The Walt Disney Company - Case Study Example

The Walt Disney Company Table of Contents Introduction 3 Importance of marketing in the overall success of the Walt Disney Company  3 Strategies adopted by the Walt Disney Company in recent years: 4 Product and Market Development 6 Competitive Positioning 8 Disney- Importance of branding 8 The Role of technology 11 Conclusion 12 References: 13 Introduction Disney World, or the brand Disney itself ignite an excitement in every young and old and this speaks volumes about the power of this brand (Watts, 1997). Having established itself as a strong brand over time and now a popular featured-entertainment theme parks chain with the highest foot fall, Disney World hosts an array of innovative rides and experiences that fulfill its promise to deliver the happiest experience in the world, which is more memorable and technologically advanced every time (Pine and Gilmore, 2011). This is all possible due to its long term planning and envisioned strategies by the management and the Walt Disney Company’s dedication towards achieving the dream that its founder expressed. This paper discusses the several aspects that make Disney World the successful chain of theme Parks that it is today, providing an insight about the company’s sustained growth even in these testing times and the upward trend in its popularity even with the spring of new theme parks opening world over (Jagorda, 1999, p. 235). Importance of marketing in the overall success of the Walt Disney Company  Disney and its affiliates are not a new name to this generation and the ones before them. Efforts to carry on this legacy of entertainment to the generations to come, has been ensured through constant improvisation, marketing, innovation and research. Since Disney is associated with the emotional appeal and attachment that the characters build with the children early on in life and carried on throughout, Disney plays on the this appeal to make the Disneyworld experience better and more memorable every time (Park and Macinnis et al., 2006, pp. 191--230). As far as conventional marketing is concerned, Disney features ads fairly often in newspapers and television with catchy taglines to either entice children to badger their parents to take them to the Disneyworld to meet the characters and emotionally appeal to the parent’s side by taglines like take your children to Disney before they get old etc (Klein, 2013, pp. 117--124). The image it has built over the years through its advertisements and customer experience on site is that of the “happiest place on earth’. Even though it comes with a hefty fee, it promises to deliver the fee worth by ensuring an experience that is memorable for lifetime. The overall family images shown in the ads manage to connect to the adults who aspire to spend quality time with their families in an environment which is positive and friendly. It is this approach and image build up that has led to Disney’s strong loyal customer base and clear market leadership as far as amusement/theme parks are concerned. But, all does not end here. Along with the marketing, a whole mix of elements has been created to complete the purpose of entertainment. Engaged and dedicated employees, constant expansion, impeccable customer services and constantly evolving rides features have made Disneyworld one of the best entertainment parks in the world. The fact remains that the ads featured by Disney World not only highlight the element of family entertainment and memorable experiences but also act as a reminder for the loyalists or people who have experienced the park once in their childhood that now that they have children of their own they deserve that experience too. From the moment of entry till the time of exit, every element of the Disney network is dedicated to promoting Disneyworld as the happiest place on earth. Strategies adopted by the Walt Disney Company in recent years: The following strategies have been adopted by Disney World: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Market segmentation allows companies to identify their target market and cater to their needs accordingly. In order for it to be successful, Disney requires identifying and caters to profitable target markets efficiently. The major attribute that determines the success of the location and operations of the park is the footfall of the people in the area. Disney uses a mix of 3 segmentation elements to cater to the needs of the target audience. These elements are geographic, demographic and psychographic segmentation. Geographically, Disney looks at the most visited areas of the world to set up a resort/park. It ensures maximum exposure of people by targeting areas that attract the most visitors from all around the world. Examples are United States, Europe, and china. The future goals are areas like japan and India. Demographic segmentation elements like age, income, and gender etc., helps Disney determine the kind of facilities that are to be made available at the resorts. The Disney stores are also placed according to this segment along with the selection of items that are made available there. Psychographics, based on elements like behaviors, personalities, lifestyles etc., help Disney determine the ‘who’ aspect of the segmentation. It helps them play on the lines of attachments that have been built between Disney and the people. It makes use of these attachments to highlight its key determinants like fun, family and entertainment. Thus, Disney indulges in multi-segmentation of the market. It aims to attract all members of the family by offering each one something of their interest on the resort. While the children are interested in cartoon characters, the teenagers are attracted towards the Disney channel themes and semi-animated films. Adults are more inclined towards live actions movies like pirates of the Caribbean etc. this is a true reflection of Walt Disney’s ideology that the aim should be to entertain all ages and that adults are just grown up children. The positioning of Disney world can be clearly identified through their statement ‘a magical world where dreams come true”. Reflecting a world of possibilities and fantasy that offers people an entertainment platform to see their imagination come to life and become a part of it. Since Disney is associated with animations and fantasies, this is what people want to experience when they think of a world of Disney. Thus, the positioning is based on the targets markets desires and the benefits that connects it