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Major Marketing Push Behind Lion King DVD
A full page ad in this week's Hollywood Reporter (p. 28 of the July 29-Aug.4 issue) gives us a glimpse at the Timon & Pumbaa's Virtual Safari feature and reveals that the Mouse House is backing up the October 7 release of "Disney's most requested DVD title" with a $150 million marketing campaign. That's more than the production budget for Treasure Planet or Pirates of the Caribbean! Simba is likely to keep roaring at the top of the all-time video sales chart for a long, long time...

Er. Guys. It's the Lion King Does it really need that sort of marketing spend? People will buy it anyway.

All I can say, if they're spending that much on marketing, they better have substantial supplements on the disc... none of the BatB 'fluff'... or else once again Disney have their priorities wrong.

2099net wrote:All I can say, if they're spending that much on marketing, they better have substantial supplements on the disc... none of the BatB 'fluff'... or else once again Disney have their priorities wrong.

Yeah, really. There's NO excuse if this much time and effort is going into promoting the disc for there not to be features of substance.

The sad thing is how much of the promoting will be about the dreadful Morning Report number and Timon & Pumbaa's Virtual Safari (which hopefully is worthwhile) and the 'kewl games.'

Luke wrote:
Yeah, really. There's NO excuse if this much time and effort is going into promoting the disc for there not to be features of substance.

The sad thing is how much of the promoting will be about the dreadful Morning Report number and Timon & Pumbaa's Virtual Safari (which hopefully is worthwhile) and the 'kewl games.'

I wonder if creating The Morning Report is being included in the 'marketing' budget? Either way it's a drop in the ocean when they are spending $150M!

I don't know what they spent on the marketing of Beauty and the Beast, but just think... I bet they could have made it a 3 disc set - a third disc for the WIP version and the archived "making of" tv special hosted by David Ogden Stiers and still had enought to promote the film sufficiently even after absorbing the cost of the extra disc. That would have resulted in better picture quality and made the old time Disney fans happy

Angry. They really should be spending the money on Sleeping Beauty. Not only is it (arguably) a better film (but sadly lesser known, thus needing the promotion) but I have a feeling it will be a much more substantial set (based on the printed LK specs)

2099net wrote:

Luke wrote:I don't know what they spent on the marketing of Beauty and the Beast, but just think... I bet they could have made it a 3 disc set - a third disc for the WIP version and the archived "making of" tv special hosted by David Ogden Stiers and still had enought to promote the film sufficiently even after absorbing the cost of the extra disc. That would have resulted in better picture quality and made the old time Disney fans happy

Angry. They really should be spending the money on Sleeping Beauty. Not only is it a better film (but sadly lesser known, thus needing the promotion) but I have a feeling it will be a much more substantial set (based on the printed LK specs)

I agree with you, i think everybody will buy the lion king, even if the edition had no extras. Disney should spend more money in support films like TENG o Home of the Range.

that is very odd. I find it hard to believe that they'd spend so much money on marketing a movie which will sell itself instantly anyways... well, it's not my company, I hope they make a freakin butload on DVD sales, if not, then a BIG boo-boo.

jabroni76 wrote:that is very odd. I find it hard to believe that they'd spend so much money on marketing a movie which will sell itself instantly anyways... well, it's not my company, I hope they make a freakin butload on DVD sales, if not, then a BIG boo-boo.

"It's not my company" what sort of reply is that. Don't you realise we have to critisise everything Disney does. It's what the Internet's for!

I just don't understand how (according to the article) "Disney's most requested DVD title" the biggest marketing budget. Which genius okayed that?

