Marketing- Disney+ PDF

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Summary

A marketing plan based on the company Disney+...

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MS4105

Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

MS4105- Marketing Plan Assessment 002: Group Work

Company Name & Brand Name: The Walt Disney Company Brand Product: Disney + Mission Statement Disney’s Mission is to “entertain, inform and inspire people” throughout “storytelling, reflecting the iconic brands, creative minds and innovative technologies”. (The Walt Disney Company, 2021). Within another part of their mission statement, Disney follows the characteristic of: “improvement of communities, improving lives, entertaining and exceeding expectations”.

1. Executive Summary Of Plan This marketing plan is completed to develop and understand the ways in which Disney+ keep relevant in the competitive market. This plan will delve into strategies currently used to meet objectives and target consumers.

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

Our group will then begin to develop ways in which Disney+ can alter their brand to drive sales and awareness in the future through a range of recommendations, altering target audiences and prices.

Current Situation Analysis Brand Profile The Walt Disney Company is a multinational mass media and entertainment company originating from California (Walt Disney, 2021). A service that Disney provides their consumers with is Disney+, this is one

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

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of the many streaming services available to consumers around the globe. In 2020, the global streaming market was valued at 43.5 billion, showing just how competitive this sector really is.

Marketing Mix Product Disney+ is an intangible service available in around 36 countries around the world (Whattowatch, 2021). Their service aims to provide entertainment through the range of TV shows and movies. The colour scheme on the website is dark blue, white and black which reflects the Disney logo which shows a sense of continuity and professionalism through the consistent house style. Pricing The standard price of a monthly subscription to Disney+ is £7.99 or £79.90 (Disney Plus, 2021), while major competitor Netflix charges £5.99 per month. Disney provides access to four streaming screens at any one time, allowing greater options to consumers at a great value for money. PromotionDisney+ promotes their service through a range of different media. In early 2020, Disney invested a large £50 million into digital facebook advertising in January alone (Pathmatics, 2021). The vast majority of Disney+’s advertisement is dominated via social media, ensuring they reach their target consumers. And recently in 2021, Disney+ pushed promotions for both upcoming Marvel series ‘WandaVision as well as ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ which saw the legendary Marvel shield appear on the London landmark to celebrate the launch of the highly-anticipated series (Daly, 2021). (referring to Appendix C) PlaceDisney+ is purely an online service that is available worldwide to a range of places such as the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Japan, France and India. As it is under the Walt Disney Branch, they have physical places people can visit such as Disney World which have a correlation to films, TV shows and franchises shown on Disney+. This could also be used for a marketing strategy.

Brand ‘Image’ Disney + as a brand is portrayed as a streaming service of high standard. On Reviews.org (2021), Disney+ is rated 4 out of 5 stars as it has content from Disney, Pixar and franchises like Marvel and Star Wars where other streaming services like Netflix do not have the licensing for them and are more affordable than other services. They have built their brand upon the idea of an easy accessible streaming service for all ages. For example: The development of STAR for the older generation and original Disney shows for the younger generation.

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

Target Customer Profile Disney+ is targeted towards people who enjoy watching Disney films as well as Star Wars and Marvel, which other streaming services do not have access to because of licensing issues. However, Disney+ has introduced Star which includes more tv shows and films which can be aimed at an older range of audiences. Families may also purchase this service for their younger children, or to enjoy as a group. The main target consumer that Disney aim to reach is: Gender: Female Age: 16-21 -

Low to middle income- part-time job. High disposable leisure time. Relate to the content provided.

Decision making process Social: where Disney+ was first introduced as family orientated, therefore their main consumer base were families where they had shared accounts so multiple people can watch it at the same time. This also encouraged Disney+ to introduce Star to appeal to all target audiences, rather than just family audiences to make it as inclusive as possible. Cultural: Most people have a shared culture of growing up with Disney as part of their childhood so when people saw Disney+ being released with all their favourite shows and movies, it encourages them to join the community, which is a cultural factor

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Disney Plus

Personal: Due to the pandemic many people have lost their jobs, or 80% of their wages therefore cannot purchase a range of streaming services. Psychological: If friends around you are subscribing to Disney+ you feel more psychologically inclined to subscribe yourself, to fit into the social norms. Burns, A. C. et al, say data sources, such as social media websites, the internet of things (IoT), and new kinds of syndicated data, have the potential to provide valuable insights. This helps us understand that over the recent years, social media influences have had a huge impact on social norms and influencing people to choose a certain product or service. This has helped Disney+ as it has increased the amount of subscribers that they would have had by marketing their product through social media platforms.

Competitor Profile Netflix

“At Netflix, we want to entertain the world. Whatever your taste, and no matter where you live, we give you access to best-in-class TV shows, movies and documentaries.” (Netflix, 2021). Netflix is one of the world's biggest streaming services allowing consumers access to the widest range of genres of films and series.

