Brand Audit:

The Walt Disney Company

Group 2: Andrea Cabral, Shaad Farooqui, Travis Tankersley, Shang-Yi Hsu, Li Wang, Yuyi Wang, Zheyu Wang
Table of Contents
Brand Inventory
● History of the Brand
● Mission Statement
● Identification of all Brand Elements
● Brand Architecture
● Brand Hierarchy Example
● Disney’s Attributes of Products/Services
● Profile of Direct and Indirect Competitive Brands
● Market Share
● Distribution Channels and Policies
● Pricing, Profitability, and Market Share of the Brand
● Supporting Marketing Communications/Promotional Programs
● Brand Personality
Table of Contents
Brand Exploratory & Conclusion
● Customer Knowledge of the Brand
● Brand Mental Map
● Brand Associations
● Main Sources of Brand Equity
● Customer-Based Brand Equity Pyramid
● Problem Areas/Inconsistencies of Perception vs. Market Reality
● Size, Profile and Buying Behavior of Customer Segments
● Depth and Breadth of Brand Awareness
● Perceptual Map of the Brand
● SWOT Analysis
● Positioning Statement
● Recommendations for Measuring and Managing Additional Brand Equity
Brand Inventory
 History of The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 by brothers, Walt and Roy Disney. Originally known as the Disney
Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt’s first cartoon with the company was about a girl in a cartoon world, known as Alice’s
Wonderland. This soon became a series titled Alice Comedies, which was picked up for distribution by New
York-based company, M.J. Winkler.

Disney didn’t strike gold until the release of Steamboat Willie in 1928. The cartoon’s star, Mickey Mouse, quickly
became an icon following immediate success of the cartoon. Disney took advantage of this popularity and began
licensing Mickey Mouse merchandise in order to bring in extra revenue. Prior to Steamboat Willie, Disney struggled to
pay its operation costs.

Disney’s first theme park, DisneyLand, opened in 1955, bringing the magic of Disney cartoons to life. Since then,
Disney has purchased ABC Networks, becoming a mass media corporation, in addition to a film studio and theme
park chain.

To this day, the Disney brand lives on through merchandise, television, film, music, radio, hotels, home decor, and so
much more. As of 2016, Disney’s brand is valued at $38.7 billion.
 Brand Name Logo
Identification of ●
●
Memorable
Meaningful
● Memorable
- Instant brand recognition
Brand Elements ●
- Associated with happiness
Transferable
●
●
Meaningful
Transferable
● Likeable ● Likeable
● Immensely protected - Gives off feelings of childlike
● Not very adaptable innocence and fun
● Immensely protected
● Adaptable

Slogan Characters
Disney is able to leverage its various Where Dreams Come True
● Memorable
brand elements through the collaboration ● Memorable - Associated with brand
of its business units. As new characters - Instant brand recognition ● Meaningful
and films are released, they are ● Meaningful ● Transferable
subsequently added to theme parks, - Emits magic onto consumers - Recognized globally
Radio Disney, or television programs. ● Reasonably transferable ● Likeable
● Likeable ● Immensely protected
● Immensely protected ● Not very adaptable
● Adaptable
 Spectrum of Brand Architecture
Brand Architecture
On the spectrum of brand architecture,
we have a house of brands, or
individual strong brands; a branded
house, or a single parent brand with a
set of offerings; and a hybrid of the
two. The Walt Disney Company is House of Brands Hybrid/House Blend Branded House
considered a hybrid, otherwise known
as a house blend.
 Brand Hierarchy
Example
1. Corporate Brand: Walt Disney
Company
2. Family Brand: Walt Disney
Pictures
3. Individual Brand: The Lion King
4. Modifier: The Lion King:
Diamond Edition (Remastered
on Blu-Ray)

