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GBA 517: Essentials of Marketing Management

Professor Moncrief, Ph.d.

November 29, 2011

by: Roy Frausto

Thomas Retchless

Michael Tschebaum

Jonathan Wong
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 3
Disney Era ........................................................................................................................................................... 3
Eisner Era............................................................................................................................................................ 4
Eiger Era ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
MARKETING MANAGEMENT ISSUES ...................................................................................... 7
Issue 1: Promotion............................................................................................................................................. 7
Issue 2: Place....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Issue 3: Product ................................................................................................................................................. 8
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 10
CONSTRAINTS ................................................................................................................................... 12
SWOT ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................................. 16
Finding 1: Disneys Strengths...................................................................................................................... 16
Finding 2: Disneys Weaknesses (Promotion) ................................................................................... 16
SOLUTIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Solution 1(Campaign and Placement) for Finding 2 (Promotion) ............................................. 18
Solution 2 (Public Relations) to Finding 2 (Promotion) ................................................................ 20
Solution 3 (Packaging) to Finding 2 (Promotion) ............................................................................ 21
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ............................................................................................................ 24
Return on Investment .................................................................................................................................... 24
Implementation Outline ................................................................................................................................ 28
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................... 30
REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................... 31
APPENDIX A: SOURCES OF IMAGES....................................................................................... 33
APPENDIX B: SOURCES OF DATA ............................................................................................ 34
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INTRODUCTION
Disney Era
Walter Elias and Roy Disney founded the Disney Cartoon Brothers Studio on October

16, 1923 and later that year it was renamed The Walt Disney Company. In 1923, Disney

debuted Mickey Mouse, in Steamboat Willie. This was the first film to utilize synchronized

sound. It did not take the Disney Brothers long to achieve great success by winning an

Academy Award for Best Cartoon in 1932, for Flowers and Trees, a Silly Symphony. Success

continued for the Disney Brothers when they introduced several full-length animated films

starting with Snow White, in 1937. Snow White became the highest grossing film at that time

and was followed by Pinocchio and Fantasia, in 1940, Dumbo, in 1941, and Bambi, in 1942

(Bell, 2). All films were major successes for the Disney Brothers.

The most profound accomplishment of Disney was revolutionizing the way movies were

viewed. At that time, movies were shown as 8-minute shorts, while Disney created feature

length films. Audiences were amazed with the beautiful imagery and emotional storytelling seen

through the eyes of Disney characters. The Disney Brothers were true pioneers in their industry

continuing to push the boundaries of animation. After WWII, they incorporated animation into

live action production films, such as in their 1946 release the Song of the South (Bell, 2).

The Disney Brothers produced their first television program in 1954, called The

Wonderful World of Disney. It ran on all three major networks, went through 6 major name

changes, and ran for 26 years becoming the longest running primetime television show in

history (Bell, 2). The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on ABC in 1955 and ran through 1959,

captivating young viewers and making stars of many of its actors. The main cast members were

called Mouseketeers, the most popular of which were the Red Team, starring Annette

Funicello, Tommy Cole, Darlene Gillespie, Cheryl Holdridge, and many others. Disney Studios
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resurrected The Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s, renaming it The All New Mickey Mouse

Club, and aired it on the Disney Channel. Again Disney was successful in launching the careers

of many of its actors, including Brittney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera.

In order to bring to life their most ambitious project yet, the Disney Brothers had to see

beyond the restrictive black and white colors of television. While Walt Disney was a filmmaker

by trade, he sought out avenues to expand beyond television and film by creating Disneyland.

Disney was now able to attract millions of people worldwide to visit their theme park and

explore rides and characters based on television and movies. When Walt Disney died in 1966,

his brother Roy built Walt Disney World in his honor.

Long before his death in 1966, Walt had an envisioned another theme park to follow up

his success with Disneyland. When Roy Disney died in 1971, all day-to-day operations of the

company were taken over by management. More theme parks would follow, including one in

Marne-la-Vallee, France and in Urayasu Chiba, Japan. Annually, the theme parks and resorts

attract over 120 million people worldwide.

Eisner Era
Starting in 1984, Michael Eisner took over as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. He

took Disney, a company with a fading brand and lackluster management, (a non player in the

media and entertainment business) and turned it into the most powerful force in the industry

(Wolff, 1). Eisner was a genius at creating a branding model to license Disney assets unlike any

company prior. Eisner utilized the Disney entertainment assets by syndicating its library of films

for TV and restoring and releasing classic animated films including, Snow White, Fantasia,

Pinocchio, and Dumbo, to name a few. Michael Eisner created billions in newfound revenue

streams for Disney during his tenure. Disney acquired ABC for $19 billion, which at that time

was the second largest single transaction in the history of the United States. They gained control
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of a large TV and Cable Network, newspapers, and radio stations. Success continued because of

this merger, with worldwide box office sales peaking at $3 billion (Bell, 3).