Price- The price for the ability to stream on one device only on Netflix is £5.99, and for 4 devices at the same time is £13.99. This price is relatively high in comparison to other streaming services with Disney+ only charges £7.99 a month to stream on 4 devices simultaneously. Appendix B

Place- Netflix is purely an online based streaming service like Disney+, meaning it is also easily accessible to consumers.

Product- Like Disney, Netflixs’ main product is TV series and films. They also provide consumers with the opportunities to view Netflix original films and shows.

Promotion- Netflix uses social media greatly to advertise and raise awareness of its streaming service. This is done through media such as: Youtube. When Netflix releases original Netflix shows they are advertised on Youtube, this ensures that they reach their target consumer.

USP- Netflix have a USP of their Netflix Originals, these are films or TV series that are created and owned by Netflix, meaning other streaming services cannot provide this service.

Prime video

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Prime Video is Amazon's on-demand streaming service launched in 2014, which includes hundreds to thousands of popular movies and TV shows, already racking up over 10.1 million subscribers in the UK alone (Stoll, 2021).

Price- Prime Video is under the umbrella of Amazons services with Amazon Prime being the main part, with this service priced at £7.99 if you go for a monthly subscription, with this you are entitled to prime delivery, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon music as well as exclusive deals and prices (Amazon, 2021). However you can opt for an annual subscription that costs £79, which works out to be £6.58.

Place- Amazon Prime Video is a streaming service based solely online, similarly to Disney + and Netflix. Product- Their main product is movies and TV shows, any programme that is included in this membership will have a prime symbol by the show or films title. (Appendix A).

Promotion- Prime Video advertises mainly with new trailers for upcoming series or movies on other streaming services such as Youtube as well as broadcasting companies like Virgin and Sky.

USP- Amazon Prime has a very unique USP, in which when consumers subscribe they receive access to priority delivery and amazon music streaming services. Other alike streaming services do not provide these additional services for consumers.

PEST Analysis

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Political

Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Economic

Social

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Technological

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Achieve success by diversifying across a range of countries- To ensure inclusivity is engaged Disney need to ensure their media is available in a range of different languages.

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Differentiating levels of disposable income- The more disposable income that consumers have the higher chance they have to spend on the Disney Plus streaming service.

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Increasing online activity due social trendsThe higher the online activity the higher the number of consumers of Disney Plus. For example: During COVID online streaming services became extremely popular.

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Increased technological advancements- The more technology continues to be created the more opportunities Disney have to stream on different platforms and devices. Such as: developing an app for mobile usage.

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Stable political conditions in major marketsTo ensure that Disney can grow in the streaming service across many different parts of the world, it is vital that political stances do not affect this.

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Rapid economic development of countries and media- The more that technology is developed and economic development of countries increase the more revenue growth there is for the entertainment sector

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Increased awareness of cultural diversityThe more awareness there is of cultural diversity the more Disney needs to alter their streaming service to fit the different areas of the world.

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Increased technological usageThe more people that use technology the more reason Disney have to develop their streaming services to improve the product for consumers.

SWOT Analysis

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Strengths

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Weaknesses

Opportunities

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Threats

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Continuous video playbackThis means consumers are able to rewatch films and TV programmes continuously.

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Niche contentSome of the media offered is not appealing to all target consumers.

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Acquisitions- An obvious opportunity for Disney Plus is acquiring access to our multimedia services such as: 21st century fox.

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Competitorsone of the biggest threats to Disney Plus is the multitude of streaming services across the globe, such as the world's leading service Netflix.

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Excellent content catalogThere is a large range of different genres of media for all consumers.

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Negative connotationDisney's brand is being spread widely across the globe, causing a large amount of westernisation.

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Reduce subscription prices- If Disney reduces the monthly cost this would encourage more consumers to subscribe to the platform.

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Addiction by childrenTechnology is becoming vital in today's society especially during lockdown. This may lead to children becoming dependent on the platform.

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User interfaceDisney + is a well-structured online streaming service to ensure users are not stunned with the amount of content available.

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ExpensiveAlthough it is cheaper than other streaming services such as: Netflix. Disney Plus is said to not have good value for money with the media content it supplies.

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More service for children- As technology is increasingly popular within the education sector Disney would benefit from offering more education related media.

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Restructuring Disney contentIf Disney offered their unique products to other streaming services they would lose their USP.

3. Our Recommendations

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

Based on the above marketing analysis that Disney is currently undertaking we as a group have distinguished a few SMART objectives that Disney+ could act upon. These improvements would lead to Disney+ holding a higher market share within the online streaming sector.

