Planning Document

Our marketing objective is to establish Disney as a superior brand within the streaming
world. Our plan for Disney Direct involves a five-month national marketing campaign, followed
by a 6-month trial period of the streaming service. We believe we will acquire the company 35
million subscribers within the first year after launch. We will do this through advertising on social
media and current streaming services. These both have a giant user base and potential to
effectively reach our target market.

Demo Profile:

Primary Target Audience:

Based on our research, we have determined the primary age range for Disney to target
with Disney Direct is adults 25-39. This age group is 39% to 48% more likely to have used video
streaming services within the past six months than other age groups (GfK MRI Reporter, 2017).
Based on data from the Census Bureau (2016) and the New York Times (2018), it is more likely
for people in this age range to have a spouse and at most two children. Typically, people within
this target audience are earning an average of $20,000-$40,000 annually; in a combined
household, this could reach $80,000 annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). According to
the GfK MRI Reporter (2017), people within this salary bracket are 37% more likely to have
used video streaming services within the last six months. The difference between men and
women being more likely to use video streaming services is less than 5%; therefore, it is likely
not necessary to appeal to a specific gender group (GfK MRI Reporter, 2017). However, it
would be beneficial to target individuals with occupations in business, professional sales and
office work. These individuals were 92% more likely to have used video streaming services in
the last six months (GfK MRI Reporter, 2017).

Secondary Target Audience:

Our secondary target audience is the children of our primary target audience. In 2018, a
study surveyed 1,786 parents and their children to measure social media use of children aged
8-18 in the United States. It showed that 56% of 13-18 year olds and 23% of 8-12 year olds had
their own social media accounts (CNN, 2018). As of Fall 2018, the two most popular social
media platforms for younger users are Snapchat at 46% and Instagram at 32% (Statista, 2018).
Additionally, YouTube reaches 96% of online users aged 18-24 (Statista, 2018), and TikTok
was the most downloaded app of 2018 with the users being mostly teenagers (Business of
Apps, 2019). We believe all of these platforms will be extremely beneficial to allocate tailored
advertisements to.
Calendar/Marketing Flow Chart:

Disney Direct Calendar

February ● Release trailer for Disney Direct during the Super Bowl
on February 2, 2020 and publish on YouTube
immediately after.

June ● Create Disney Direct businesses pages for our social

media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok,
Snapchat and Twitter.
● On June 31, 2020, post teaser videos of Disney Direct
on all of Disney’s social media accounts with an overall
message of “coming soon”.

July  Begin tailored advertising on Instagram, Snapchat,

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

August ● Continue tailored advertising on Instagram, Snapchat,

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

September ● Continue tailored advertising on Instagram, Snapchat,

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

October ● On October 1, 2020, put out press release detailing

pricing plans, content and launch date as November
18, 2020, Mickey Mouse’s birthday.
● Continue tailored advertising on Instagram, Snapchat,
TikTok, Facebook and Twitter.

November ● Pick up speed on advertising on Instagram, Snapchat,

TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
● Launch Disney Direct on November 18, 2020.
Marketing Strategy:

Five “P’s”

Product Disney Direct: a subscription video on-demand streaming service with content
solely from Walt Disney Studios.

Price After the launch of the streaming service on November 18, 2020, customers will
be able to sign up for a six-month trial period at $.99 per month for any tier a
customer chooses. After the six-month trial period ends, each tier will be $3.99.
There will be three tiers, and each tier will have a different type of content.
Therefore, someone only interested in films such as Star Wars or the Marvel
franchise would not also have to pay for Disney classic movies and Disney
original TV shows. The top tier plan in which you would be subscribed to all three
tiers will cost $9.99 per month.
To further add value to each customer’s experience, Disney Direct will include a
digital marketplace to purchase or rent Disney content open to all subscribers.
Additionally, those paying $3.99 for one tier will be able to purchase temporary
access to other intellectual property across the website for a small fee. This way
users will not feel locked into any service plan and will be able to access as much
quality Disney content as possible.

Place An app available on all app stores and a website for all web browsers.

Promotion Almost only social media promotion tailored to each specific platform and
audience (“story” ads, boosted posts, sponsored posts, influencers); One Super
Bowl ad

Disney staff: social media coordinators, customer support, IT, web & app
designers, creative team, marketing team
People

Big Idea:
Our “big idea” is to only advertise on social media with the exception of the one Super Bowl
advertisement. We will tailor ads to each platform to appeal to each audience. They will all have
a center message that Disney Direct is a one stop shop for streaming.
Creative:

Rationale:
Disney Direct is about options and the freedom to choose. It is a customizable plan
compatible with every family dynamic. There is a diverse selection of high-quality entertainment
available to subscribers, and subscribers are able to choose what content they want to pay for.
For example, cable and Netflix lock you into a plan where you have to buy more than what you
want. With Disney Direct, we eliminate that dilemma. We allow subscribers to choose what
content to spend their money on without spending extra for content irrelevant to them.

Creative Brief:

Target Audience: Millennials between the ages of 25 and 39 with young families.

Objective: Establish Disney Direct as the leading option for easy, diverse video entertainment
for individuals and families to watch at their leisure.

Strategy: Convince millennials with young families to buy Disney Direct because it has the most
convenient and diverse streaming service on the market.