Michael Eisner tarnished his remarkable turnaround of Disney when Jeffrey Katzenberg,

former head of motion picture development and feature animation filed a lawsuit against

Disney. Katzenberg alleged he should have been promoted to President of Disney, after

President Frank Wells died in a helicopter crash. When Katzenberg pressured Eisner, he would

not budge and instead forced Katzenberg to resign from Disney all together. Dissention emerged

among top-level staff with many resigning or forced out. Eisners Achilles heel was his ego. He

felt he was untouchable at the helm of Disney, but ultimately it was the legal savvy of Disneys

two largest stockholders, Warren Buffet and Sid Bass, who would end his run at Disney in 2005.

Eiger Era
2005 saw a new era of Disney with Robert Eiger, who replaced Eisner as Chief

Executive Officer. In 2006, Disney was comprised of four major business units. The first

unit was Disney Media Properties, which managed all media channels, including radio and TV

stations, and internet holdings. The second unit was Walt Disney Parks, which

managed 10 theme parks in North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as 2 cruise ships, and 35

vacation resorts. The third unit was Studio Entertainment, which is comprised of animated and

live action films. The fourth unit was comprised of Disney Consumer Products, which included

Disney characters, visual and literary properties sold to manufacturers and retailers, published

books, magazines, and computer software products for the home and educational markets (Bell,

3).

2006 was a stellar year for Disney because it had minimized the negative press related to

the Michael Eisner trial. In 2006, Walt Disney Company was worth an estimated $43.2 billion

and had annual revenues of more than $2.5 billion. Disney also held the most valuable franchise
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character, Mickey Mouse, with an estimated value of $5.8 billion. The most impressive record

of all is that Disney consumers spent an average of over 9.16 billion hours immersed in the

Disney entertainment experience, either through visiting a theme park, resort, cruise ship, or

through watching film and TV products (Bell, 3).

Disney continues to diversify its brand holdings by branching off into consumer food

products targeted at children between the ages of 2-11. They have embarked on an ambitious

project to reclassify their food products in the consumers mind from treats and sweets to

healthy choice snacks for children. Disney utilizes its famous characters, including Mickey

Mouse, Snow White and others to help sell their products by associating the Disney experience

with food. Disney is a new player in this market and needs to reorganize and market their

products in a way that help them gain the most market share in a market that already includes

established players like Nickelodeon, Warner Brothers, and Sesame Street foods.
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MARKETING MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Disneys new strategy to penetrate the market of healthy consumer foods came about for

several reasons. One primary reason includes the threat of brand recognition from fun and magic

to the association of growing criticism from activists, parents, and governments around the

world who believed [Disney] contributed to the growing obesity epidemic (Bell, 2009 P. 1).

Although executives at the Disney Consumer Products adjudicated to market new healthy

products, they were faced with multiple strategic management issues in promotion, pricing,

place, and product. Of the strategic issues, promotion, place, and product each contain one

critical concern that cannot be disregarded.

Disneys food and grocery revenues in 2003 to 2005 were stagnant as shown in Table 1.

With Disneys first release of their healthy consumer product line in 2006, Disney Consumer

Products (DCP) hoped to boost their sales revenue. Their healthy food categories included:

water, juice, milk, fruit, and vegetables as shown in Image 1. A release by Forbes listed the top-

earning fictional characters from 2003 to 2004 showed that the top two characters were created

by Disney as shown in Table 2. Not only did Disney dominate the list of fictional characters, but

also lead the industry by licensors of entertainment brands in 2005 as shown in Table 3.

Although Disney dominates the charts and statistics as number one, Disney still struggles with

three key advertising issues.

Issue 1: Promotion
Disneys first and foremost success criterion involves the promotion or advertising of

their products. Unfortunately, the most crucial success criteria are not being implemented

properly. The public knowledge of Disneys line of healthy products is minimal to near existent.

Disney has increased their advertising over the years from the first release of their healthy line.

Disney allocates minimal amount of advertising toward healthy products. Disney spent five
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hundred and seventy million dollars in 2009 and six hundred and eighty seven million on

selling, general, administrative, and other services in 2010 (PWC 2010, 10-K). Of that, only a

small portion was geared toward advertising. Disneys current strategy in consumer products is

licensing and publishing with the highest category of revenue earned at approximately two

billion dollars in 2010 (PWC, 2010, 10-K).

