2010

COMM2384 - Client Management

[DISNEY LAND HONG KONG’S CASE STUDY]

Dung, Dao Tuan – S3192571

Due Date: 14th April 2010

COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

In 12 September, 2005, a grand opening for Hong Kong Disneyland marked a new beginning for
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Disney’s theme park chain around the world. As operating in this location would challenge
Disney to adapt with the local culture, politic and relationship, it was vital to examine the
communication strategies that used to see how Disney progressed and cope with the
challenges in this market.

This paper will be divided into three main parts. Firstly, the communication goal will be
addressed. Secondly, the communication strategies used will be critically examined. Lastly,
several recommendations will also be drawn in order to improve the strategy.

1. Hong Kong Disneyland’s communication goal:

According to Baldwin, Liu, Suzuki & O’Rourke (2007), Hong Kong Disneyland was initially
invested by government because they want to make this theme park become an attraction for
tourism after the SARS panic in 2003. On the other hands, the reason Disney choose Hong Kong
to place another theme park due to the fact that Hong Kong government is willing to help and
there is a vast profit may come from people in Mainland China. Therefore, the main goal both
the key players want to achieve is to successfully position the brand Disneyland in Hong Kong
theme park market.

However, accompanied with the goal of successfully position the brand in Hong Kong market,
Disney also encountered several challenges that come before and after the construction of the
park such as environmental, cultural and employee-related issues. Therefore, it is fundamental
for them to take those concerns into account when planning the communication strategies.

In short, below is the summary of four main goals that Hong Kong Disneyland wants to address:

Successfully position Disneyland brand in Hong Kong.

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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

Incorporate elements of local culture into the theme park.

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Address the environmental issues.
Solve the lack of employee communication.

2. Communication strategies - What have Disney done?

A. The grand opening – Establishing the brand position

Despite the need to establish the brand presence at first, the development of Hong Kong
Disneyland is quiet and lack of appropriate communication channel. There were only few press
releases available around that period (Baldwin, Liu, Suzuki & O’Rourke 2007). The
communication only intensively utilized shortly before the grand opening and after that.

In order to gain publicity for the grand opening, Disneyland Hong Kong cooperated with TVB,
the largest broadcasting network in Hong Kong, to broadcast series of Disney productions. Hong
Kong Disneyland also chose Jackie Cheung, a local singer, as their spokesperson to participate in
many marketing events organized by Hong Kong Disneyland in the near future and help the
park connect with many audiences (Xinhuanet, 2004 & Disneyland Hong Kong, 2004). In August,
2005 before the grand opening one month, Disney released Information booklet, and TV &
radio announcements in public interest (Tourism Commission, 2005).

After the grand opening of the park, according to Tourism Commission (2005), several
communication channels had been established in order to help customer obtain information:

A designated website of the Tourism Commission (www.hkdisneyland.gov.hk);

Website of the Transport Department (www.info.gov.hk/td/);
Website of Hong Kong Disneyland (www.hongkongdisneyland.com);
Enquiry telephone lines provided by the Transport Department and the Hong Kong
Disneyland.
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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

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B. The mixture of Chinese and Disneyland’s culture

According to Baldwin, Liu, Suzuki & O’Rourke (2007), some Hong Kong citizens are skeptical
towards the park as they considered it as the production of Western media imperialism that
will damage the Chinese culture in Hong Kong. Moreover, Disney also wants to avoid the clash
between its culture and local counterpart after encountering the resistance of Paris people
(Hills & Welford, 2006). Therefore, they try to assure the public that the Hong Kong Disneyland
will be localized with many Chinese cultural factors to show the respect and appreciation of the
local culture. Firstly, the park consults Feng shui experts about the park’s layout and ground
(The day for grand opening is also chosen by feng shui consultants as well) (Sina, 2005).
Secondly, the restaurant inside the park serves mainly the Chinese menu as well (Baldwin, Liu,
Suzuki & O’Rourke, 2007). Lastly, some Chinese traditional events (such as Lunar new year) will
be featured into the annual activity that is exclusive only in Hong Kong Disneyland (Fung & Lee,
2009).

