Disney consumer products : Marketing

nutrition to kids

History :Let’s take a sneak peak at the past

1923 - Mickey Mouse debuts in steamboat willie

1932 - a formal licensing business is established

1954 - Disney debuted it’s first television program, “the wonderful world of Disney”

1955 - opened the first Disneyland in California

2004 - the obesity phenomenon

2006 - Walt Disney Company has managed to establish 4 major segments

Walt Disney Company in 2006

Media network

Studio Entertainment

DCP

Park and Resorts

DCP

Disney sells the rights to use it’s characters to licensees for marketing purposes at exorbitant rates due to the fact that Disney characters resonate well with kids

DCP’s licensing models :

Licensing models

Sourcing (Product designing is controlled by disney alone )

Direct to Retailer(brand sold directly to retailer)

Traditional licensing model

Current scenario

Brands like Disney are being blamed for increasing rates of obesity among children

14% of the American juvenile population areObese and 30% of the american kids are overweight

Disney has traditionally marketed treats and sweets that target its core

Consumer groups

Due to factors like :

Retail industry consolidation

Increasing occurance of obesity among kids

New licensing models

New FDA Rules

Disney sees an opportunity to expand on it’s product range by rolling out “Health food”

THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER

How to customize the food serving in order to ensure that the nutritional content meets the USDA and FDA guidelines ?

How to stay loyal to the core values of the brand (fun , trust and happiness) and how to stay relevant to kids

Analysing the market to come up with a hypothesis that solves this case

Using focus groups and mother’s support groups to gauge public perception of the brand

Moms associate Disney

Strongly with magic—it is the

key image that comes to mind

even when it comes to Food ,

they place a lot of trust on the

Brand

It has been observed that kids play a

vital role in the decision making process

involved in purchasing .

Kid’s decisions are largely

driven by peer pressure

and commercials

Inferences drawn

Must look good and flashy , for the kids

Must meet the daily nutrition requirements of kids without compromising on the kid’s choice

The Solution ????

“Good food , great fun”!!! , a combination of all of the above factors and observations used to design a new generation of products

EXECUTIVE DECISIONS TAKEN (Proof and action)

Steps taken after auditShrink out certain

portions

Reformulate certain products

Maintain certain products

Phase out other products

Disney licensed it’s characters to imagination farms , which is a national fresh produce company as a part of its new strategy

Using fun facts on the cover of the products to explain the importance of nutrition to kids

Using Store Keeping Units to market basic staple food items

Using PLU tags to differentiate between products

Competition Disney had multiple competitors in the everyday accessories and consumables segment , but none of them were able to recreate the magic of disney

Disney strikes back with DTR

Disney teamed up with Kroger , the largest retail grocer in USA to establish Disney Magic Selection which turns out to be a cut above the rest ….the rest is history

Alternatives ???

Creating new characters and storylines that target different segments of the market by being relevant to people from different ethnicities and backgrounds

Created by NITIN. N , IIT Madras during a

Marketing internship under Prof Sameer

Mathur , IIM Lucknow

Image sources :

Flickr , Wikipedia , google images

DISCLAIMER