New Age Marketing in Disneyland

Author Note: This case is written by IMTG students, Shobhit Choubey et al. as
part of partial fulfillment of their New Age Marketing course credits.
Introduction
Disneyland is considered to be as one of the best theme parks in the world for people of all
age groups. From the Pirates of Caribbean rides to the Indiana Jones Adventure and from Star
Wars tour to Splash Mountain rides, it has all type of entertaining and adventurous rides
which are appreciated by everyone visiting the park for a long time.
Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks
with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. Since then six Disney resorts have been opened in
various parts of the world like California, Florida, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and China with
a total of twelve parks in them.
Disneyland hasn’t been able to market itself just because of the rides and famous characters
but the enriching experience it tries to provide to its visitors. It makes sure that they should
have a high engaging experience which they shall remember for a long time and advocate
their brand. Thus, they take use of sensory and neuromarketing to enhance the customer
experience and retention by using techniques like colours, smell, touch, sound and other
techniques.
Disneyland has a larger cumulative attendance than any other theme park in the world, with
726 million visits since it opened (as of December 2018). In 2018, the park had
approximately 18.6 million visits, making it the second most visited amusement park in the
world that year, behind only Magic Kingdom, the very park it inspired. It is ranked 4.1/5 by
ConsumersAffairs.com1.
After such a huge success they still have the following challenges with them:
1. How to make the visitors experience more enjoyable
2. How to increase the visitors’ experience retention
3. How to should be the further growth plans

1 ConsumerAffairs.com is a consumer news and advocacy site founded in 1998 by James R. Hood,
a veteran Washington, D.C. journalist and public affairs executive. The site includes consumer
news, recall information and tens of thousands of pages of consumer complaints, comments and
compliments

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About the Company

The Walt Disney Company is a diversified global entertainment business with operations in
the following five major segments: Consumer Products, Studio Entertainment, Media
Networks, Parks and Resorts, and Interactive. The Media Network is Disney’s largest and
most profitable segment amongst all other verticals in which it operates. Media Networks
include ESPN, the Disney Channels, and ABC Family. The segment generates revenues from
affiliate and provider fees. The Parks and Resorts segment consists of the domestic and
international theme parks, museum and resorts the company owns or has an effective
ownership or partnership in. The resorts generate the majority of revenue from the sale of
admission ticket and the food combos and retail purchases made within the park premises.
The Studio Entertainment segment produces live-action and animated films in Hollywood,
direct-to-video content for TV & various other video streaming platform, musical recordings,
and live theatre performances across the globe. Disney distributes this media under the Walt
Disney Pictures, Pixar2, Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)3, Lucas film, and Touchstone
banners with revenues stemming from the distribution of the content across the globe. The
Consumer Products segment designs and manufactures a wide variety of products based on
its extensive intellectual property which allow Disney to earn major revenue through
licensing, publishing, and the company’s retail stores across the globe. The interactive
segment develops console, mobile, and virtual games sold globally and licenses content to
publishers for Mobile devices, Laptops, PlayStation & Desktop.

Industry Trends
The entertainment media industry consists of organisation that possess the ownership of
content and license intellectual property (Exhibit 1), as well as distribute media through the
channel of television and film. To remain competitive in this industry, companies should
become consumer centric by adapting to consumers’ taste in both content and distribution.
The industry has observed a shift over the past few years where consumers are switching
from cable programming to over- the-top (OTT)streaming services like Hotstar, Netflix,
Amazon Prime videos.
To adjust further is change and the loss of subscribers throughout the industry because of
change in consumer behaviour, companies have been seeking innovative solutions to expand
their distribution channels in order to acquire more customers. Companies that make popular
content, expand internationally, and innovate for future online trends are best positioned for
long-term success. The revenues (Exhibit 2) are based on all these factors.

2 The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion; the transaction
made Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney
3 Marvel Studios, LLC (originally known as Marvel Films from 1993 to 1996) is an American film
studio that is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, a division of The Walt Disney Company

Importance of New Age Marketing

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New Age Marketing is the collaboration of online and offline platforms to enhance the
consumer experience. The traditional products are changing their forms in the terms of
providing better accessibility to the consumers for example: Oxford Dictionary, which is
available in hardcover, is now an app too. Previously the sole purpose of having websites was
for the brands to push the customers to buy products from their retail stores but the trends are
changing these days. Many brands are now realising the importance of how they can push
people from shopping in stores to shopping online. Moreover, the retailers emphasise on the
fact that using the online platforms help them get real time feedbacks from the customer,
which would not have been possible through the usual channels of door-to-door surveys.

Why New Age Marketing became crucial?