Objectives, Strategies, Positioning and Tactics Objective 1: Our recommendations for Disney+ is to add more unique content that other competitor streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime do not currently provide. The additional content that could be introduced and provided within the next 6 months could be targeted towards schools and incorporate educational services and resources. This would encourage a larger number of organisations and families to subscribe to the service, all while engaging the younger generation in Disney+. Technology is said to be a crucial part in supporting teaching and learning in today's society. The use of this technology can lead to higher effective outcomes for children of all learning stages (Polly et. al, 2021). Throughout the past two years, it has become clear that due to COVID technology has become increasingly more popular for leisure usage and educational usage, with teaching of all ages being moved online for a substantial period of time. In the last year alone, internet usage has increased by just below one billion service users according to Johnson (2021), as it was recorded that 2019 saw 3.97 billion, and 2020 saw 4.66 billion. This shows just how much of an impact technology has had on society today, and how Disney+ can use that to its advantage in terms of target consumers.

Objective 2: Another recommendation for Disney+ to market their service is to advertise it more via social media platforms such as twitter and instagram. Juntunen, M. et al., (2020, p. 1) says this about twitter, Companies use objectives, strategies and tactics that relate to creating awareness, knowledge and trust, interest and liking the majority of their most and least engaging tweets. This helps us understand that if marketing through twitter is all about creating awareness and introducing people to new products or services through the engagement of tweets, it also has an impact on social norms as once something becomes more popular people feel more inclined to look into or even subscribe, as they have noticed many people have taken an interest in the service. As social media is a place where people can share experiences, users follow the Disney+ account and get updates of new releases and information like what is going to be available in each country. This will encourage people to share the posts on their account for example, Instagram stories and share their thoughts to their followers. Disney+ should invest in more social media marketing to increase awareness on the widely used platforms. It is also free to post therefore no extra costs are needed, unless they want to sponsor some ads. This allows the marketing strategy to maximise the effectiveness as Disney have many resources and opportunities (Hessens, M. and Pauwels, H., 2016, p. 5).

Marketing mix recommendations

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

Product summary- Disney+ have many shows and programmes that are only available on their streaming service. Another recommendation for bringing in a larger demographic as well as more subscribers is to introduce Disney original shows that are targeted toward the older generation. This creates a sense of value and loyalty towards their customers.

Summary of price strategy-

In terms of Disney+ pricing strategies it is clear to see that Disney currently holds one of the lowest prices within the market share. However, as more education services and programmes are added Disney could look at potentially increasing their pricing slightly to accommodate this change. Currently Disney are charging £7.99 a month, although as more services are added this price could be increased to around £9.99 per month. Disney would need to be cautious of how much they raise their pricing, as loyal customers may become aggravated at the price changing, and they may eventually lose business.

Summary of place strategy-

Disney+ is currently available in a wide range of countries such as: US, UK, Canada, and more. However, like other streaming services, due to lack of technological advancements and censorship laws it is not currently available everywhere. Disney+ could eventually in the future look at widening their horizons and branching to more countries.

Summary of promotion mix-

Disney+ is advertised mainly through adverts on tv however, another way they could market their service is through physical advertisement for example billboards. This would reach a larger demographic, this would reach the older generation as they are less likely to go on social media and see the advertisement on there. This will also help as they have recently introduced Star this is targeted at the older audience.

Evaluation Disney+’s main area of development is reassessing their content to appeal to a larger target audience and to advertise this through a range of different social media platforms. These changes can be measured by the positive changes in the number of subscriptions through feedback such as customer reviews or primary conducted research. It is vital this research is carried out as successful marketing requires managers to draw upon findings and techniques to find an overall conclusion (Stern, 2006). Once all this information has been gathered Disney's marketing teams can assess whether these alterations have been successful or not.

Appendix

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Disney Plus

Appendix A: Example of prime video content via The RadioTimes

Appendix B - Graph comparison of the top 6 U.S streaming services reported 2020

Appendix C - Disney + promotions for Marvel series ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’

Reference List

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Marketing Plan Assessment 002

Disney Plus

Burns, A. C., Veeck, A. and Bush, R. F. (2017) Marketing research. 8th Edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. (pg.57) Daly, R. (2021) London Eye Becomes Captain America’s Shield in Disney Stunt, NME. Available at: https://www.nme.com/news/london-eye-becomes-captain-america-shield-mark-falcon-winter-soldierrelease-2904462 (Accessed: April 30, 2021). Disney Plus (2021) Disney+ | The home of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic., www.disneyplus.com. Available at: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/welcome?&cid=DSS-SearchGoogle-71700000070665426-&s_kwcid=AL (Accessed: April 23, 2021). Dominique M. Hassens., koen H. Pauwels (2016) ‘Demonstrating the value of marketing’. Journal of marketing. 80(6), pp.173-190. Johnso...