with the audience’s desires. Since Disney now owns media networks and studios along with the theme parks, it is able to not only incorporate all these in its entertainment parks but also manages to cater to the needs of all age groups. Thus, instead of aiming to make a mass audience their target market, it identifies their needs and caters to them in order to attract the customers. The success of the marketing process employed at Disney is the market driven approach and effective catering of their demands to offer maximum satisfaction and memorable experience for all age groups. Product and Market Development Market development can be discussed under two aspects. First is the product development and second, the market development in terms of geography. Product development as discussed briefly earlier is an important feature that has contributed towards the success of Disney world. Where initially, Disney was only associated with cartoons and attracted young children, Disney incorporated a smart strategy of acquiring and setting up entertainment studios and media avenues. It gave the company more grounds to play with and also offered more innovation opportunities as far as the theme parks were concerned. In this way, since Disney channels attracted teenagers and the studio churned out movies that were family friendly and equally enjoyed by adults, the Disneyworld had the opportunity of setting up more theme oriented rides and experiences. For example, Disney world Florida has 3 levels of entertainment parks, The Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center and Universal Studios (Milman and Pizam, 1995, pp. 21--27). Magic kingdom hosts the classic Disney characters and features rides that reinstate and refresh their stories. This is entertaining for the children and nostalgic for the adult. The universal studios showcases themes related to movies that come under the banner of this studio. Since the production house makes diverse movies like animated, comedies, live action etc. It also caters to adults and children alike. The epcot center is another entertaining theme park that has country themed entertainment like music, stage shows, standup comedy, 3D movies, dances, food etc. this is both entertaining and informative for all ages. Having said that, since these are spread over a vast area of land and host endless entertaining rides and themes, it is impossible for one to experience all three in one day. Disney came up with a solution by setting up lavish resorts just across these parks. These resorts offer comfortable stay to people who wish to spend more than one day exploring the magical world of Disney. Commuting comfort is provided in terms of resort shuttles that have designated stops at any of the three parks. This is just one example of the many Disneyworld resorts situated all around the world. It gives an overview of the well thought-of planning, marketing and co-ordination activities that have led to the success of Disney World today. The fact remains that it is not possible to expect success through the same marketing activities over the years. Constant research and innovation allows more opportunities for the company to improvise and satisfy customers on several levels. Long term planning is also an essential aspect for the sustainable growth, like Disney acquiring universal studios. Competitive Positioning According to the case study, Disney world has 13 theme parks all over the world at present with new ones being planned in India and Russia. These theme parks attract approximately 100-120 million visitors collectively every year. Since every profitable business attracts more competitors, same is the case with the global theme parks industry (Anton Clavé, 2007). For example Merlin entertainment in the UK compete head to head with the Disneyworld in Europe and universal studios in the US competes with Disney world US to be tied at the second place in terms of popularity, profitability and footfall. Other competitors include Parques Reunidos, US Six Flags and the fairly recent OCT Parks China. The advancement in technology and the high returns that such parks can generate tend to attract more and more competitors each year. In order to differentiate itself from the competitors and maintain its mark in the entertainment industry as the most visited theme park in the world, Disneyworld majorly focuses on providing something for every age group equally. Disney knows that it has a classic name attached to it and this plays to their advantage, however, constant improvisation in terms of rides and shows featured here, the celebrations and facilities, Disney World manages to rise amongst the clutter of theme Parks. Pricing dynamics explained under the marketing strategies also suggest that seasonal pricing plays to their advantage attracting customers all year round. Disney- Importance of branding Walt Disney, the brains behind the beloved and most popular cartoon character Mickey Mouse, launched Disney as an animation house that could churn more entertaining cartoons for children. No matter how advanced cartoons get, Mickey Mouse will always be the face of Disney, and Disney plans to keep this legacy alive. Even though the entertainment world has evolved over the years significantly, the Disney brand has shown resilience in the face of change. Walt Disney was named as the 9th most admired brand of the world (CNNMoney, 2014). In the 2012 citizenship summary, the company expressed its goal of becoming the most admired brand of the world. This shows the dynamic leadership under which the Walt Disney Company runs and its future goals to become the most loved brand in the world. From its inception, Disney has come a long way (Crafton, 1982). From just cartoon creation it has progressed into brand extensions and co-branding. It has acquired production houses and media centers and diversified its limited initial offerings. Branded merchandise stores, production houses like Pixar entertainment, Miramax films, Walt Disney pictures, and media channels like ABC television group, ESPN, the Disney channel and interactive online media extensions like the Disney ABC, ESPN and Disney websites, have helped Disney greatly in becoming the huge brand that it is today. The Disney brand has leveraged itself by diversifying into related entertainment fields and also by constantly evolving with time. The strength of the brand has been used to make the rides at its theme parks memorable and meaningful as each one has an interesting story behind it. Customer