WHAT COMES TO MIND WHEN THOUGHT OF DISNEY WORLD’S FOOD

But, are these healthy for children?

SOME TROUBLING FACTS AND FIGURES

In 2004,• America: 5-9 years children: 30% overweight, 14% obese• Europe: 5-9 years children: more than 10% obese

REASONS

• Overeating• Unhealthy eating• Lack of exercise

SITUATUION OF DISNEY

• Disney’s target segment is children.• It not only had such unhealthy food at their resorts,

but also had alliance with brands like McDonalds.• So Disney had to establish credibility when it comes

to nutrition with the government, parents and nutritionists.

WHAT DID DISNEY’S DISNEY CONSUMER PRODUCTS(DCP) DECIDE

TO DO• Use this opportunity to reconsider its entire range of food products-

introducing new product lines to reduce the gap (line filling).• Balance their portfolio.

• Realize its role in helping solve this obesity problem in children, i.e. use its brand image.

QUESTIONS• How to position itself as a nutritious valuing brand• How to use the brand name to bring about the change• How to change its current product mix for the purpose• What to do internally• Finally how to implement this in the market

HYPOTHESIS• Keep its image as fun and tasty for the children to accept the

change• Try to change the existing product lines to fit the nutrition criteria• Fill the gap where this is lacking and remove the ones where no

change can be made to improve it• Market it using some big, established brand so that it effects large

part of the segment. • The image of that brand should be able to complement and

supplement the target and purpose of these changes.• Use appropriate models for it so that they can monitor the new

changes and respond to the feedback effectively

To build DCP into global consumer product company

• To explore other marketing models other than the old licensing model• Continued the traditional licensing model where the licensee does

everything, from innovation to manufacturing to marketing.• Next, tried the other model- the sourcing model• Third model- DTR Distribution model• Experimenting with these later helped them easily implement them with

the new nutritious product lines.

• How to satisfy children and their parents both?• How to do line filling?• The nutritious angle:

– Which products lines are to be retained – which are to be reformed – what new product lines are to be created with this quality.

From survey:• Line filling the gap between

parents’ and children's’ choices.• Children influence the purchasing

decision, so make position it as “FUN”.

• Parents are already loyal to Disney and trust it.

• Advertising has a huge impact on children's decisions.

LINE FILLING

• The nutrition model– 1800 calorie diet

• 85% main meal, side dish snack or beverage and 15% treats• Based on this evaluating its existing products.

• Decided which type of product lines to create , i.e. which gap to fill

• Decided the criteria, in this case the nutritional requirements. • Decided which products to retain, which to reform and which

to cast off.• Next, we use the previous models to introduce these

changes/new things in the market.

IMAGINATION FARMS

• Used the traditional licensing method• Used different product strategy to differentiate their

products and attract children by making them participate in it actively.

• Created value added products- used ingredient emphasizing on the packaging for the parents.

DISNEY AND KROGER

• Used the DTR model in this case.• Since these are food products, a huge

market share had to be target, hence hose Kroger.

• Pricing strategy: price at a discount to the national brands to start with.

PROOF AND ACTION

• There are proofs for each of the nutritional facts used, some of them provided by the government.

• Filling the gap is by the survey• This satisfies everyone, children to parents• Changing the existing things to fit the criteria helps that

children doesn’t find it completely new and unknown. Proof of it got when children actively bought fruits when associated with their favorite characters.

• Using the existing giants like Imagination Farms helped with the parents where they easily appreciated the changes and saw the efforts made.

ALTERNATIVES• Disney does on its own without licensing by using its own

brand name. This wouldn’t favor much because if it did this it wouldn’t be able to change its image as the one to support nutrition. Associating with sources like Imagination Farms helped.

• Do not expand its market portfolio- would’ve left Disney with just few options for a change to nutrition and more loss too.

DISNEY’S IMAGE NOW WITH RESPECT TO NUTRITION

RECAP• The maelstrom Disney was caught in (Situation)• The things it decided to do • The questions it had to answer first• The hypothetical image it built initially• Its problems and the actions taken for it• The weaker alternatives

DISCLAIMER

Created by Nitya Joshi, BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad, during a marketing internship under Professor Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow