"Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices." To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?
Disney is an institution which covers many different areas in the media, it was founded in 1923 and had produced hundreds of films. Disney’s success in the media is greatly based off the success of its films; however, this may not be the main contributing factor.
Disney’s success in films has created a large area in the market for merchandise. We can see examples of the institution of Disney using vertical integration across many different areas of the media. Disneyland features the many of the most popular and upcoming Disney films, it acts as a family resort where rides are built themed on different popular films. There are many shops which sell Disney products, whether that is by using a Disney character on an item of clothing or whether this is the Disney Store itself selling toys and games featuring many of the Disney characters which people are familiar with. Disney also releases magazines for some of their programs, there is the Disney Channel, they own a Radio station and a=there are also Disney Cruises.
Horizontal integration can also be seen when we look at Disney. Disney has many different labels in which its films are distributed under, this can be to do with their themes and target audience, for example, their more mature films are distributed under Touchstone Pictures. Disney also distributes its products and programs under: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Disney Theatrical Productions, Disney Live Family Entertainment and Disney on Ice. Films that have been a huge success have had sequels made of them; this includes popular Classics such as The Lion King and Lady and the Tramp. The Lion King was also re-released recently in theatres in 3D, which proved to be a huge hit once more. We can see that Disney often uses something that we trust as a good film as a foundation to build upon, if we’ve seen the first film and enjoyed it, then we will be likely to see the sequel, even if it does not meet the high standards of the first film. In some ways we can see that the first film could almost be used as advertisement for the second, if the first is good, the second will most likely be watched by the fans, even though it will not be as highly regarded as the original.
The target audience of Disney seems to be predominantly children, although we can see in many of the films there are jokes which hold double meanings for the older viewers. This shows that Disney is aware of its target audience, as the adults are the people who take the children to the cinema to see the films. By using jokes and ideas that can be understood on different levels, this allows the target audience to broaden to some degree. The audience also renews itself, which provides Disney with constant growing consumers. By making sequels of older classics, Disney is upgrading for its newer audience and also introducing them to the older films which they may not have seen had it not been for the sequel.
Disney uses a huge amount of marketing techniques to promote its films. Advertisement includes posters, film trailers, toys included in fast food branches such as Mc Donald’s, clothes featuring the characters of the films and toys, too. Interviews with the actors or voice actors from the films also help to advertise it, especially if a popular actor or actress is involved in the film. Disney also creates a large amount of money from its distribution of its films. The films are translated into other languages to be seen in other countries. For example the hit TV show Hannah Montana, is broadcasted in over forty different countries over the world.
Disney is also remaining popular as it follows the development of technology, viral marketing has helped Disney to spread its influence even further across the world. Video games are released over many different formats for the Disney films; Apps for mobile phones are also to be found. There are even online communities where groups of fans can gather and talk about the film. An example of this is on Facebook, there are official Alice in Wonderland fan pages called ‘Loyal follower of the White/Red Queen’, or ‘Disloyal follower of the Mad Hatter.’ This online presence gets the audience involved and can be used to update them on upcoming releases or merchandise to do with the film. The internet also provides teaser clips with short scenes from upcoming films. DVDs also include bloopers, actor and director’s commentary, how the film was made along with interviews with the actors or directors.
We can see from all of the above that Disney does use a huge amount of marketing and distribution to promote its films, but is it really the most important thing? We have high expectations from Disney, as it is a trusted institution which has released many extremely popular children’s favourites. If Disney did not create films which people liked, then would the merchandise for it sell? Or is it because we trust Disney and their standards that we go to see their films, as we expect good things from them?
Surely if Disney had not created the animated feature films which many hold close to their hearts such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, The Fox and the Hound and many others, then they may not be as popular as they are today. We can see that the classic characters of Disney such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Bambi are constantly on clothes and mugs. But the characters from newer Disney films only seem to last for a short while before seeming to fade away. Perhaps this isn’t much of a problem for Disney as it releases new films at such a high rate, but we do see a trend of Disney falling back onto the classics. This is probably because these classics hold the essence of Disney. They took a lot longer to create and we can see the detail and work that has gone into them, people still love these films because of their quality and firm moral messages, this is something which we see less in the newer Disney releases.
In many cases I do believe that successful media products rely just as heavily, if not more on the advertisement and distribution than the quality of the film itself. If the film is advertised effectively, then the audience will go to see it. It doesn’t matter if the films were a success or a failure by this point as people have already paid to see it and a profit has been made. However, in the long run I believe that it is the quality of a film that brings its success. If a film is loved because of its quality then it will be watched over and over, more merchandise will sell and people will want to see sequels of it or any re-releases that follow.
In conclusion, I believe that distribution and advertisement do play a large role in the success of a media product, but this is only in the short term. A film cannot be advertised forever, but if the film is a success due to its quality of content, not advertisement, then it will continue to flourish for a much longer period of time.