The Lion King: Diamond Edition

(Remastered for Blu-Ray)
Disney’s Attributes of Products/Services
● Disney has developed a number of products under the Disney brand name for television and
entertainment products, as well as consumer products and theme parks.
● Disney is focused on ensuring that the brand relates back to their products’ quality.
○ “Our brand is related to how good an animated movie is, how good a theme-park ride is,
and how good a T-shirt or a sweatshirt is. Some of its licensed; some of it’s produced
solely by ourselves… Every single piece of the Disney brand has to be excellent. As long
as it’s excellent, it enhances the brand” - Michael Eisner, CEO
● Disney’s products (i.e. characters, theme parks) benefit from strong brand awareness and
associations which is subsequently utilized in strategic licensing agreements that provide mutual
benefit to both Disney and the licensee.
● Disney has strong associations to magic, along with other positive feelings of happiness and
excitement with the Disney brand while also being considered “expensive” in the theme park
space.
 Profile of Direct and Indirect Competitive Brands: CBS,
Viacom, TWC, FOX, Six Flags, Universal
Points of Parity
● Disney and its media competitors both serve
their products mainly through TV, cable, and
other media markets such as video games and
DVD/blu-ray. Both Disney and its main
competitors compete in the sports market
(ESPN provides Disney 24% of their revenue).
● Disney has recently developed new thrill rides
such as Action Stunt Show and the Rock ‘n’
Roller Coaster to compete with Universal
Studios’ and Six Flags’ adventurous offerings.
Points of Difference
● Disney is the very definition of family
entetainment. Unlike its competitors, it has an
established reputation for providing quality
family programming and sports. The theme
parks are also family-oriented, unlike Six Flags,
which is focuses on young adults.
● Disney produces a range of consumer products
and benefits from licensing, publishing, and
retail.
● Due to its large amount of licensing, Disney
has the ability to manage its brand equity by
strategically licensing out their large cast of
animated characters to companies that, in turn,
provide greater brand equity.
 Company Ticker Segment % of Tot. Market
Disney’s Market Name Rev. Share
Share Walt DIS Cable 43% 11.92%
Disney Co Networks
In the cable network market, Disney
boasts the highest market share,
closely followed by 21st Century Fox,
Company Ticker Segment % of Tot. Market
which has 10.27% of market shares.
Name Rev. Share
In the parks and resorts market, Disney
Walt DIS Parks & 42.9% 25.09%
comes on top again, with Carnival
Disney Co Resorts
cruise lines coming in second with
20.9% of market shares.

In the media network market, Disney,

actually has the second highest
Company Ticker Segment % of Tot. Market
market shares. Direct TV reigns at the
Name Rev. Share
top with 11.58% of market shares.
Walt DIS Media 59.9% 7.91%
Disney Co Networks

Source: CSIMarket.com
Distribution Channels
Disney has everything from books and toys to theme parks. Disney’s network of distribution channels and
media have a more narrow audience compared to that of its competition. However, Disney is constantly
innovating their offerings. Disney’s content stream attracts their targeted audiences and delivers their brand
messages. Disney’s dribution channels include:
● Television Channels: Disney has a wide array of television channels, managed by the Disney-ABC
Television Group (after ABC was acquired by Disney in 1995). Disney television channels include the
Disney Channel, Freeform (formerly ABC Family), ABC News, and many more.
● Movie Studios: Multiple movie studios fall under the umbrella of Disney, including Walt Disney Pictures,
Touchstone Pictures, and Hollywood Pictures. Touchstone Pictures was created to release films that
were not specifically targeted at children and parents, and it released Disney’s first R-rated movie in
1986. Touchstone is also a distribution label for DreamWorks Studios.
● Disney Stores: The content marketing process seems to work in reverse for Disney. For example, the
movie, Frozen, was created first and then product development took place. The Disney Store chain then
distrubted these products and all other currently available Disney products.
 Pricing and Profitability

