Disney, Pixar, Marvel, ABC and ESPN all have one simple thing in common- they are all owned by the Disney Corporation. Individually created or bought out, some of the world’s most prestigious entertainment companies are nothing more than a small factor in Disney’s strategy.
In the world of marketing, there are three main target market strategies. In a concentrated strategy, a company uses one product to hit a specific target market. The second is an undifferentiated strategy, in which a single company uses a single marketing mix to reach a huge target market. Finally, there is the differentiated strategy that is used by Disney. In this strategy, a single corporation creates many different products that all reach a mass audience.
Many of the Companies owned by Disney are all different products that aim to please a different group. In Disney and Pixar, children and families are attracted to the friendly and classic tales portrayed in a humorous way by directors and animators. Moving into the ABC Channel, teenagers and young adults are attracted to tv shows like Pretty Little Liars and Once Upon a Time. Marvel, another agency bought out by Disney, has become a huge success to the company because it reaches action movie goers and comic book lovers due to origins of the company. In order to reach more of a market, Disney looked into sports entertainment in ESPN, thus becoming the largest sports network in America.
The different products released by Disney has managed to create an entertainment industry that is predominantly Disney, even without people knowing. This drastically changes the way the entertainment industry works because more money is going into a larger company, making it difficult for small agencies to start up. The large success has also caused other companies to cave into Disney and remake some of the entertainment’s best-known movies. The greatest example was in 2012 when the Disney Corporation bought out the popular Star Wars franchise from George Lucas. Three years later, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released into the public, creating a revenue of $529 million dollars in just the opening weekend.
While this mouse takeover may sound bad, it does have specific benefits for customers. The creative team behind Disney has done an excellent job at presenting new movies that fascinate a large verity of audiences. Although many of these small companies cater to a different target market, almost all of them go back to family-friendly roots. This is present in many of Marvels action packed movies that usually stay under a PG-13 rating. Also, Once a year ABC host the 25 Days of Christmas Special for children. This helps create more bonding time for family members either at the movie theater or at home. Finally, Disney’s strategy also helps some of the companies they buy out. In the case of George Lucas, the Star Wars franchise was almost closed since it had been almost a decade since a movie was released. Many Star Wars fans were also disappointed with Lucas’ portal of the film due to an excessive use of CGI.
So whether you're into the Disney franchise or not, this big time company is already part of your life. Using different marketing mixes has allowed the company to expand far beyond the simple Steamboat Willie cartoon that first appeared in 1928. Their target marketing strategy is undeniably successful, and as time goes on it will only continue to grow.
