The Marketing Magic of Disney

Disney Princesses. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White are almost household names. They are a central part of the Disney media franchise, and many would argue are also a central part of a girl's childhood. For many young girls, knowing all of the songs to your favorite princess movie is rite of passage. To these girls, if you didn't grow up dancing to "Under the Sea" and singing to "Beauty and the Beast", you never had a childhood. But today, there is actually a lot more to these princesses than classic movies with tales as old as time and songs as old as rhyme.

So much more. 

In the late 1990s, Walt's Disney's Director of Consumer Products Andy Mooney was at a Disney on Ice show. While there, he noticed several young girls dressed in princess clothes from generic costume stores. He saw a demand with no supply. "They weren't even Disney products. They were generic princess products.” He addressed the company and suggested that they work on an authentic Disney Princess franchise. The original line-up consisted of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle and Jasmine. Today it has expanded to include Mulan, Pocahontas, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Merida. Two new princesses are to be added with the soon-to-be released Frozen.The beauty of the marketing strategy is that Disney didn't even put a lot of effort into promotion. They had already reached their target markets, but now just needed products to give them.

Instead of working on promotion and advertising, Disney focused their marketing strategy on partnering with companies like Sephora to come up with clothing lines and cranking out a huge variety of products. Distribution is their biggest means of marketing. Disney was also clever enough to group the princesses together into a royalty-conglomerate, increasing the exposure of all the princesses. Disney had several decades to establish the princesses and already had a quite a following for the princesses themselves. The window of opportunity turned into a phenomenon.

The franchise has released apparel, home decor, toys, books, television specials, games, dolls, dance clothes, dinnerware and wedding dresses. All of the princesses are also featured at meet-and-greets at Disney's resorts and theme parks. In 2011, Forbes reported that the Disney Princess franchise made over $1.6 billion domestically, and $3 billion worldwide. It outperformed the franchises Star Wars, Sesame Street, and Batman. Overall, their marketing strategy is paying off. Recently, Disney "updated" the official artwork of the princesses, receiving mixed reactions from parents and feminazis alike. And in recent years, Disney has come under fire over what kind of influence the princesses have over young girls. It does not appear to have made a dent in their sales, however. The franchise continues to make over $4 billion a year, and it continues to grow and expand. It must be the magic of Disney.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/09/17/disney-princess-tops-list-of-the-20-best-selling-entertainment-products/