Although the park communicates quite well with the public to gain their interest to the park;
the way they executive what they communicate is quite contradict. According to Fung & Lee
(2009), the audiences seldom see Mulan, a well-known character among Chinese audiences,
inside the hotels; instead they are around by many Western Disney princesses. Moreover, when
entering Disney’s live shows (show mostly the Western productions), Chinese audience cannot
understand the whole story because there is no full translation (from the beginning to the end
of the show) to help they understand what is going on in the stage (Fung & Lee, 2009). This is
surprising because Disney tried to communicate that they want to show an appreciation of local
culture and creating an understanding between Disney’s culture and the local audiences.

C. Environmental sensitivity – the shark’s fin soup controversy.

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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

After the announcement of constructing Disneyland in Hong Kong, the park has faced with
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many resistances from environmentalists in Hong Kong. They argue that the park’s
development will pollute the air (due to the firework shows) and contaminate the sea nearby
(Baldwin, Liu, Suzuki & O’Rourke, 2007). After the park opened, the environmentalists also
protest against the shark’s fin soup and they want Disney to take this dish out of the
restaurant’s menu (Yung & Ng, 2005). Disney then claimed that the “shark’s source was
reliable” because the fishing company guaranteed that the shark was “caught under
internationally accepted fishing methods” (Hills and Welford, 2009). Thus, this caused anger
among environmentalists because “the idea of sustainable shark’s fins is illusory” as we cannot
determine how fins are harvested according to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s
explanation (Hills and Welford, 2009, p.50).

This controversy caused bad image for Hong Kong Disneyland when it had just opened. There is
even an NGO that is established by local academic and students to “draw attention to Disney’s
influence on the environment, culture and labour” (Hills and Welford, 2009, p.51).

D. Employees and organizational culture’s conflict

During the operation of the park, many employees encountered poor workplace conditions,
underpayment of wages and a failure to protect workers’ rights (Hills & Welford, 2006). They
also felt like being put into a show because they have to smile everyday according to Disney’s
“smile factory” strategy (Van Maanen, 1991, cited by Matusitz, 2009). This was particularly an
issue in Hong Kong because people who always smile are considered to be suspicious and the
employees are not willing to do this; thus it caused a mini- revolution inside the park, as there
were 1,000 employees left (Matusitz, 2009). This incident shows the lack of internal
communication between the employees with the organization’s culture and policies.

3. Evaluation and Recommendation

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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

After critically analyse the case, the communication strategies that Disney carried out are good
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and appropriate but somehow reactive rather than proactive. It could be seen in the issue of
employee and shark’s fin soup. Therefore, several recommendations are drawn in order to
improve the strategy.

Firstly, the strategies used to communicate the park with audience is very appropriate since
Disney utilized both personal (Enquiry telephone lines) and non-personal channels (TV, press
release, website). The problem in their strategy is the timing, however. According to Belch &
Belch (2009, p.150) personal channel often used is word-of-mouth communication, and it is a
powerful source of information for consumers. In Disney case, they did not reveal much
information during the development of the park; thus leaving the consumers no ideas what
may be interesting in here. In others to improve the situation, it would be better if the
communication activities could happen together with the development of the park. This would
help give more information to consumers and also create a hook that draws their attentions to
the park when it opens.

Secondly, the strategic planning to incorporate Chinese culture into Disneyland was conducted
properly. According to Appelbaum & Belmuth (2009), the international business operation
requires thorough knowledge of the planners about political (how to gain the favor of the
government), economic (how to attract Chinese visitors), social and cultural (the restaurant
menu or Chinese annual events) values, and Disney seems to works it out well. By featuring
those values, it obviously that Hong Kong Disneyland is more localized than other Disney park in
all over the world. The problem of the planning is the executive is totally different as mentioned
above. Therefore, it would be helpful if there are observers who can constantly check the
executive of the plan and correct it when it goes wrong according to the plan.