service is a strong feature visible at the parks through maps and guides availability, stroller parking, locker systems, restrooms, cooling off areas, ample of eateries, shopping opportunities, etc. Not only that, consistent in the service and quality of entertainment provided has been sustained even improved over the years. Thus, by incorporating the simple steps mentioned above, they are able to sustain in even today’s economy and successful in making their theme parks the ‘happiest place on earth’. The Marketing Mix A marketing mix strategy gives clarity to a brand and allows the company to position the brand and cater to the customers more effectively (Kotler and Armstrong, 2001). Since the Disneyworld theme parks are classified under services, the marketing mix strategy under it involves the 7ps of marketing; product, price, promotion, place, people, process and physical environment. Product: The main product of the Disney Theme Parks is the experience that it promises and the value of money that it offers in term of quality entertainment and enjoyment facilities. Price: Pricing at the Disneyworld is at par with the cost incurred by the company; however, they can also be seasonal. Even though the main target is the median income group, the peak season shows a price hike in the admission fee. Even though the justification is that that people get their money’s worth, most of them do not complain of the prices either due to lack of comparison information, too much eagerness to experience the magic or expectance of value for money. Pricing packages are also introduced to attract families in the off seasons. Promotion: Conventional communication mediums are used to promote the theme park and its features majorly. Frequent advertisements on television and radio are accompanied by newer interactive marketing channels to get the Disney message across, Place: The place is the location of the theme parks themselves. Since they are spread over 13 locations worldwide, they offer convenience and availability to a mass market spread all over the world. The branding is evident from the point of entry; swiping Disney card on the head of Mickey Mouse till the point of exit; themed shuttles back to the gates etc. People: Disney has set up a training center that each and every employee has to go to in order to work at the Walt Disney theme parks. The essential characteristics of the ideal employees are instilled in every prospective applicant so that they can exercise these when they become even the smallest part of Disneyworld. Process: The processes incorporated at Disneyworld are swift and evolving quickly. Ample employees are trained to assist clueless visitors about the whereabouts and things to look forward to. The queue system for each ride is inevitable but the fast pass option allows a person to obtain tickets for a ride timed after one hour and take another ride in the time being, escaping the line at one’s counter. This is an effective and popular feature that is being employed by other theme parks as well now. Thus, the processes involves at the Disney world parks are also constantly evolving with time and technology. Physical environment: The physical environment in terms of infrastructure and quality are impeccable. Feedback and frequent upgrading allow Disneyworld to sustain the ambiance and the quality of entertainment it is known for. The Role of technology One of the key ingredients for the current success of the Disneyworld Theme parks is the consistent use of technology to keep up with the changing trends and demand of the target market. This enables them not only to meet by also exceed the customer’s expectation providing them with superior value and entertainment. From the construction to the highly-engineered rides that project precision and thrilling experience to the visitors, the Disneyworld has made positive use of science to provide entertainment. Whether it is the physical technology or the incorporated one, which is evident in every single feature of the park, it leaves one in awe of the effort and smart engineering that has been put into making it the best and most unique experience in the world. Underground tunnels to showcase The Little Mermaid’s adventures and her friends and the hovering Peter Pan rides are just some of the many exciting experiences that contribute towards making Disneyworld the success it is today. Technology has played an important role in the success of Disneyworld in every aspect (King, 1981, pp. 116--140). From the creation of more advanced animations to faster on-site processes, Disneyworld has made good use of evolving technology to its advantage. As far as entertainment is concerned, newer themes which are more entertaining and exciting like 6D experiences of movies, electric parade of the Disney characters at nights, projector animations on the castles, more thrilling rides and high speed ‘people mover’ trains etc. have given a new edge to the old Disney themes as well. Process wise, the automated entry, the fast pass system, online booking facility etc. too has greatly convenience the whole theme park experience. Conclusion Concluding, it is evident that through smart use of strategies that highlight the values of the company and make use of technology to provide faster and more convenient way of entertainment to the whole family, the Disneyworld themed parks have managed to make their mark in the world of amusement parks and entertainment. Continued innovation and research will enable them to penetrate geographically into more markets effectively and diversify into a whole array of entertainment opportunities for thrill seekers and entertainment loves worldwide. References: Watts, S. 1997. The Magic Kingdom. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Pine, B. J. and Gilmore, J. H. 2011. The experience economy. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Review Press. Jagorda, G. S. 1999. Mouse that Roars: Character Protection Strategies of Disney and Others, The. T. Jefferson L. Rev., 21 p. 235. Park, C. W., Macinnis, D. J. and Priester, J. 2006. Brand attachment: constructs, consequences, and causes. Foundations and Trends\textregistered in Marketing, 1 (3), pp. 191--230. CNNMoney. 2014. Worlds Most Admired Companies 2013 - Fortune. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/most-admired/ [Accessed: 12 Jan 2014]. Klein, L. 2013. Were Going to Disney World: Consumer Credit and the Consumption of Social Experience. 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