1. Disney Consumer Products: Marketing Nutrition
to Children
Harvard Business School Case

2. DISNEY ‘S POPULAR
CHARACTERS

3.  HISTORY OF WALT DISNEY COMPANY.
 COMPANY OVERVIEW.
 PROBLEMS FACED AND CHALLENGES.
 BUSINESS STRATEGIES.
 ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES.
 CONCLUSION.
 FUTURE VISION.

5. Walter Elias Disney and his brother, Roy, founded
Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, later renamed it as
“The Walt Disney Company”.

7. 1923 - Debut of Mickey Mouse.
1932 - Licensing became a formal business unit.
1950 – Expansion beyond film and television.
1955 - Opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
2004 - The obesity epidemic.
2006 - DCP launches offering of fresh fruits.

9. Studio Entertainment created animated and live
action films.

10. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts operated or licensed 10 theme parks in
North America, Europe and Asia as well as 35 Disney Vacation Club
resorts and two luxury cruise ships.

13. DISNEY CONSUMER PRODUCT CATEGORIES
Soft lines (apparel, footwear, etc.)
Buena Vista Games
Home & infant
Hard lines(food, health & beauty, etc.)
Publishing
Toys

17. REASONS !!!!
Some industry experts pointed to progressive increases
in portion sizes from 1977 to 1998 as a significant factor in
rising obesity rates.
 Other experts described television advertising as a
primary factor.
 Intake of high calorie, high fat foods and beverages such
as candy, fast food etc. by children.
Eating out more often, increased consumption of sugar-
sweetened foods and lack of exercise were major
contributing factors.

18. DISNEY CURRENT OFFERING CONTRIBUTED TOWARD
GROWING OBESITY AMONG CHILDREN & ADULTS.

19. Create food product standards and nutritional guidelines that
would apply to both licensed and proprietary products.
Develop “a quality range of Disney integrated foods that
answers children’s daily needs in an entertaining way—in
short, good food, great fun.
Disney arrayed its portfolio of products into five categories:
main meal, side dish, snacks, drinks and treats. Next, calories
were allocated to each category. Disney’s goal was to balance
its portfolio so that 85% of its products could be classified as
main meal, side dish, snack or beverage and only 15% could be
categorized as treats.

21. The first challenge was to make the products they already
love healthier?
The second was to take products that were already healthy
and make them more “fun.”
The third was to use packaging to inspire product sampling,
such as making water bottles in the shape of characters.
 The key to getting children to eat healthier was to provide
plenty of choices.

22. IMAGINATION FARMS

23. It started marketing fresh fruits and vegetables by
licensing its characters to Imagination Farms, a national
fresh produce marketing company.
It used three-pronged product development strategy:
differentiate commodity produce through promotion,
create value-added products through product
preparation or packaging, and develop exclusive produce
varieties that would yield more child-friendly foods.
 Disney Farms produce was sold in major supermarket
chains, including Albertsons, Safeway, Supervalu and
Wal-Mart, though the assortment varied significantly
from one retailer to the next.

24. DISNEY BELIEVED THAT IT CAN BEAT COMPETITION BECAUSE
OF ITS HIGH NUTRITIONAL STANDARDS AND ITS UNIQUE

26. DISNEY AND THE KROGER
In addition to licensing produce through Imagination Farms,
DCP developed a broad range of products with Cincinnati-
based Kroger Supermarkets, the largest pure grocery
retailer in the United States.

27. WE CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT KROGER HAD A LARGEST MARKET
SHARE EVEN GREATER THAN WAL-MART.

28. ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES
 IT COULD HAVE USED ITS FILMS & TV SHOWS TO
PERSUADE CHILDREN TO EAT HEALTHY FOODS.
 IT COULD HAVE ADVERTISED THE NEED TO EAT
NUTRITIONAL FOOD IN ITS MEDIA NETWORK AND DISNEY
PARKS & RESORTS.
 IT COULD HAVE SPECIFICALLY DEVELOPED ANIMATED
CHARACTERS THAT PROMOTED THE NEED TO EAT
HEALTHY FOOD.

30. PRICING AND VALUE
 Though Kroger’s DMS products were priced similarly
to private brands and Imagination Farms’ Disney
Gardens products were priced competitively within
the produce department, DCP managers understood
that its products had to be affordable.

31.  Some DCP managers wondered if the public and
particularly the media would embrace the new food
products.
 Products were healthful, child friendly & fun & they
had a “DISNEY MAGIC” in them. So they were
accepted by consumers & media.
LEGACY

32.  DCP managers believed that the combination of a
broad product line, wide distribution and the Disney
brand would win over Moms.
 They could beat the competition because even if they
develop and match our nutritional standards, they
cannot access “Disney magic”.
DIFFERENCIATION & COMPETITION

33.  Disney wanted to license or develop additional lines.
DCP managers believed that the company could
differentiate additional lines using characters, brand
and price.
 Retailers won’t turn their products down because of
the Kroger relationship. The chief concern is that our
products must be profitable for retailers.
GROWTH & DISTRIBUTION

34. Managers envisioned publishing cookbooks, televising cooking
shows for children, and linking its nutritional efforts with
exercise programs.
Extending its offerings from retail supermarket products to
food service (school lunch programs) and out-of-home
consumption in restaurants is also under consideration.

37. CREATED BY
ANUGRAH NIMAVAT
BTECH (ELECTRONICS &
COMMUNICATION)
NIT – SURAT
DURING MARKETING
INTERNSHIP UNDER THE
GUIDANCE OF
PROF. SAMEER MATHUR
IIM - LUCKNOW
DISCLAIMER