Issue 2: Place
The strategy of Disney producing high amounts of revenue is contributed to licensing,

publishing, and retail. Many of their consumer products are being sold internally, such as in

theme parks, hotels, and cruises. With such a high focus on internal distribution, Disney

struggles to capitalize and perfect the marketing concept of place. The place that Disney vaguely

recognizes is the idea of building a stronger external distribution relationship. One of Disneys

distribution methods is direct to retail (DTR), selling where the brand and character rights are

sold directly to the retailers, which bypasses wholesale licensees. The retails would then source

the manufacturing themselves and manage sales and marketing (Bell, 2009. P.4-5). Another

Disney distribution model is called sourcing. The sourcing model consists of contracting to

manufacturers where products were created and designed by Disney and featured the Disney

brand, but the licensee would handle the manufacturing, sales and marketing (Bell, 2009, P. 4).

With such distribution models, Disney has little control over how the sales and marketing

aspects are managed. Even though a relationship has been established among top retailers such

as Target, Wal-Mart and other large retailers (Bell, 2009, P.5), it does not necessarily dictate a

strong relationship resulting in increased revenue.

Issue 3: Product
Disneys idea to enter the market of health foods comes at a huge risk. The products

being produced and distributed faced by consumers may not be attractive. Many consumers
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already have products or brands that they favor. The relationships that these consumers have

with others may be detrimental to Disneys business if they cannot convince consumers to

change. It is extremely difficult to change a consumers perspective if they have a relationship

with another brand or manufacturer for years with no issues. Even if Disney poses attractive and

new health conscience products, they will face a number of other competitors looking to

establish a market share.

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GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

Over the years, The Walt Disney Company has consistently been the magical symbol for

entertainment for children across the world. From the scorching thrill rides, to the delicious

character popsicles, Disney has defined what it means to experience magic. As stated in their

company website, The Walt Disney Company's objective is to be one of the world's leading

producers and providers of entertainment and information, using its portfolio of brands to

differentiate its content, services and consumer products. The company's primary financial goals

are to maximize earnings and cash flow, and to allocate capital toward growth initiatives that

will drive long-term shareholder value (Investor Relations, 2011). In addition, "The mission of

The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of

entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content,

services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable

entertainment experiences and related products in the world (Corporate Relations, 2011)." In a

world of constant change, the topic of the decade has been shining on the Green Industry. Not

only does this encompass the environmental concerns for the environment, but it also extends to

the healthy life styles that people should abide to. With that being said, Disney has learned to

adapt with new standards and goals to revolutionize itself as a healthy green company.

In the beginning of 2004, Disney began to analyze the statistical data of obese children.

Realizing the staggering numbers across the world and the fact that most of their foods were

associated with treats, the company began to consider the nutritional value of the food products

they offered. In a short amount of time, Disney conducted a corporate-level audit of their food

and beverage offerings within all of its divisions for the purpose of introducing a range of

healthy new products. From this time forward, Disney had set a goal to improve the nutritional
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value of its licensed food products by June of 2006 and embark on a mission to improve all of

its licensed food products by 2008.

Acknowledging that parents (especially mothers) wanted healthier choices for their

children, Disney set about objectives to propose products that were adequately portioned, high

in quality, taste good, and omit or reduce fat and sugars. Managers then determined that the key

product categories to introduce/improve were in water, fresh food, frozen food, fresh food,

juice, pasta, soup, cereal, baked goods and dairy/milk. From this point, DCP began

reformulating and demanded their vendors to adapt to healthier products to meet their nutritional

goals. In addition, DCP executives were aware that the products needed to be appealing to

children, so the company integrated Disney characters to make these products fun. Signing a

contract with Kroger to offer their products, Disney plans to offer more than 200 Stock Keeping

Units (SKU) by summer 2007 and establish sourcing relationships with Safeway and

Albertsons supermarket chains to build market share.

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CONSTRAINTS
Implementing nutritional changes in markets, Disney will also make nutritionally-

beneficial changes to meals served to children at all Disney operated restaurants in parks and

resorts. Disneys set goals are to eliminate added trans fat from food served at its parks by the

end of 2007 and from all its licensed and promotional products by the end of 2008. With these

dramatically positive changes they will lose money in the beginning, but with the wide

distribution and the Disney brand itself, managers believe that their objective will win over

moms from other competitors and begin to show positive net revenues. The constraints that

Disney faces includes ones they place on themselves and ones that the industry faces as outlined

in Table 1.

Table 1: Table shows the constraints placed on Disney and the food industry.
Disneys Disneys Disneys lack Disneys self Disneys
contract with contract With of weekly imposed guidelines for
Disney Kroger limits Imagination cartoons limit on higher
underselling to Farms Limits prohibits week treats to nutritional
Constraints other stores. other vendors relationship 15%. standards.
using with children.
characters.