Insight:
● Millennials are individualistic; therefore, they like to have items and services catered to
them.
● A popular trend in the streaming era is “binge watching”, which consists of an individual
watching an entire show from front to back in a short amount of time.
● Millennials with young families are looking for video entertainment not only for them but
for their children as well.

Support: Disney Direct makes it an easy choice when deciding on which streaming service to
subscribe to because users can tailor a plan suited to their family for a reasonable price.

Considerations:
1. Customizable plan compatible with every family dynamic.
2. Diverse selection of entertainment to suit multiple individuals.
3. Easy to use system catered to the user.

Tone: Exciting and cutting edge; hint of the whimsical nostalgia Disney is known for.
Media:

Objectives:

● Marketing Objective:
○ Make Disney Direct the leading option people think of for streaming.
● Marketing Strategy/Objective:
○ Establish Disney Direct as being competitive in the streaming market.
● Creative Objective:
○ Establish Disney Direct as the highest standard of visual media.
● Advertising Creative Strategy:
○ Establish Disney Direct as a known superior brand in the streaming world.
● Marketing Strategy/Media:
○ Deliver advertising to a primary target audience of millennials aged 25-39 and a
secondary target audience of their children.
● Marketing Objective:
○ Deliver advertising to a target audience of millennials aged 25-39 with a focus on
people with children and current Disney fans.
● Advertising Media Strategy:
○ Advertise throughout the United States to our target audience.

Media Strategy:

Media mix and type:

● Paid media:
○ Social media platform advertisements: Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram,
YouTube and TikTok.
○ Sponsored posts from brand ambassadors and influencers.
● Owned media:
○ Disney social media accounts.
● Earned media:
○ Re-tweets.
○ Media coverage.
○ Consumer posts.

Rationale:
For Disney Direct, advertising will be placed in areas that will reach our target markets.
Due to the popularity of social media and digital streaming, all of our promotions will be placed
online with the exception of one ad during the Super Bowl, the most watched event in television
history. We do acknowledge that our target market responds well to traditional advertising
media such as TV; however, TV still provides Disney with a substantial income, so we will focus
on pulling consumers off of other streaming services and social media networks. Targeting the
large streaming audience on various social media platforms will be the most lucrative option for
this campaign.

Budget:

We believe an appropriate cost for the Disney Direct campaign would be approximately
$20 million. In February of 2020, Disney will release a brief teaser advertisement during the
Super Bowl, which had a viewership of 100.7 million people in 2019 (Lafayette, 2019). On
average, the cost for a Super Bowl commercial slot is around $5 million (Bloomberg, 2019).
With Disney’s brand recognition and loyalty, news outlets will immediately generate free
publicity for Disney, and millions of online users will share this content. According to MRI
Reporter, individuals who are more likely to read the news are more actively using video
streaming services. Outlets that seem to have more active streaming users are Reuters, at
204% more likely to have used video streaming in the last six months, and CNET, at 201%
more likely to have used streaming services in the last six months (GfK MRI Reporter, 2017).
Beyond these outlets, adults 18+ who engage in outlets like Huffington Post, New York Times,
CNBC, Buzzfeed, BBC and the Wall Street Journal are over 100% more likely to have used
streaming services.
Disney will remain silent on further news about the streaming service until June 31,
2020 when we will begin implementing advertisements on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Snapchat, YouTube and Tik-Tok. Social media platform advertisements will cost us
approximately $15 million. Facebook advertising costs depend on which objective Disney has in
mind. While ensuring impressions are important, just because an advertisement is shown does
not mean it is being engaged with, and this leads to wasted dollars. Setting your objective as
optimizing per engagement or link click costs roughly only $0.20 per click (Gotter, 2018). This is
equal to about $10 million if 50 million people engage with the Facebook advertisement. Video
advertisements may also be helpful; these are measured by thousand impressions and usually
cost $5.12 per thousand impressions (Sloane, 2018). If 50 million users watch a video
advertisement, the cost would be just under $300 thousand. Approximately 68% of Americans
use Facebook (Anderson & Smith, 2018). Because of Facebook’s vast user base, Facebook will
likely generate the most conversions and be the costliest. Instagram ads can cost up to $4.20
per thousand impressions (Sloane, 2018). However, with Instagram’s smaller user base, only
approximately $3 million should be allocated toward advertising there. Snapchat and Tik-Tok
are by far the least expensive social media platforms to advertise on. They cost anywhere from
$1-$2 per thousand impressions, so these should take up the least amount of resources
(Sloane, 2018). We recommend placing ads here, though, because of their large number of
younger users who are likely to be attracted to and interested in streaming Disney content. This
has potential to make parents aware of the new service by their children’s word-of-mouth. With
the $2 million left, we will sponsor multiple influencers and brand ambassadors that align with
Disney’s brand to promote Disney Direct across designated social media platforms. Sponsored
posts online from accounts with a following of 500,000 or more people can cost as much as
$5,000 (Johnson, 2018), and YouTube sponsored videos with the same number of followers
can cost up to $10,000 (Henderson, 2017).
 If the targeted 35 million users were to sign up for the $0.99 six-month trial, Disney
Direct would break even in the budget within the first month and have $14 million in net
revenue. This is all while maintaining affordable prices for consumers and staying competitive
against other video streaming platforms.

EVALUATION:

We plan to track sales quarterly. We will see how many subscriptions were sold and how
these sales correlate with our promises and what advertisements we were running during the
sales spikes.
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