We don’t have cable in our home. My 4-year old goes to a school which frowns upon the commercialization of childhood, which means that students aren’t allowed to wear or bring any item with cartoon or movie motifs. Talk about superheroes or cartoon characters is similarly discouraged. My son therefore, is singularly and refreshingly unaware of the whole wide world of Ben 10, Power Rangers, Dora, Elmo and so on. But who has time for all these when there is Disney Pixar?
Yes, the Disney movies are ubiquitous. A stroll down the aisle of any large toy or clothing store confirms my initial suspicion that Disney aims to take over the entire universe, or atleast my son’s little world.
I admit – I am an unabashed fan of the Disney marketing juggernaut. For juggernaut it is; they start with their movies. They follow it up with live shows, toys, clothing and other accessories, the Disney theme parks and tons of other merchandise. And the one thing that makes the Disney machine work so beautifully is just great, compelling content.
Disney is the prime example of an effective integrated marketing company. Exposure to one kind of product leads naturally to interest in another. No wonder Hewlett-Packard hired Disney’s marketing whiz to be their Chief Marketing Officer! If there is anything to be known about consumer marketing, you can be sure Disney has it covered.
In early 2009, they even started merchandising on food products! (Alright, I know this is a little too much). They released Disney-branded eggs to two test markets in Florida and New York. These eggs were packaged in a carton that was plastered with Mickey Mouse’s face, and each individual egg was stamped with the face of a different Disney character, ranging from characters from Toy Story to those in Winnie The Pooh. Many marketing experts argue that Disney’s short-term marketing gimmicks dilute the brand in the long run. What’s next? Furniture? Liquor? Oops they beat me to it – they’re there already!
I do worry about Disney over-saturating the market when I have to head off my son who absolutely needs the latest toy from the Disney stable. Thank God for YouTube, atleast we can watch the movies online for free!
Popularity: 11% [?]
I wonder what Walt Disney would have done if he were alive today? I have a feeling he’d be thrilled at the tremendous marketing opportunities today. After all, he understood that it was the characters and his movies that sold Disneyland and tv shows and not the other way round.
But unfortunately, Disney holds too many happy childhood memories and I do not find it in me to think of them as shameless marketers (though that is probably true). I suppose for those of us who grew up on Lion King and Cinderella, Disney remains a happy place full on sunshine and music.
Disney is the absolute master of branding; when you know you are being manipulated, when you know you are over-paying for a Disney product that could cost half elsewhere -and yet you are willing to pay for the Disney brand name – now, that is great branding.
Of course, they have a huge advantage to begin with – they are targetting children, and tapping into one of the oldest instincts, that is virtualy recession-proof: parental love.
Pixar in particular has taken Animation to an entirely different plane. You can easily classify the Animation movies that have released in the last decade into Pixar movies, and The Rest. The movies standout. Completely.And they come packaged with great content, amazing visuals, and memories to cherish-even for adults like me.If a Pixar movie is playing in town, I make sure I go and watch it.
Well, any parent with an impressionable child and hooked on CN (one day, he will move morph himself to CNN)knows only too well the deep-rooted impact Disney has had. Especially, when the afore-mentioned child comes to you, sits on your knee, and with his eyes approximately 2 cms away from your own eyes and almost nose to nose, asks in the most demure tone – ‘Dad, can we go to Mcdonald’s today?’ – the moment you hear this, you know that Disney has unleashed yet another series of toys using the Happy Meal as a package. The movie is incidental. I guess only the kids will be saying ‘I am loving it.’.