FDA Character Products Limited Public

regulations Driven limited to a producers opinion limits
Industry limiting food products particular for healthy companies
Wide that can be require higher audience. products. options to
sold. prices. avoid bad
Constraints publicity.

Disney
Disneys contract with Kroger is a constraint by not allowing them to undersell Kroger

to other grocery stores. They gave Kroger a discounted price to sell their products and by doing

so, Disney limited itself to offer any additional discounts to other grocery stores. Disney added

another constraint when they signed a contract with Imagination Farms. By only allowing

Imagination Farms to provide healthy Disney products they are constraining themselves from

allowing other vendors to use their characters on similar products. Disney is also constrained by
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their lack of weekly aired cartoons. The lack of cartoons limits their characters appeal to young

children. Limiting regular viewing of characters prohibits children from developing a weekly

relationship with characters.

When Disney decided to change directions and establish a healthy food line, they

decided to put constraints on the types of food they allow. Disney established future goals

limiting treats and snacks to 15% of their food offered to consumers. This helped them move

away from their profitable treats of the past. The new direction called for 85% of food offered to

be in the form of main meals. Disney added further constraints when they established nutritional

guidelines that new products must to meet. They set limits on calories, fat, added sugar and

sodium. The guidelines are much higher than that of Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

These guidelines are hard to meet but provide healthier foods for consumers.

Industry
The food industries major constraints are the regulation placed on them by the FDA for

acceptable foods. The FDA limits products sold in the United States, limiting what vendors can

produce. The limitations vastly affect the products that are produced and offered in the United

States. Pricing constraints limit the amount character products can be sold for. The cost is higher

than low end products because of the extra costs associated with using characters on products.

This limits how low vendors can sell character products for.

A particular audience is targeted with character food products limiting the mass appeal

their products can have. Once children out grow character products, purchasing them becomes

unlikely. Due to the extra cost associated with character food products, most consumers will not

pay the extra cost for character products once they stop appealing to children. There are a

limited number of health food producers available to Disney and competitors for character

products. Additionally, public opinion is a constraint on companies due to bad press. If the
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public opinion of a company goes down, their products may have a difficult time selling. This

limits companies options if they feel bad press may be an outcome.


SWOT TABLE Disney
- Providing experiences for every age
group
- Park visits give extra exposure to
character
- Lots of capital for marketing
- Experience food through Parks and
Strengths hospitality experiences
- worlds most admired companies
(Number 14)
- superior creative process (product)
- different methods of influencing
target group/ audience (children)
- Lack of promotion for healthy
product lines
- Lack of strategic placement in stores
- Moving into established markets
- Undifferentiated products
- Lack of experience in healthy foods
Weakness - Competitive vulnerability
- Not managing sales
channels effectively
- Lacking positive public relations
- Moderate to high pricing
- Poor brand recognitions
- create effective promotional
strategies to draw in new customers
- strategically placing products
effectively
- establish a market position
- differentiate products
- gain experience for the market
-expand R&D to capture larger share
Opportunities of market to reduce vulnerability
- utilize effective sales channels
- gain positive public relations
-find different vendors for better price
points
- create positive image for healthy
food brands
- lack of healthy vendors
- economic crisis
-agricultural problems
-healthy foods are not as nutritious as
Threats perceived
- surgeon general says a healthy food
product is not healthy
Nickelodeon
- Established presence in healthy
foods market
- Popular cartoon characters
- Seen by 89 million households
- Cartoons aimed at relevant age
group
- cartoons aired weekly that influence
target audience
- Lack of promotion for healthy
product lines
- Lack of strategic placement in stores
- Moving into established markets
- Undifferentiated products
- Lack of experience in healthy foods
- Competitive vulnerability
- Moderate to high pricing
- change perception of the characters
to positive
- capture the market of the female
audience
- expand R&D to capture larger share
of market to reduce vulnerability
- gaining recognition for health
products
- find different vendors for better price
points
- lack of healthy vendors
- economic crisis
-agricultural problems
-healthy foods are not as nutritious as
perceived
- surgeon general says a healthy food
product is not healthy
Sesame Street
- increased familiarity products such
as tickle me elmo (big hit)
- promotion through cartoons
(Elmo/Big Bird/Cookie Monster)
- distribution channels (amazon, toys r
us, walmart, target, etc)
- recognizable brand name from
childhood
- stronger relationship with young
children through schools
- Limited age group appeal
- Targeting wrong audience
- Small market share
- Moderate to high pricing
- Limited products
- utilize celebrity appeal toward all
audiences
- target the appropriate age groups
- capture more market share
- find different vendors for better price
points
- create new innovative products
- lack of healthy vendors
- economic crisis
-agricultural problems
-healthy foods are not as nutritious as
perceived
- surgeon general says a healthy food
product is not healthy
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Warner Brothers
- specialized in advertising
(promotion)
- character placement in theme parks
(Six Flags)
- promotion through cartoons on
public tv (no cable necessary)
- targeted toward all age groups
- well connected to famous stars for
promotional purposes
- Targeting wrong age group
- Lack of food product experience
- Small market share
- Moderate to high pricing
- Limited products
- target appropriate age group
- gain product experience
- expand market share
- find different vendors for better price
points
- expand product line
- lack of healthy vendors
- economic crisis
-agricultural problems
-healthy foods are not as nutritious as
perceived
- surgeon general says a healthy food
product is not healthy
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SWOT ANALYSIS