● First quarter 2016, Disney reported the highest first quarter

earnings in the history of the company. Net Income
increased 32% ($2.8B) and revenue increased 14%
($15.2B). This was due to the success of the Star Wars
movie, growth in its sales of consumer profits, and theme
park sales.
● Disney’s periods of increased profitability after the release of
high grossing movies has been given the term “the frozen
effect” after the movie Frozen caused a similar effect as Star
Wars in 2015.
● In 2016, Diseny Parks adopted “demand pricing” (seasonal
pricing) for 1-Day tickets during its busiest times of the year.
● Park attendance has been on the upward trend since 2014,
when profits of $2.2 Billion were reported from theme park
ticket sales alone.
Source: CSIMarket.com
Supporting Marketing Communications

Disney has utilized integrated marketing communications to carefully communicate the

brand’s message and personality and promote the the brand
● The company has leveraged its Facebook page and Twitter to promote important
dates, post event schedules, and receive nearly instant customer feedback. Social
media has also been used to highlight photos and videos from Disney Park visitors
that show examples of Disney’s fun, fantasy, and memorable attractions.
● The Disney brand has focused much more on building a family friendly community
and experience than selling products. Characters and employees at Disney Parks
undergo special training to effectively communicate and promote this message to
park visitors.
Brand Personality
Brand personality is a set of human characteristics and feelings that
are attributed to a brand name. A brand personality is something to
which the consumer can relate to on an emotional, nostalgic, or
sentimental level. Effective brands increase their brand equity by
having a consistent brand personality, and set of traits that a specific
segment identifies with and enjoys.

Disney’s brand personality is seen as wholesome, imaginative, and

family friendly. For the past 60 years, the company has pushed the
tagline that Disneyland is the “happiest place on earth.” This brand
personality is qualitative value added to the Disney brand. Disney’s The “Happiest Place on Earth” slogan
combination of brand equity, as well as its functional benefits, has has been used by Disney (specifically
placed Disney into the “Top 10 Most Valuable Brands in the United Disneyland) for years to communicate
States” as reported by Advertising Age. the brand’s personality.
Brand Exploratory
Customer Knowledge of the Brand

● When it comes to Disney, most people can say that they are familiar with the brand in some
shape or form. Disney plays an irreplaceable role in every childhood memory.
● Through its diverse product categories, Disney provokes positive and fun images,
experiences, feelings, thoughts and beliefs to consumers.
● Example: Disney theme parks leave a magical experience in customers’ minds. Disney
theme parks make customers feel fantastic, excited, cheerful, and reinforce the belief that
dreams do come true.
Additionally, Disney animated TV shows and movies featuring classic characters make
consumers feel elated, young, and excited. Disney has become ingrained in many
consumers’ minds.
Brand Mental
Map
 Brand Associations
● Magic, Princess, and Fun
Ball State University conducted a focus group study in 2008. The study indicated that
“magic”, “princess”, and “fun” are the top words that came to consumers’ minds when they
were asked to immediately identify the associations with Disney.

● The other associations mentioned by consumers included: dreams, happiness, happy

tears, Walt Disney. Some characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are also
strongly connected with Disney’s brand image.
Brand Associations

● Consumers consider Disney an old-fashioned brand, but in a good way; rather than
referring to the brand as outdated image, Disney is more considered by consumers
as a classic and well-established brand.

● Apparently, consumers can easily connect Disney with some positive and favorable
elements. These results show Disney has successfully associated themselves with
terms like “happiness” or “dreams.” These elements are deeply rooted into
consumers’ minds.
Main Sources of Brand Equity
Brand Awareness and Brand Image: Disney boasts universal brand awareness and
popular brand imaging among all the brands worldwide. In the last nine decades,
Disney’s well-famed movies enabled its brand name, logo, and characters to become
symbols of “high quality” and “positive impression” to consumers. Good brand awareness
and brand image can be regarded as main sources of brand equity that provide a strong
foundation to Disney’s development.