Executive No1: Sales on The Lion King will be through the roof. We get asked about a DVD release of this movie more than any other. This film sells itself - a sure fire hit.
Executive No2: Yes. But obviously people won't want to buy it just for the movie. They've all got it on VHS after all.
Executive No1: But, we get more requests for a DVD release of the Lion King than any other movie. People want to own the film on the superior DVD format.
Executive No2: No, No. Sales will be poor unless we give them something extra. To make them want to upgrade.
Executive No1: Well, we've got some excellent material in the archives we could...
Executive No2: No. No. Archive stuff is irrelevent to todays' audience. Who want's to see that? Grandma and Grandad? Let's film some all new material covering the same subjects. We could make it sort of short and to the point. Stop the kids from getting bored.
Executive No1: But that will cost tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Kids won't want to watch that "making of" stuff anyway and we already have...
Executive No2: And let's get some tv stars to film a new "pop" video. Yeah - a "pop" video. That will get the tweenies interested in the DVD. Get Elton John on it now. No wait I've a better idea. Jump 5 are still under contract aren't they? Kids love kids. Hold on I've a better idea. Let's get the kids from the Disney channel to do it.
Executive No1: But, again that will cost thousands of dollars and the tweenies already want...
Executive No2: Get that Duff girl involved. She can sell anything at the moment.
Executive No1: But the film sells itself... all we need is...
Executive No2: But there's something missing. We need to make people want to watch the film again. I know, we can add a new animated musical number. Just like we did on Beauty and the Beast. How about something from the broadway show? It's ideal.
Executive No1: But the IMAX release didn't seem to suffer from having no new content and I don't really see what we can include which would fit the flow of the movie and...
Executive No2: Add a few games and a generic featurette about animals and hey presto. Fun for the whole family.
Executive No1: Research has shown that hardly anybody plays the games all the way through and why pad out the release with a featurette on animals when there's so much to say about the film? And it's spin-offs. We could include an episode from the...
Executive No2: But how can we get people to know all this stuff is on the DVD, to encourage them to buy it?
Executive No1: But people will buy it without knowing. They want to buy it. All we need to do is let them know...
Executive No2: I know. We'll give it the biggest marketing spend ever. $100M should cover it. No add 50% $150M will make sure everybody in the United States knows about this DVD release.
Executive No1: *sigh* Also, we've scheduled a 2 disc Sleeping Beauty release for a few weeks before the Lion King release. Research shows that some consumers think this film is too old to be any good.
Executive No2: Oh that's a shame. We've just commited a majority of the remaining marketing budget to The Lion King. Oh well, just do your best with what's left. Nobody will mind. We're not expecting this to be a big seller anyway compared to The Lion King.

Honestly. What were they thinking?

I get the feeling like 2099net was AT a real exec meeting and brought a tape recorder.

I think there's a good chance this DVD will be fluff features, and in that case, I don't think I'd buy it. Yes, it is a wonderful movie, but the features make the disc, and if there isn't anything worthwhile this isn't a priority of mine (and besides... they'll be getting enough money from me when Walt Disney Treasures: Wave 3 arrives).

2099 -- you have some comedic talent. Man, that sure captures the spirit of Disney these days

Fluff pieces, new scene, stupid games ... No one wants this stuff

2099net wrote:Er. Guys. It's the Lion King Does it really need that sort of marketing spend? People will buy it anyway.

The Cardboard displays and stuffed animal shelf in the Disney Store are enough.

ahahaha -- that was hilarious Netty! two thumbs up!

Yes, I think 2099 has the tapes of that conversation somewhere.

It is a shame that some other films don't get the push that LK is goign to get.
But some of those films are always going to be a niche market.
I mean, I suppose it make sense for Disney to put more money in marketing something they KNOW will return (i.e. LK), rather than something that could go either way (i.e. Sleeping Beauty).

Shame they can't all get along.

Loomis wrote:It is a shame that some other films don't get the push that LK is goign to get. But some of those films are always going to be a niche market. I mean, I suppose it make sense for Disney to put more money in marketing something they KNOW will return (i.e. LK), rather than something that could go either way (i.e. Sleeping Beauty).

Shame they can't all get along.

I remember that The Lion King has promotions with NASCAR and Dodge Caravan.