In order to access and analyze Disneys case versus other competitors, categories such as

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats need to be compared. As shown in the SWOT

table analysis, Disney was compared to Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and Warner Brothers. The

competitors were chosen mainly because of similar interests in the market share of consumer

products, mainly foods. With such similar companies, each company has its own strategies on

marketing, advertising, and distribution. Although Disney possess many strengths, it also has to

overcome several weaknesses.

Finding 1: Disneys Strengths

Disneys strengths are unique in that all the other companies do not possess them. For

example, Disneys reputation in giving out quality experience in theme parks and hospitality

services is world-renowned. Not only does Disney provide unforgettable experiences for all

ages, but was also ranked nineteen as one of the worlds most admired companies in 2010

(Money CNN). Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and Warner Brothers all contain strengths that

Disney currently does not hold. For example, Nickelodeon has an established presence in the

healthy foods market, Sesame Street has a large distribution channel through Amazon, Toys R

Us, Wal-Mart, and Target, and Warner Brothers has promotion through cartoons on public TV.

Although Disney has strengths, they also have weaknesses that hinder their performance.

Finding 2: Disneys Weaknesses (Promotion)

Some major weaknesses that Disney face include their advertising and distribution

strategies. The main key finding is that the healthy Disney products are unknown to most

consumers, such as children and adults. Disney lacks the necessary outreach of their healthy

product lines for successful revenue. The second key finding is that the consumer products of
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health conscience foods and industry distributions are not attractive resulting in crippled profits.

The third key finding is distributional relationship. Disneys distribution relationship needs to be

perfected in a way that would maximize management and advertisement for their products. The

weaknesses faced by Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and Warner Brothers vary by company.

Nickelodeon faces challenges with undifferentiated products and competitive vulnerability.

Sesame Street weaknesses include a limited age group appeal and small market share. Warner

Brothers lack the food product experience and contain a small market share. With the

weaknesses identified by Disney, they could implement profitable opportunities.

Disney, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, and Warner Brothers contain weaknesses that

could be solved with new opportunities. Disney can create an effective promotional strategy that

could solve the lack of advertisement they face. With the lack of strategic placement in stores,

Disney could come up with new innovative ideas with retailers on how to display their products

to entice consumers. The weak relationship with distributors and retailers could be strengthened

to help Disney move their products in a quick manner. Nickelodeons lack of undifferentiated

products could allow them the opportunity to expand their R&D to produce new products and

approaches to competitive vulnerability. Sesame Street has the opportunity to create innovative

products and target a more appropriate age group to expand their market share. Warner Brothers

lack of food experience would ultimately lead them to gain product experience. All four

companies face opportunities from weaknesses but they also face threats from the industry and

each other.
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SOLUTIONS
Solution 1(Campaign and Placement) for Finding 2 (Promotion)
A marketing campaign strategy focusing on television (TV) and in store advertisements

(ads) will address Disneys weak promotional issues and take advantage of opportunities

competitors have not. This will also introduce Disneys healthy food line to the mass public.

Disney has the opportunity to be the first character-driven healthy foods producers to market

their products. As the SWOT indicates, Disney lacks promotion for their healthy foods.

Competitors have weekly cartoon promotions of their characters. Disney lacks a weekly

consumer influence. Disney must adapt; through TV and in store ads they can influence

consumers in new ways.

First, Disney must reinvent themselves in consumers minds as a healthy food.

Consumers view Disneys food as unhealthy. Informing consumers about their healthy food line

can change negative associations. This can be achieved by maximizing awareness of Disney

products through TV ads. DCP managers will need to study and manage commercials to ensure

the message comes across that Disneys healthy foods have high quality standards.

The message should be directed at middle to upper class parents whose children are

between the ages of 3 and 13. A well-established Disney character familiar to consumers should

present the message. Later advertisements can be targeted at children, but first Disney must

establish their healthy foods in the minds of parents. Slogans like Disneys healthy foods make

children grow up healthy and strong or if your childrens health is a concern you should try

Disneys nutritional foods.