The previously used traditional methods of marketing campaigns bring a single message to a
large pool of potential buyers, but that is not enough in today’s era. Customer trends are
shifting towards personalisation of experience. Consumers want results. When you tell a
compelling story that directly relates to them, they will believe your company can deliver.
A survey conducted by the ticket agency in 2014, which showed that:
1. 78% of millennials would choose to spend their money on a desirable experience
or event over buying something desirable
2. Moreover72% said they wanted to increase their spending on experiences
rather than physical things
3. The survey showed that 60% of millennial had shared their events and
experiences on social media in the previous year compared to just 34% of
the 45 to 54 age brackets.
4. Crucially, 69% of millennial said they experienced fear of missing out by
seeing photos and posts of what their friends had been experiencing.
5. In summary, posting photos on social media from fairy tale locations is
becoming increasingly important for consumers, particularly
millennial

Disneyland and New Age Marketing

Disneyland in addition to the other attractions and experiences also provides live
entertainment to its visitors. Such activities do not take place on a daily basis but on selected
days of the week, or selected periods of the year. This includes:
Parades: There have been daytime and night-time parades that celebrated Disney films or
seasonal holidays with characters, music, and large floats.
 Main Street Electrical- recent one
 Paint the Night- 60th anniversary celebration
 Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams- 50th anniversary celebration
Fireworks: Elaborate fireworks shows synchronized with Disney songs. Since 2000,
presentations have become more elaborate, featuring new pyrotechnics, launch techniques,
and story lines. In 2004, Disneyland introduced a new air launch pyrotechnics system,

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reducing ground level smoke and noise and decreasing negative environmental impacts. The
fireworks can be classified into three categories:
 Regular Firework shows
 Seasonal Firework shows
 Limited Edition Firework shows

Neuromarketing in Disneyland

Disney Smells
To get into the subconscious minds of the visitors and make a lasting impact Disneyland uses
‘Disney Smells’. Strong and unique smells are created near each ride and around different
personalities or characters. It makes the experience of the visit more enjoyable and awe-
inspiring.

For instance, the rides of the Pirates of the Caribbean or the dusty rock-filled Indiana Jones
Adventure in the park have a distinguishing scent. The scent would be muggy and warm to
add to the experience.

Distinguishing smell represents each area of the park. Upon entering the Disney parks, the
welcoming smell of Vanilla is shared across all parks. The distinctive smells make the
experience a lot more enjoyable, engaging and stays with the guests for a long time.
The use of the ‘smellitzer’, a patented scent generator which diffuses different scents around
the park area creates more enjoyable experience for the guests while they are shopping or
waiting in line for an attraction.

One of the ways to captivate their audience was to make the smells possible to be replicated.
Whenever these people experience these scents their mind will be redirected back to their
visit for that moment. If the people recall the source of the smell, there may be a urge to visit
the park again. Even though there exists a trusting moment from recalling the smell to repeat
the visit, Disney doesn’t want to leave any stone unturned.

Temperature
Some of the Disney parks are located in hot climates such as Florida and California. The
weather conditions in these areas may act as a deterrent to the functioning of the park. Disney
has used this to their advantage by placing of the air conditioners.
For instance, many guests use the monorail to enter the Floridian park. The station is
moderately conditioned. The guests remain uncomfortable and feel warm. However, as they
enter the actual train, a strong air conditioner refreshes them instantly. It provides appreciable
relief to the guests. There are various places in the park that provide the guest an escape from
the heat. In addition to this, the queue lines are in covered area. Several numbers of internal
attractions are also placed. Also, there are a large number of places for the guests to eat, rest
and use the Wi-Fi.

Sounds

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Disneyland parks have a rich musical history. The tones that prevail all around the parks are
loved by children and adults (Exhibit 3). The music penetrates the minds of the visitors. Be it
the elegant strains of Cinderella’s castle to the theme from It’s a small world, the music
occupies a position in the minds of the visitors. Disney has an eminence in modern
entertainment and business by encompassing marketing for every sense.

Customer Engagement Activities

1. User Friendly App: The My Disney Experience App contains most of the
information on the website but it’s not just the website shoved into app-form. It’s laid
out well and even has GPS-enabled walking directions between attractions. I can
easily find park hours, showtimes, wait times for rides, and order food so I don’t need
to wait in line. It’s also personalized for me. All of my ticket, dining reservations, and
photos are in the app, along with a personalized schedule that I can create to make
sure I don’t miss the biggest rides and attractions.

Mobile devices continually redefine how people communicate and organizations must
have a mobile-first mindset to retain their share of market. 57% of all US online
traffic now comes from smartphones and tablets (BrightEdge, 2017) and that number
is continuing to rise. Organizations must have a mobile-first mindset and continually
think about the human on the other side of the screen.

