Marketing Plan and Prototypes

Shimaa Almotowakel | Nadya Cheetham | Courtney Mehmet | Sam Ismaeel

The Walt Disney (Disney) brief has asked us to create an evocative, hyper-relevant brand building campaign around the 100th Anniversary that will make young adults into lifelong Disney fans. Focusing on turning well-loved 90s and 00s nostalgia into hyper relevancy for 2023.

The challenges that we face is to tackle two generations Gen Z & Millennials (16-30) with a focus on three different continents: Europe, Africa, and the Middle-East. We have conducted research into each generations Gen Z and Millennials, and studied their media consumption especially during the age of the pandemic. In order to focus on the wants & needs of our audience, we created two surveys that were completed by people in all three continents to fully understand how they feel towards Disney, how much Disney meant to them and what they considered to be nostalgic. We also created three different personas and behaviour types from three different continents to understand fully the wants, needs, and frustrations of the consumers.

We plan to reach our target audience through consumer-based value propositions, engaging with the audience by infiltrating Disney into social media platforms that are popular within these generations such as Instagram, TikTok, and Youtube, and generally aiming to change the mindset of those who have the misconception that Disney doesn’t include or is for young adults. The way that we plan to tackle this challenge is to reference the marketing objectives for Disney such as be international, be authentic and be diverse which suggests the deeply rooted values of Disney. To understand how we can apply these we must first understand what truly unites people together who have a common interest of Disney, and the emotional feelings brought by memories already suggests that this brand is nostalgic and meaningful to those who have grown up with it.

Marketing Objectives:

Specific:

To turn well-loved 90’s and 00’s Disney nostalgia into outdoor Disney Cinemas within 16-30 year old’s in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Measurable:

Amplifying the reach on socials using the hashtags #DisneyBinge #DisneyCinema as well as increased numbers of subscriptions and ticket sales.

Achievable:

An already well-established brand with a large following and variety of owned media. With a pre-existing community, our aims have been made more achievable.

Realistic:

An outdoor cinema is a cheaper alternative to an indoor space. With land renting expenses, projectors/screens and Disney themed kiosks, money will come back through ticket sales and increased Disney Plus subscriptions.

Timely:

A drive in/outdoor cinema reflects nostalgia from before our time and is a fun activity to do when you’re young with friends and family. We believe these events will make Disney more relevant to the lives of the adults today. We want to show that Disney can still hold an important part of adults lives and help make memories in the present and not just the past. In regards to the timeframe, there is enough time to organise several outdoor cinemas as well as the Disney Binge reward scheme.

Media Objectives:

Specific:

Advertise the Disney reward binge watching scheme and the disney Cinema.

Measurable:

Measure amount of likes/views/shares, event signups and Disney Plus subscriptions.

Achievable:

Disney has a large social media following and a large fan base. The news would spread quickly and keep fans engaged.

Realistic:

Realistically we would like to reach over 1mil likes, 100k shares and 50mil views. This estimate is based from the numbers from Disney’s social media platforms.

Timely:

We will be releasing the different stages of the campaign across a few weeks in the months leading up to Disney’s 100th anniversary. We don not want to give the surprise of the cinema away too fast to allow people to get tickets but also do not want to ruin a surprise. The binge watching reward scheme will be released first. Disney Plus subscribers will get the information first. The media objectives can be completed in the time given time frames.

Tactics:

Paid Media:

We will be using paid media to advertise binge watching rewards on Disney+ through social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tik Tok and YouTube.
Posters with 90s-00s reference.

Owned Media:

Social media platforms
Disney website
Disney +
Videos released/ teaser of 100th Disney+ feature
Disney Songs
Series/ Films/ Animations
Ability to use old footage/scenes from their own films
Disney charm

Earned Media:

People sharing the fun on their socials.
Filters
Tik Toks
Word of mouth
Mentions/ Hashtags (#DisneyBinge, #DisneyCinema)

Phasing Plan:

Social Media Plan:

Creative Response:

The problem that we are facing when appealing to our market is the misconception that Disney is just for children. We need to reach our audience on platforms that they use most, with rewards that cater to their consumer needs and show them that Disney is creating something specifically for them. Many people think that Disney is only important to them because of their childhoods. We need to show them how Disney can be relevant to them now and throughout their lives. We need to be able to use their nostalgia to show them how important Disney can be to them in the present and not just how important it was to them in their childhoods. To engage this generation, the approach needs to be media based, in order to reach them through Social Media and cater to their consumer needs.

The idea is to create a drive-in Disney Cinema in multiple locations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa that will showcase 90’s Disney Movies that our targeted audience would have grown up with. We will be advertising the Disney Cinema with a Disney Binge watching reward scheme.

We will use paid media to advertise the binge watching rewards scheme on Disney+ through social media platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tik Tok and YouTube. These rewards consist of unlocking exclusive Disney filters (Disney characters/advertising for the Disney Cinema) and exclusive Disney+ icons, sneak peeks of not seen before footage, throwback videos, discounts for the Disney store ranging from 5% to 25% off and lastly, VIP Tickets to the Disney Cinema. These rewards will be accessible to 16-30 year olds with Disney+ who watch at least 5-10 hours a week. Disney+ will be able to monitor ages and screen time effectively and reward on a ‘luck’ basis.

The research showed that our target audience are avid binge watchers and love Disney, our idea of a Disney Plus binge watching reward scheme this solves the problem Disney have with appealing to that generation as it is an activity that they already partake in. The objectives of the Disney Cinema also solve Disney’s challenge of creating something that will celebrate their 100th anniversary and appeal to ages 16 – 30 from Europe, the Middle East and Africa because it creates new memories of Disney for an older generation that relies on nostalgia to keep Disney important and relevant to them. Our marketing tactics using paid media, owned media and earned media through using Disney Plus and Social Networking platforms solves the problem of reaching our targeting audience as these are the platforms that are most popular with the targeted age range.

Analysis Methods:

Our customers are those who liked Disney as children, but don’t feel that Disney is part of, or necessary in their adult life. To appeal to these potential customers, our campaign will play on their need to relate back to their childhood, giving the consumer the comforting feeling of nostalgia.

Our brand awareness will be measured by how many people have viewed and clicked on our paid social media advertisements and the use of the exclusive hashtags as well as the traffic flow and following on owned media accounts.
Sign-ups will be measured by confirmation emails/texts and the amount of people who begin to binge-watch to get the rewards offered.
Online ticket sales will be monitored to measure event attendance. In addition, interest in the event will be monitored based on how many people save or bookmark the event on social media platforms. Customers who have already displayed an interest in the brand and event will receive push notifications when signed up through text, email, Facebook, and Instagram to remind them of low/limited ticket numbers available.
We will keep count of the volume of tickets being sold for Disney Cinema and the amount of profit made from ticket purchases and Disney+ subscriptions in specific areas to measure our sales metrics.
Social metrics will be measured by the amount of views on adverts which will displayed on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok and snapchat. Instagram reach will be measured by the use and views of the exclusive hashtags and new followings. Other methods we will use to measure social metrics include email sign-ups and new Disney+ accounts and registration, as well as the amount of clicks to the campaign landing page.

Budget- 100K-1m

Costs: Ads, land rental, food and drink, electric and water bills and merchandise.

ROI is important to measure the amount of profit on an investment. With a pop-up cinema, we have kept costs lower than an indoor venue. Our costs will include, land rental, electricity bills, food and drink carts with Disney branding, seating, VIP seats, screens, projectors, staff such as security, film crew and food and ticket staff, speakers and special effect accessories such as 3D glasses and even headphones for people who speak different languages.

Personas: