January 8, 2009, - 3:09 pm
Disney Now Going After Long-Neglected Market a/k/a Boys With Empty Programming
By Debbie Schlussel
Like every other segment of society, Disney’s been neglecting boys. But, now, after a gazillion princess movies and stuff about girlie-boy bands, the boys are back. And that’s a good thing . . . depending on the message boys are sent and that’s not clear from Disney’s marketing plans, which sound kind of empty and devoid of anything substantive.
Walt Disney Co. is making a push to crack a market that few media companies have been able to conquer — boys aged 6-14.
Next month, the company will launch a boy-focused entertainment brand called Disney XD, consisting of a new cable television channel, a comprehensive Web site with games, music, videos and social networking.
For Disney, the move marks a new push designed to replicate some of the success it has scored in recent years with its largely girl-targeted entertainment franchises such as Hannah Montana, High School Musical and the Jonas Brothers. . . .
But it hasn’t hit the same heights with the similarly aged boy market. “I think boys are just harder, in general, to get galvanized behind any one thing,” says Jane Buckingham, president of the Intelligence Group, a market-research firm in Los Angeles. “And there isn’t a lot out there for the tween boy market.”
Disney has produced properties that attract boys, including the “Cars” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises. But until now, the company hasn’t tried to package them together in such a way as to consistently target the young boy market.
“We looked at the landscape and feel that girls are being served — if not super-served, and preschoolers are also well served, but boys really haven’t been,” says Rich Ross, president of Disney Channels Worldwide. “If boys have been served, it’s been mostly in animation, which [is] only a narrow portion of what boys are interested in.”
Using both television and a new Web portal, Disney hopes to introduce boys to a host of new live-action and animated shows, original movies, new music acts and games. And Disney executives also hope to leverage boys’ love of sports, using the company’s ESPN brand, which will likely collaborate on original programming and other sports-themed topics for Disney XD. (Disney says the letters don’t refer to anything.)
On Feb. 13, Disney will rebrand its existing animation channel, Toon Disney, as Disney XD and will launch the new action-adventure show “Aaron Stone,” that it hopes will become the channel’s centerpiece. The show melds aspects of what the company says boys are interested in: action, adventure and videogames. Another new show, “Zeke & Luther” will be a comedy filmed in quasidocumentary style about two best friends trying to become world-famous skateboarders.
Toon Disney is currently available on both basic cable and digital packages in about 72 million households. The Disney Channel is seen in about 97 million U.S. households. Disney XD will air traditional advertising spots, according to Disney officials.
But the launch of Disney XD comes amid a major advertising downturn, which could pose a challenge as the company hopes to attract advertisers both online and television.
Like the Disney Channel, which helped launch the careers of such household names as Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Shia LaBeouf, executives want XD to serve as a springboard for fresh faces. Up first is 21-year-old Kelly Blatz, the star of “Aaron Stone,” a Burbank native who was for a time a barista at a Starbucks down the street from Disney Channel headquarters.
Simultaneously, Disney’s online unit will launch DisneyXD.com, an ad-supported Web site that won’t only be used to promote XD television properties, but will focus on action-driven games and video. There will also be social networking and online community sections of the site.
Blah, blah, blah. Where is the magic and wonder, once the hallmark of Disney charm?
Young boys really don’t need more high tech garbage, extreme sports, and computer games. They need to be taught values and how to be good, responsible young men. And they need to have an opportunity to develop an interest in the outdoors, science, and wildlife developed–things that have been neglected, especially with the decline of the Boy Scouts.
This new Disney marketing plan seems devoid of that. It sounds absolutely vapid. But boys have a hunger for the right message. That’s why “The Dangerous Book for Boys” was such a success. I really wish Disney would take a few lessons–and adopt some programming–from those pages. Boys would eat it up.
That marketing chick has it all wrong. Boys aren’t hard to galvanize. . . if you have the right message and content.
….who better than a “marketing chick” to decide what is best for young American males….?
Nick Fury on January 8, 2009 at 3:28 pm