Effective Marketing Strategies We Can Learn From Disney
Did you know that Walt Disney spends 600 million on media marketing each year? This is NOT Walt Disney but the motion picture studio. However, it has garnered them 1.84M Twitter Followers and 13M Facebook Likes which kills everyone including Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Studios, 20th Century, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Lions gate. Disney beats out everyone so bad that the closest group is Universal studios at 2.7M Facebook Likes.
Do consumers believe in the Disney Brand that much? Let’s see how Disney got there:
They have Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Jennifer Lawrence.
Hits like Iron Man 3 ($1.22B worldwide sales) Frozen (958M worldwide)
They made 3 Billion dollars international and 4.73 Billion in 2013. They actually had the fewest Oscar Nominations next to Lionsgate. But again, people and fans really love this Brand, so what made them so popular? Well the obvious reasons is that they are associated with DisneyWorld and Disneyland and the trillions of dollars invested into building that brand over the last 50 years. However, when I sat down and tried to figure this out, another obvious choice came out.
94% of teenagers see at least one movie a year. And children ages 3-12 see at least two movies a year. If you were a parent, what movie would you approve to watch? Disney has single handedly controlled this demographic. Everyone is trying to take a piece, Man of Steel by Warner, Croods by 20th Century, or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 with Sony. But they fail in comparison to the power of the BRAND. You can’t stand up to a giant and not spend the money. As time goes on this will become more blurred.
The last point I would like to state is you can not dismiss how the word gets out for these movies. 44% of consumers 12-74 say they trust trailers “a lot” when deciding whether to see a movie. This is just under Family and Friends at 40%. So the experts doing the Disney Trailers are largely responsible for drawing the younger fans into the theaters. Yes even DISNEY, sends work out to the experts to make the trailer.
Three of the 10 most shared Super Bowl ads of all time were movie trailers-for the fifth and sixth installments of Universal’s Fast & Furious franchise.
Today the average cost to market a feature film distributed by a major Hollywood studio is between 40M-50M. That is serious risk and cash.
Consider your brand, how are you bringing new customers to your site? What is your “trailer” to have consumers trial your product? What does your company own that no one else can claim? Important questions that yielded Disney Pictures to greatness.
Mark Beebe oversees all current clients. His secondary focus is leading the creative with original thinkers who provide innovative processes and insightful answers for clients’ marketing needs. His 30+ years has garnered the team to over 50+ national and international awards. As a partner, Mark, looks for unusual solutions to bring smart results and metrics to your bottom line.