I haven't seen any advertisments or Displays for Sleeping Beauty or The Lizzie McGuire Movie. I'm not aware of any special promotions either. Hopefully I'll see some full page ads for Sleeping Beauty soon.

Clearly 2099net is Michael Eisner himself. How else can anyone understand the subtlety and complexity of the Disney business method?

Tascar wrote:Clearly 2099net is Michael Eisner himself. How else can anyone understand the subtlety and complexity of the Disney business method?

I knew it!
I've never seen them both in the same room at the same time...

2099net is the best script writter! and UltimateDisney's own International DVD expert!

Loomis wrote:

Tascar wrote:Clearly 2099net is Michael Eisner himself. How else can anyone understand the subtlety and complexity of the Disney business method?

I knew it!
I've never seen them both in the same room at the same time...

Well I do champion Disney's rights to make animated sequels don't I? And I actually like some of them! Plus I have no interest in the theme parks (so that makes me sound like Eisner!) More to the point, I seem to think that I can run Disney... so perhaps I am Eisner.

But sadly (or perhaps thankfully?) I'm not. If I was, we'd all be enjoying season sets of House of Mouse on DVD this christmas, and making sure that the Lion King Platinum Edition had the original television "making of" special included in the specifications.

I saw this article on animated-movies.net

Brandweek reports that Disney is investing a whopping $200 million USD in overall marketing support in October for the DVD debut of The Lion King--a budget that eclipses the outlay for most theatrical releases, with McDonald's, Kellog, Hasbro and Wal-Mart in tow. Support will cover three DVDs, including the Platinum Edition and the spring 2004 launch of Lion King 1 1/2: Hakuna Matata and Lion King 2: Simba's Pride.

The Lion King will only sell like hotcakes if Disney lets the public know it's back out there (as opposed to, say, The Rescuers, which sold very good numbers in its 1998 VHS release and 1999 edited reissue but didn't sell on DVD because Disney didn't market it at all.) They need to spend SOME money to do that, but once that's done it should be very easy for Lion King to sell itself as long as Disney does a good job telling people that Lion King will be out in a few weeks. However, I don't think they need $150m-$200m to give it that. Now if the $150-$200m figure reflects the marketing for the sequels as well, then that I can understand, because they will need a bit bigger push to fly off the shelves than the original does. Nonetheless, they will sell a lot, too.

Sleeping Beauty has traditionally been a big seller, too, and they've been saying that they get several requests for it, even if the number is not as huge as those for Lion King. I think that it will move plenty of copies too, but again that all depends on what Disney does a few weeks before street date to tell the public "Sleeping Beauty is on DVD!" And this seems to be the weak link in the chain - we are only a couple weeks away from the Sleeping Beauty DVD and I have yet to see any promotion. Sure, it's being talked about in Disney circles like this one, and yes, there was a little feature on it in the most recent issue of Disney Magazine, but the only people who really read that are the Disney cult, and they don't need to advertise it to us. They need to advertise it to the general public.

Starion wrote:I saw this article on animated-movies.net

Brandweek reports that Disney is investing a whopping $200 million USD in overall marketing support in October for the DVD debut of The Lion King--a budget that eclipses the outlay for most theatrical releases, with ... Wal-Mart in tow.

I was looking for GMRS radios and found this in the electronics section:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... h=0%3A3944

Jake Lipson wrote:Sleeping Beauty has traditionally been a big seller, too, and they've been saying that they get several requests for it, even if the number is not as huge as those for Lion King. ... They need to advertise it to the general public.

I'm hoping that the US stores will begin promoting Sleeping Beauty next week. I saw one small advertisment in the newspaper last Sunday.

Disney is spending about 9 times as much on the Lion King than on Monsters, Inc. and Beauty and the Beast:

Disney last year spent $25.5 million and $15 million for the DVD launches of Monsters, Inc. and Beauty and the Beast, respectively, per CMR.

Source:

Return to the Throne
http://www.promomagazine.com/ar/marketi ... rn_throne/