Latter commercial should be targeted at children from the ages of 3 to 13. Commercials

can feature a spokes model character condoning an over weight evil character for his poor eating
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habits. The spokes model can change the evil characters ways by introducing him to Disneys

healthy foods. This will both entertain and educate audiences on Disneys new healthy food

line.

The second step is marketing Disneys healthy foods within stores. Once consumers

know about Disneys healthy foods they will need to find it. Having asked more than 30 people

about Disneys food products in super markets, it is clear that Disney consumer product

managers have failed to place their products in the market to make them easily accessible to

their consumers, since all 30 people had no idea they existed. The lack of strategic placement of

these products will continuously affect net sales and gross margins unless DCP mangers

implement a solution. To remediate such a problem, DCP managers will need to invest a great

amount of time in marketing techniques to gradually captivate consumers attention down the

market aisle.

Product placement is undisputedly an important factor when introducing or offering new

products. Disney needs to grab consumers attention inside grocery isles. Ads placed in grocery

store isles showing Disneys foods locations can achieve this goal. There should be cardboard

cutouts of the spokes model character allowing consumers to identify Disney products. Vendors

can also show Disney products on end caps and other high traffic areas.

To maximize product placement awareness, Disney should also offer samples of their

products with a trained Disney employee to emphasize key products and nutritional facts. Not

only would this give a child and parents a taste of the products, but also capture the parents

perception of these products. Additionally, Disney could place a monitor that has a Disney

character briefly highlighting nutritional facts of their products in their assigned aisle section.
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Using these strategies would engrain a memory into children and parents to remember

where products are located and what they can find in these aisle sections. After DCP managers

determine that products have sufficient bearing to captivate consumers to look for their

products, Disney can collaborate with sorting their products in accordance to their respective

aisle in the store.

Marketing through T.V and in store ads will allow Disney to take advantage of their

competitors weakness while addressing one of their own. It establishes their new direction and

engrains their food line in the memories of consumers. This strategy ensures recognition for

Disneys healthy foods.

Solution 2 (Public Relations) to Finding 2 (Promotion)

A positive public relations (PR) campaign can gain Disney recognition for their healthy

foods. Disney does not lack brand reputation against any competitor, yet they lack weekly

cartoon character promotion of their food products. Whereas, Nickelodeons current cartoons

are seen in 89 million households, Disney lacks relevant cartoons to market their products.

Although, Disney consumers spend approximately 9.16 billion hours immersed in the Disney

experience, those hours do not fully utilize marketing efforts for their food product line. Disney

needs to draw attention to their new healthy food line.

Disneys PR can draw consumers attention to their healthy foods. Since most people are

unaware of Disneys new direction, a message must be expressed to the public about their new

direction. A positive PR campaign will establish Disneys place in the market. Nickelodeon,

first in the market has a dominant position in healthy foods. A positive PR campaign can steal a

share of Nickelodeons market and etch out a place for Disney.

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A PR message should not condemn the ways of the past, but allow consumers to

understand Disneys concern for childrens health. Disneys motive is to reduce childhood

obesity; this needs to be known by the public. It is commendable that Disney is putting

childrens health as a priority while risking millions due to their concern for childhood obesity.

This needs to be publicized to consumers.

Disney must find a way to combat their limited promotion. A PR campaign can establish

Disneys place in the market and introduce their food line. Focusing on Disneys concern for

children will get the message out and allow people to sympathize with their cause.

Solution 3 (Packaging) to Finding 2 (Promotion)

Distinctly designed packaging will help draw attention to Disneys healthy food

movement and will make an impact in consumers minds. The packaging should contain

nutrition standards and can incorporate green movement ads in designs. Disney Consumer

Foods face a challenge in changing peoples perception about their childrens food line. Disney

once known for producing only sweets and treats must now shed that image to increase

awareness of their organic health conscious food line. In this market, consumers already have

favorite products from manufacturers such as Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, and Warner

Brothers. The challenge for Disney Consumer Products is to create positive consumer

perception about the benefits of their food product line over their competitors.

Disney needs to draw on the experience of their marketing and advertising teams to

create campaigns that will generate consumer awareness of their redesigned product line.

Disney must combat their weaknesses to overcome the strengths of their competitors:

Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, and Warner Brothers. Disney faces the most competition from
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Nickelodeon since they control the largest market share and since they were also the first to

enter the consumer foods market for children.

