a newly formed awards marketing and PR team at the studio.
Ridinger will focus on strategy and talent relations, working closely with internal executives and marketing and publicity teams.
The new awards team encompasses publicity, creativity, and media. It will handle film and episodic content across all labels in Disney Studios content, including Disney Live-Action, Disney Animation, Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Studios (except for Searchlight Pictures, which remains in-house at Searchlight). The team falls under Michelle Sewell, executive vice president of global publicity, and is part of the marketing team led by Asad Ayaz, president of marketing.
In addition, Strategy PR vet Nikki Adler will be joining the Burbank, CA studio as Director, Awards, to oversee awards publicity, guild, and event strategy.
Samy Gaballa, a Disney veteran, will be stepping into a new role as Creative Arts Director, spearheading all awards-related creative.
Recently, Ridinger led documentary publicity at Netflix, where she oversaw the streamer’s nonfiction initiative strategies and led campaigns for My Octopus Teacher, American Factory, The Social Dilemma, Crip Camp, Dick Johnson is Dead, Tiger King, The Andy Warhol Diaries, jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, and The Tinder Swindler, among many others. She also worked closely with talent on Netflix deals, including Shondaland, the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions, Ryan Murphy Productions and David Fincher.
Before Netflix, Ridinger spent two decades as an agency publicist, where she gained a broad view of strategic campaigns across films and series, including unit publicity, festival launches, release campaigns and awards.
At Strategy PR, Adler led campaigns for studio clients including Disney Studios Content, Amazon Studios, Focus Features, Hulu, Apple TV+ and Sony Pictures on titles such as Oscar winner West Side Story and Oscar Best Picture winner CODA. Prior to Strategy PR, Adler was at Slate PR. Adler has been at Disney since June.
Ridinger and Gaballa officially start on July 18, and Adler joined in June.