Disney has developed this app for increasing the quality of customer experience at
Disney world. Through this app (Exhibit 4), customers can navigate the rides with the
help of GPS, order food, Book Shows, set alarms for particular rides and this app
stores their scores which is displayed with the name whenever the customer passes by
a display screen.
Over the past year, Disney World has also unveiled a handful of nifty additional
features on My Disney Experience to enhance the vacation experience of the
customers. They include:
 Tracing of dining plan credits
 Enabling character location
 Ability to track purchases
 Tracking Disney resort buses
 Ordering food without waiting in the line
 Online check in service
 Renewal of annual pass

2. Pictures with Characters – Disney offers the facility of clicking pictures (Exhibit 5)
with their characters for free and those pictures are available for purchasing also. This
is done to make the customer feel nostalgic about their visit and increase their
retention period.
3. Costumers and Apparels – Disney gives the chance to its customers to wear exactly
the same apparels which their characters wear which gives a feeling of complete
immersion in the Disneyland
4. Masterful personalisation: Disney gives a seamlessly personalised experience to its
customers, for example when purchasing the ticket, staff asks if there is any

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 celebration that day, and if there is then fitting characters of Disney give a surprise
visit to that particular customer. This includes:
 Birthday buttons and other wearables
 Keepsake photos
 Restaurant specials
 Birthday cakes
 Birthday parties (Exhibit 6)
 Custom birthday celebrations
 Birthdays at Disney Parks: a glimpse into the future

5. From hotel to theme park – Disney has its own hotels which are connected via
Disney themed cable cars and buses to the theme parks and everything from cutlery,
towels, curtains etc (Exhibit 7) to rides of the Disneyland will keep you in wanderlust
in Disneyland

Impact of NAM for Disneyland

60% of millennials had shared their events and experiences on social media in the previous
year compared to just 34% of the 45 to 54 age brackets. Crucially, 69% of millennials said
they experienced fear of missing out by seeing photos and posts of what their friends had
been experiencing. It has given a glow to the theme park industry as, unlike cinema and live
music, it has no in-home equivalent.

The trend, which is known as the experience economy, is reflected in the results of a Harris
Poll survey conducted on behalf of ticket agency Eventbrite in 2014. It showed that 78% of
millennials would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event over buying
something desirable whilst 72% said they wanted to increase their spending on experiences
rather than physical things.

At Walt Disney World it has developed a sleek steel and glass Coca-Cola store (Exhibit 8)
which sells different flavors of its soft drinks from around the world. It reminds guests of the
brand’s global presence and promotes the drinks it sells in their home countries. Guests can
even try their hand at creating new variants by mixing classic Coca-Cola flavors with fresh
fruits such as cherries, oranges, lemons and limes.

Impact of NAM for Disneyland Revenues

The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has been generating substantial revenues from its theme
parks, which have remained the driving force of the company’s top line growth. In the first
quarter of fiscal 2019, theme parks contributed revenue of $6.8 billion to Disney’s Parks,
Experiences and Consumer Products segment, whose revenue rose 5% YoY (year-over-year).
The segment’s operating income also rose 10% YoY to $2.2 billion in the quarter.

Parks and entertainment peers Comcast (CMCSA) and SeaWorld Entertainment (SEAS) have
also been investing in theme parks to attract bigger crowds.

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Competitive Analysis

Disney is competing with different media conglomerates across its various business segments
that it operates in. The biggest competitor are Comcast, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox, CBS
Corp., & Discovery communications. Disney has the largest market share in Entertainment &
media category in terms of revenue earned. This year Disney reported $52.465B revenue
which is almost equivalent 31.2% of total revenue earned by it’s 10 closest competitors.

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Exhibits:
Exhibit 1: Value of global entertainment & media market from 2011-2023 (in trillion dollars)

Exhibit 2: Financials of Walt Disney Company in 2018-19

Exhibit 3: Using Sound for customer attention

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Exhibit 4.a: My Disney Experience App (In Park GPS)

Exhibit 4.b: My Disney Experience App (After visit experience)

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Exhibit 5: Pictures with the characters

Exhibit 6: Custom birthday party at Disneyland

Exhibit 7: Disneyland theme hotels

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 Exhibit 8: Steel and glass Coca-Cola store at Walt Disney World

References:
1. https://smf.business.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/818/2016/12/DIS-Report.pdf
2. https://www.statista.com/topics/1824/disney/
3. https://www.statista.com/statistics/237749/value-of-the-global-entertainment-and-
media-market/
4. https://www.obviousidea.com/neuromarketing-in-disney/
5. https://disneyaddicts.com/7-awesome-tools-youll-find-on-your-my-disney-
experience-app-270545/
6. https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/6-ways-disney-world-delivers-top-customer-
experiences/
7. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-15/disneyland-is-tracking-guests-
and-generating-big-profits-doing-it-jy49hb9t
8. https://www.scentair.com/why-scent/blog/sensory-marketing-lessons-from-brand-
sense
9. https://www.forbes.com/sites/csylt/2019/05/24/how-disney-and-coca-cola-developed-
an-out-of-this-world-marketing-campaign/

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