Toy Story 3: A Case Study

The usefulness of marketing for media and entertainment companies such as Disney in regards to Toy Story 3. Marketing can be defined as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably;" (The Chartered Institute Of Marketing, 2016). Marketing is a key aspect to establishing the success of a business and its products especially for an organisation such as Disney. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (2015) describes Disney as a company that bases and targets its products and most of its associations on household amusement. It was founded by Walt Disney and his brother Roy in 1923 as a cartoon studio which later grew and it was at this point that it purchased subsidiaries such as Pixar …show more content…
Europe News Week (2010) explains that from the production of the first Toy Story, Disney being well aware of the impact of theme parks and merchandising decided to implement these strategies onto the last film of the trilogy. This is because they are profitable marketing strategies that lead to customer satisfaction. Disney’s theme parks often viewed as household friendly environments popular among all age groups widening Disney’s target market. Therefore in readiness for the release of the film their branch in France known as Disneyland Paris had introduced the Toy Story play land to capture the European market, this was launched during the release of the film. Correspondingly, Disney world in Florida also reconstructed their facilities to accommodate a new character on their Toy Story mania 3-D rides. In addition to the theme parks merchandising gave Toy Story 3 a history making identity and profound recognition which proved essential to its marketing. However the success of its merchandising charter is still as result of the identification of Disney Pixar as an eminent company. Following the release of the film was the production of publications, clothes, collectibles, etcetera of which were based on the characters including the main characters of the animation. In addition, video games and mobile device applications were produced. As a result Toy Story 3 earned estimated revenue of over $7.3 billion from the market as reported by Grover (2011). Hence the animation’s merchandise charter having been Disney’s fourth biggest in 2010 surpassing Mickey Mouse and Barbie. This makes evident the role of theme parks and merchandising in the successful marketing of Disney Pixar’s Toy Story