Walt Disney was a media pioneer and the company continues his legacy by being one of the world’s most effective brand storytellers, focusing on marketing techniques that resonates with and inspires audiences. Establishing Disney theme parks as a must visit destination is a large part of Disney’s marketing and branding strategy. When it comes to online video, Disney actively operates various YouTube channels and Facebook pages for nearly all their brands. This revamping combined 300 social media channels that reach a total audience of over a billion. Other brands on the network include Oh My Disney, Disney Style, Disney Family and Babble, in addition to Maker’s Polaris brand, which is made up of several YouTube gaming influencers. Content is Key to Online Video Marketing In order to keep their legacy brands fresh and resonant with audiences of all ages, Disney’s content creation team produce content that is authentic to the brand’s appeal while using the latest technology to update it for today’s digital audiences. They use video as a content piece by finding a way to tell a story about their products and brand. The Importance of Data to Disney Marketing A vital tool in helping Disney executives be so successful in producing engaging content to their audiences is their use of data and analytics. Streaming video is the last piece in creating the ultimate Disney Synergy, a holistic ecosystem of Disney centric distribution and cross marketing. Imagine this: a Disney film would premiere in a theater, be available online on the Disney streaming service while fans experience the film’s locations at Disney theme parks and read more of the film’s stories in books and comics in Disney publications while wearing film merchandise.
There’s no doubt The Walt Disney Company is a Jedi Master at marketing, as evident with the successful results of their acquisition of the Star Wars franchise from Lucasfilm, and the Marvel franchise. Disney’s marketing machine is largely responsible for the corporation’s financial success. On the 2017 Fortune 500 List, Disney was ranked No. 52 with a total of $55.6 billion in annual revenue and the company is ranked No. 6 on Fortune’s 2018 World’s Most Admired Companies list.
Since 1923, Disney has been sprinkling a little magic in our lives through their theme parks, films, television shows, music, merchandise and now, online and social media experiences. A key component of Disney’s success is due to their marketing philosophy of taking full advantage of all their distribution channels through cross-promotions and company branding. However, long before the internet was born, Walt Disney himself knew that cross promoting Disney’s various businesses was the answer to big profits. His diversified marketing strategy from 1957 illustrated a vision of a variety of different media and businesses connected to each other to form a web of marketing opportunities. Walt’s original game plan is apparent today in the “Disney Synergy” where a successful film title can spawn a music CD, a TV show, comic books, merchandise and even a thematic cruise ship!
The brand giant currently has 772 different digital channels under its umbrella including ABC, ESPN, and Marvel, making it the second most viewed entertainment and media property in February 2018:
Disney was also the 4th most viewed media company in 2017 with 21B views on Facebook, and 23B views on YouTube, making them a Tubular Video Aces winner for the second year running.
Disney: The Marketing Juggernaut
For generations, Disney has successfully embedded their characters into our lives and culture. Almost everyone possessed at one point in their lives some kind of Disney product whether it be a toy or branded merchandise. Walt Disney was a media pioneer and the company continues his legacy by being one of the world’s most effective brand storytellers, focusing on marketing techniques that resonates with and inspires audiences. Establishing Disney theme parks as a must visit destination is a large part of Disney’s marketing and branding strategy. Rides, shows and events at Disneyland and Disney World are constantly changing and updated to reflect current trends and Disney’s entertainment titles, ensuring there’s always new content to promote and a new experience for returning visitors.
Another way Disney engages their fans is by strategically creating content for audiences of all ages. Depending on the film, Disney markets according to the target audience’s age and interests. For Star Wars fans who encompass millennials and fans of the original films, Disney keeps interest strong even after a film release with diverse online content such as fun facts, videos, and even recipes for Stormtrooper cookies, available on their Instagram account which has over 6 million followers. But for fans of the animated hit, “Frozen,” who are too young to have Instagram accounts, Disney focuses on creating toys and consumer goods for this demographic. Frozen dolls alone have raked in $500 million dollars in revenue for the studio and that’s not counting the other officially licensed Frozen everything else that is sold.
Other successful Disney marketing techniques include using nostalgia to create customer loyalty. As the storyteller to various generations, Disney knows many people grew up watching their classic animated films and will now want to take their kids. Therefore, the studio has remade many of their classic films like “Jungle Book” and “Beauty and the Beast” and plans to release updated versions of more recent animated classics like “The Lion King.”
Disney Marketing Dominates From Big to Small Screens
The company is immensely diverse when it comes to their marketing channels and with advances in technology, Disney’s marketing campaigns have embraced innovation and adapted technology to connect with audiences. The internet and social media have empowered Disney’s marketing to be even more effective, allowing them to reach out on a daily basis to their fans in a variety of ways.
When it comes to online video, Disney actively operates various YouTube channels and Facebook pages for nearly all their brands. The success of their videos are due to the fact that they are brief and entertaining, requiring only a short attention span but have high production values, just like Disney films. Perfecting the art of providing fun, valuable content without constantly trying to sell something, Disney keep their followers engaged by posting various types of interesting video content like showing the behind the scenes action of popular Disney shows and attractions in addition to live streams, “vlog” style videos, video ads and more. We already know that the online video promotion behind ‘Black Panther’ has been a staggering success, and that the official ‘Sing-a-long- video for ‘Let it Go’ from ‘Frozen’ is the most viewed Disney online video ever. The YouTube upload has generated an unbelievable 1.4 billion views (48.9 million in February 2018 alone!). It has also garnered an impressive 3.9 million engagements in the form of likes, comments, and shares, across both…
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