Possible Threats: Competitors from other movie production corporations and local
media firms are one of most considerable threats to Disney’s brand equity. Additionally,
an economic recession can also become a remarkable potential threat to Disney’s brand
equity.
Customer-Based
Brand Equity
Pyramid Resonance
- Consumer loyalty
- Positive attachment
- Opportunities
Disney begins with salience at an (employment and
college program)
early age; we’re exposed to
Disney movies and TV shows Judgments Feelings
while we’re in diapers. - Security
- Credible
Consumers form a personal - Quality - Warmth
- Competitive - Social approval
connection with Disney during - Considerate - Fun
formative years and follow the - Excitement

brand all the way through Performance Imagery

adulthood. - Reliable - Youthful
- Quality - Innocence
- Consistent - Free-spirited
- Exceeds expectations - Thrilling
- Magical

Salience
Ranked 13th strongest brand globally by Interbrand in 2015 and 2016. Brand
awareness is established no matter your location or demographic.
Problems and Market Reality
Having too many tent-pole films at once

Disney is, additionally, one of the most successful studios in the film industry.
However, Disney is guilty of releasing too many tent-pole films at once. A
tent-pole film is a big-budget movie that is expected to compensate for previous
less profitable films. Recent examples include Alice: Through The Looking
Glass (5/27/16), Pete’s Dragon (8/12/16), and Beauty and the Beast (3/17/17).

Disney is also responsible for marketing Marvel and Pixar films, so handling
and releasing as many totem-pole films as they do at once is challenging.
Problems and Market Reality
Failure in Europe

We discovered that Disney’s Paris theme park is nowhere as successful as

those in the US. Why?

People will gladly spend their money going to Disney theme parks US.
However, French people have a different attitude towards Disney. They would
rather spend the same amount of money in Paris’s best hotel rather than
Disney.

Additionally, the French are immensely proud of their culture; they won’t accept
a foreign business that doesn’t cooperate with local businesses.
 Customer Segmentation
Disney segments their consumers based on three criteria:

Geographic
Used for the location of Disney's theme parks such as Disney Land and Disney World, which are strategically
located in the world's most visited places such as Europe, Japan, and of course, the US.

Demographic
Used to help determine where to place their Disney Store chain, where to distribute their movies, and even
determines what kind of movie they should create next.

Psychographic
Used to help Disney determine who is going to buy more of their products. Families in urban areas with
average incomes are primarily targeted.
Customer Segmentation
Disney incorporates a multi-segment targeting strategy, which is when a
company targets multiple markets for the same product.

Small children → Animated films, toys, and other goods from their consumer
products division; TV programs from the Playhouse Disney channel

Older kids (teens and tweens) → Disney Channel, Radio Disney, and Disney
live-action films

Adults → Disney theme parks, live-action films (Marvel, Pirates of the

Carribbean, etc), Disney home decor, subtle innuendos in “kids’” Disney
movies
 The Depth and Breadth of Brand Awareness

Depth of Brand Awareness

We could measure the depth of brand awareness through the extent of how
easily the brand could be recognized and recalled by consumers. There is no
doubt everyone knows Disney, and could name it when seeing its iconic blue
castle logo. Most of consumers even clearly know its slogan, “Walt Disney is
where dreams come true.”
The Depth and Breadth of Brand Awareness
Breadth of Brand Awareness

We could measure the breadth of brand awareness by the range of purchase

and consumption situations where the brand comes to consumers’ mind.
However, because of Disney’s diverse product categories, vivid brand image
and irreplaceable brand value, consumers’ loyalty and strong familiarity with
Disney makes it easier to link Disney’s brand to various categories and cues in
customers’ minds. For example, when it comes to cartoons, movies, and
vacations, most families will associate those categories with Disney.
The Depth and Breadth of Brand Awareness

Disney is a highly salient brand because it has both depth and breadth of brand
awareness, and Disney has deepest level of brand awareness (100%
awareness). Furthermore, Disney is the most powerful brand of 2016
according to brandfinance.com, which ranks the companies based on their
product quality, familiarity, promotion, customer loyalty, marketing tactics, staff
satisfaction, and reputation.
Perceptual Map of Disney Theme Parks