Thirdly, Disney seems lack of preparation for crisis management. Before the opening of the
park, Disney was already faced a lot of confrontations from Hong Kong environmentalists. At
least they should be proactive and manage the environmental risks they could encounter when
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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

operating the business. During the shark’s fin incident, they somehow underestimated the
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power of the environmentalist; thus, fail to communicate with them in an appropriate way in
the beginning. According to Doorley & Garcia (2007, p.315), the communication planning for
issues management should try to neutralize or minimize the impact of negativity on audience
thinking. It could be seen that Disney tried to minimize this issue by consulting with local green
group (Hills and Welford, 2009, p.51). However, the way they communicate the message is very
controversial as mentioned in the strategies analysis above, and also very haste. It could be
better if they could try to address the issue in the first place rather than try to defend and go
“around the brush”.

Lastly, it is vital to establish a strong internal communication in order to motivate and boost the
employee’s performance. According to Nelson (cited by Doorley & Garcia, 2007), the
communication message should not only give the initiative message (for example, why you are
working here at Disneyland), but include the vision and values (how Disney operate and the
idea of smiling factory) and the mission (why Disney have to serve customers with a smile). If in
the beginning, Disney could give a strong and clear message about its culture, it could help
prevent the employees felt confused about the clash between their own cultural background
and the organizational culture.

(1696 words)

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COMM2384: Client Management RMIT University

REFERENCE LIST
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1. Appelbaum, L & Belmuth, G, S, 2007, ‘The global imperative’, Reputation management, 1st
edn., Routledge, New York, USA, pp.242-245.

2. Baldwin, J, L, Liu, A, Suzuki, H & O'Rourke, J, S, 2007, ‘The Walt Disney company: launch of a
Hong Kong Theme Park’, The business communication casebook, 2nd edn., South-Western
Cengage, Mason OH, USA, pp.259-273.

3. Belch, G, E & Belch, M, A, 2009, ‘The communication process’, Advertising and promotion an
integrated marketing communication perspective, 8th edn., McGraw-Hill, New York, USA, pp.
149-152.

4. China Economic Net, 2004, HK Disneyland names Jacky Cheung as spokesperson, viewed in
20th March 2010,
<http://en.ce.cn/Life/entertainment/people/200407/23/t20040723_1311070.shtml>.

5. Doorley, J & Garcia, H, F, 2007, ‘Employee communication drives organizational

performance’, Reputation management, 1st edn., Routledge, New York, USA, pp.133-138.

6. Doorley, J & Garcia, H, F, 2007, ‘What the elements of the issues management analysis and
planning template mean’, Reputation management, 1st edn., Routledge, New York, USA,
pp.307-326.

7. Funga, A & Lee, M, 2009, Localizing a global amusement park: Hong Kong Disneyland,
Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, vol. 23, no. 2, pp.197–208.

8. Hills, J & Welford, R, 2006, 'Dilemmas or debacles? A case study of Disney in Hong Kong',
Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, vol. 13, pp. 47-54.
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9. Hong Kong Disneyland, 2004, Hong Kong Disneyland welcomes Jacky Cheung as official
spokesperson, viewed in 21st March 2010,
<http://www.hongkongdisneyland.com/eng/discover/20040722.html>.

10. Matusitz, J, 2009, Disney’s successful adaptation in Hong Kong: A glocalization perspective,
Asia Pacific Journal of Management, n.vol, n. issue, no specific page.

11. Sina English, 2005, Disney uses feng shui to build Mickey's new kingdom in Hong Kong,
viewed in 30th March 2010, <http://english.sina.com/taiwan_hk/1/2005/0907/45097.html>.

12. Tourism Commission, 2005, Arrangements for opening of Hong Kong Disneyland and
Penny's Bay, viewed in 10th April 2010,
<http://www.tourism.gov.hk/resources/english/paperreport_doc/press/2005-06-
22/Disneyland_E.pdf>.

13. The Standard, 2005, Disney ditches shark's fin, viewed in 6th April 2010,
<http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Metro/GF25Ak01.html>.

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