The first challenge for Disney is to overcome how it promotes and advertises its food

product line. Disney must establish clear distinctions why their food line is superior to their

competitors. They must also establish themselves as the leader in developing a food line that

meets or exceeds FDA guidelines to help reduce childhood obesity and diabetes. Disney can be

the first of these companies to start a movement for healthy childrens foods and in turn capture

a segment of the market where parents and children practice a healthy lifestyle. Consumers

today have choices and are concerned about what is put in their food and how it is grown.

Disney can garner great success by having their food line associated with the green movement

and superior product.

Disney can combat their competitors products by creating visual memories in the

consumers mind. This can be accomplished by using packaging made from recycled materials,

supporting green causes through donations from profits on the food products, and also

advertise on packaging explaining the benefits to eating their foods. For example, they could

explain that they use natural ingredients, no trans fats, no pesticides and herbicides, or artificial

colors or preservatives. Food products today more than ever have to be clearly distinguishable

and top food brands in all categories are utilizing brand messaging to set themselves apart.

Disney can utilize the same marketing strategies to set themselves apart in the childrens food

sector. Although, lacking experience in healthy food products, Disney can leverage its

relationships with food producers and distributors to create the best childrens product on the

market.
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Disney is the largest entertainment company in the world, but somehow has had trouble

with market penetration in the childrens food sector. The Disney name is also by far the most

established and well respected among its competitors. In order to be successful in this stage of

becoming the dominant player in this sector, Disney must demonstrate to consumers their

products are superior in every way from, ingredients, quality, and manufacturing. Disney

controls their future success or failure in this market and must establish brand loyalty through

superior products. Parents can be targeted through store weeklys, Sunday Paper advertisements,

and kids targeted through new and innovative cartoons and television shows. The benefit of

creating a product line synonymous with the green movement will not only benefit the Disney

food product line but also the entire brand.

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IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
With three solutions to help address the promotional issues that Disney faces, the

concept of campaign should be implemented. By initiating an advertising campaign, the word of

Disneys new healthy product line will be known across the world. This campaign will not only

produce a high return on investment, but also capture a stable market share. To properly create a

successful campaign, a task list, network diagram, and Gantt chart will outline all the necessary

timelines, full time equivalents, and resources required. The task list shows all the steps needed

to complete an advertisement along with their predecessor tasks. The network diagram refers to

the start time, finish time, floating days, and the critical path. The critical path is shown in red

where if any of the tasks lies in the critical path, the project will be delayed.

Return on Investment
Analyzing Disneys Consumer Product revenues, if we compare them to Coca-Colas

revenues (after they purchased Vitamin Water from Glaceau in 2007), we can see a trajectory

of possible growth in revenues as seen in the graph below where Coca-Colas revenues (Coca-

Cola 2008, 10-K) began to increase (with the exception of 2008 [economic recession])

significantly. The purpose of making this comparison is to emphasize how important product

marketing is when introducing a new-healthy product. Using a simple, but self-explanatory

name that provides people with his or her daily vitamins in a bottle of flavored water and

commercializing the product everywhere, captivated the publics eyes and influenced them to

purchase these healthy drinks. If DCP takes a similar approach to invest in their marketing

department and began to promote their health-conscious products for children in the same

manner Coca-Cola did with Vitamin Water for adults, DCP may have the opportunity to grasp

the market for childrens healthy alternate options and begin seeing some increases in their DCP

revenues.
 25

Coca Cola Revenues vs DCP Revenues

14000

12000

10000
In millions

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Date
Coca Cola DCP
 26

Task List

Immediate Efforts Duration Team

Task ID Task Predecessor (Weeks) (Weeks) Commitment
A Prepare business case **** 2 2 1
B Initial Client/Agency Meeting A 1 1 1
C Agency Brainstorming A 6 3 2
D Agency presents concept to client B,C 1 1 1
E Adjustments made to concept D 6 4 1.5
F Ongoing discussion with client D 2 2 1
G Hiring of film crew D 2 1 2
H Story boards created E,F,G 2 2 1
I Presentation of story board to client H 1 1 1
J Approval of story board I 2 1 2
K Audition and hiring talent J 2 1 2
L Filming K 4 2 2
M Editing and Final Cuts K 6 3 2

Team Commitment=Effort/Duration
27
 28

Implementation Outline

A. Prepare Business Case

Develop short-term to long-term implementation plan on how to address and resolve current
weaknesses in current sector.

B. Initial Client / Agency Meeting

The agency and client meet to address the messaging the TV spot should convey.

C. Agency Creative Brainstorming

First stages of creative concepts: 1-2 weeks. The creative department form concepts for the TV spot.
These concepts aim to achieve the appropriate messaging
as discussed in the client/agency meeting. This part of the process is the responsibility of the
Creative Director and Art Director assigned to the project.

