Disney executive, alum visits students
Visiting the Emerson campus for the first time in 26 years, Kevin Campbell ’87 says he’s impressed by the students’ enthusiasm.
“I’m thrilled that Emerson students still have the same independent spirit they had when I graduated in 1987,” said Campbell, who is now the executive vice president of marketing at Walt Disney.
Campbell has overseen the marketing campaigns for many films, including the critically acclaimed box office hit The Help and most recently Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln.
On April 9, Campbell addressed the Emerson community at the 2013 Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Lecture, in the talk, “Bringing Lincoln to Life,” in the Bright Family Screening Room of the Paramount Center.
“It’s interesting to come back here more than 20 years later to find the school has a curriculum based on what I’ve been doing for the past 20 years,” said Campbell.
“There is that same honest human enthusiasm for the work that I remember,” Campbell said about Emerson students. “That’s not true of every institution of higher learning focused on the media. There’s just a general positivity.”
Before Disney, Campbell was the executive vice president of marketing for 20th Century Fox and was responsible for the strategy and management of key marketing disciplines, including national publicity, promotions, synergy, brand management, digital and field marketing. During his tenure, the Fox marketing team developed campaigns for motion pictures such as The Simpsons Movie, Night at the Museum, The Devil Wears Prada, X-Men: The Last Stand, Live Free or Die Hard, and Borat.
Prior to joining Fox, Campbell worked for many years at Universal Pictures, beginning as a vice president of national publicity, managing staffs in New York and Los Angeles before establishing the company’s digital marketing group in 1999. As the senior vice president of digital marketing, he built the team responsible for all digital marketing and business development for Universal movie brands.
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