High Price

Disney

Cedar Point
Low Quality High Quality

Six Flags Valley Fair

Bush Garden
Low Price
Perceptual Map of Disney Media Network

Consistent Innovation

Disney Fox Entertainment

Narrow Audience Time Warner Wide Audience

Viacom

Lack of Innovation
Conclusion
 Strengths
SWOT 1. Strong Brand Equity
As one of the biggest and most well known leisure and entertainment
Analysis corporation in worldwide, Disney is regularly concerned as a brand that
owns, arguably, the strongest brand equity. According to the statistics,
the brand value of Disney is estimated to be about $31.67 billion in
2016, ranking 24 among all global brands.
2. High Reputation
Disney has a very high reputation for its various animation products.
When people think about Disney, they have a perception of “happiness”
and “positive”. New movies produced by Disney are also likely to be
treated by parents as the best choice for their children to watch.
3. Diversified Business
Disney started its business as a small animation producer to one of the
most valuable entertainment firm in the globe. Now, Disney segmented
its business to not only animation movies production, but also media
networks, parks and resorts and consumer products, etc.
 Weaknesses
SWOT 1. Stereotyping Characters

Analysis Characters from Disney probably leave audiences a deep

impression of intelligent heroes, vivid heroines, and slippery
villains. Disney movies and stories always end up with victory and
happiness, which may come off as predictable to consumers and
leave them feeling bored. This unchanged formula may cause
Disney to lose out on their audience.

2. Limited Target Audiences

Restricted by its brand image, Disney sells its products mainly to
young children or teenagers, which leads to a limitation in Disney’s
target market.

3. Limited Accessibility to Theme Parks

There are only two Disney theme parks in the United States,
alienating Disney fans who do not live within proximity of Florida or
California, making it expensive to Disney fans across the country
who are unable to experience Disney’s magic.
 Opportunities
SWOT 1. International Market

Analysis Disney currently owns or licenses six theme parks and resorts in
California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Revenues from theme parks are a significant component of
Disney’s business. It is possible that Disney will expand its market
to more countries, especially to highly developing countries.

2. Product Expansion
Disney produces its movies primarily targeted towards children.
With Disney’s recent acquisition of Marvel and Lucasfilms, the
studio behind Star Wars, Disney does have the opportunity to
release more action-oriented films to market to teenagers and
adults alike.

3. Virtual Reality
CTO, Skarpi Hedinsson, has expressed an interest in “making
news and programming even more immersive” through the use of
VR.
 Threats
SWOT 1. Competition
Analysis Even though Disney operates in a highly successful way, it still
faces intense competition. Big movie producers like Warner
Brothers, Universal Studios, and Paramount Studios compete
fiercely with Disney. Disney’s parks and resorts also competes with
companies including Six Flags, Cedar Point, and SeaWorld.

2. Digital Media
Digitally distributed movies and TV shows have monumentally
grown within the last 5 years. The convenience of streaming your
favorite movies and shows is unmatched. Though Disney does
include digital downloads of movies bundled with blu-ray packages,
they haven’t jumped onboard the streaming bandwagon yet.
Positioning Statement

“For children, teens, parents, family, and friends who want to retain their
youthful innocence forever, the Walt Disney company is a mass media and
entertainment company providing experiences, products, and services across
mediums including TV, movies, merchandise and interactive theme parks all
over the world. Unlike traditional media networks, Disney provides magic and
warmth to all people, young and old, in even the most troubling of times.”
Recommendations for Measuring and Managing
Brand Equity

For children, Disney’s brand equity is seen in its ability to create an emotional response and inspire an
active imagination. In adults, Disney is something sentimental and nostalgic. A mix of techniques, both
qualitative and quantitative, should both be utilized to accurately determine the levels of brand equity.

Focus groups should be conducted to understand the current perceptions of consumers and the reach
of advertising campaigns. Conjoint analyses should be performed to determine which attributes of the
brand should receive more attention and effort. Disney’s brand equity should also be measured by
compairing its levels of awareness, market share, and ROI against its performance from previous
years, as well as its competitors.
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