D. Agency Presents Concept to Client

The ad agency may have a formal meeting or tele-conference with the client to discuss the concepts.
The client will provide feedback. In many cases, the client may add additional assets to incorporate
into the spots.

E. Adjustments Made to Concept

Ongoing discussions with client, hiring of film crew, story boards created: 1-2 weeks. The creative
team fleshes out the concepts and hires illustrators to create the storyboards.

F. Ongoing Discussion with Client

Client and creative team meet to discuss what areas need to be expanded upon and further develop
concept.

G. Hiring of Film Crew

The agency will begin the process of interviewing films crews and commercial directors.

H. Story Board Created

Graphic organizer developed to demonstrate and organize illustrations and images in sequence in
order to visualize concept. Serve to give a visual representation as to how the spots will look
(camera angles, story arc, visual assets, etc.).

I. Presentation of Story Boards to Client / Project approval

The agency presents the completed storyboards for the TV spots in detail.

J. Approval of Story Board

If all goes well, the client will approve the spots for filming. Sometimes there will be minor
changes, which would be adjusted in the storyboards. Then, the storyboards would be sent to the
client for approval.

K. Audition and Hiring Talent: 2 weeks

The agency will be seeking acting talent for the spots. Usually, they have casting calls to have
 29

auditions. This may include voice actors for voice-overs.

L. Filming: 4 days
This stage is simply the filming of the TV spots with long hours on set.

M. Editing and final cuts: 6 weeks

Finally, the film crew edits the spots with agency art director providing direction. With the approval
from the ad agency and its client, final cuts are made. The final spots are sent to a media team for
distribution to TV networks.
 30

CONCLUSION
It is still evident that DCP has a lot to learn and discover. Managers and executives alike

need to acknowledge these internal issues and begin a tentative plan to remediate these promotional

problems. Unfortunately, the publics knowledge of Disneys line of healthy products is minimal to

near existent. With the launch of these new healthy conscious products, Disney still falls short

without engaging in effective product marketing. A marketing campaign strategy focusing on

television (TV) and in store advertisements (ads) will address Disneys weak promotional issues and

take advantage of opportunities competitors have not. This will also introduce Disneys healthy food

line to the mass public. In addition, a positive public relations (PR) campaign can gain Disney

recognition for their healthy foods, and character designed packaging will help draw attention to

Disneys healthy food movement making an impact in consumers minds. By administering these

solutions, Disney will be on a path to set them apart from their competitors and live-up to the

expectations that Walt Disney once had, I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other

things.
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REFERENCES

Bell, David and Winig, Laura (2009). Disney Consumer Products: Marketing Nutrition to Children.

Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College, Boston.

Wolf, Michael. (1999). Eisner Un-Moused? New York Magazine. Retrieved November 2, 2011,

from http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/columns/medialife/143/

The Walt Disney Company (October 2, 2010). Form 10-K. Retrieved October 5, 2011 from

http://corporate.disney.go.com/media/investors/form_10k_fy2010.pdf

The Coca-Cola Company (December 31, 2008). Form 10-K. Retrieved November 22, 2011 from

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/investors/pdfs/form_10K_2008.pdf

Worlds Most Admired Companies. (n.d). Retrieved November 22, 2010, from

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2011/full_list/

Investor Relations. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from

http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/index.html

Corporate Relations. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from

http://corporate.disney.go.com/careers/who.html
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APPENDICES
 33

APPENDIX A: SOURCES OF IMAGES

Image Data Sources:

https://enterpriseportal.disney.com/gopublish/sitemedia/dcp/Home/Our%20Businesses/us_lob_fhb_f
ood_fact_sheet_060111.pdf

Image 1: Fruits, Cheese, Yogurt, and Milk

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APPENDIX B: SOURCES OF DATA

Data Sources:
Disney Case Study [Bell]
Table 1: DCP Revenue breakdown

Disney Consumer Products Food and Grocery Only

2003 2004 2005 2003 2004 2005

Revenues 2,344 2,511 2,127 53 53 69

All values in $ millions

Table 2: Top-Earning Fictional Characters from 2003-2004 by Forbes ($ billions)

Character Company Year Introduced 2003 2004

Mickey Mouse Disney 1928 4.7 5.8

Winnie the Disney 1926 5.9 5.6

Pooh

Frodo Baggins Tolkien Enterprises 1954 2.2 2.9

Table 3: Leading Licensors of Character-Driven Entertainment Brands, 2005

Company Key Character Rank Sales ($ billions)

Disney Mickey Mouse/Winnie the Pooh 1 21

Warner Brothers Harry Potter/Looney Tunes 2 6

Nickelodeon SpongeBob Square pants 3 5.2

&Viacom

Marvel Spiderman 4 5

Entertainment