No longer content to just brainwash five year-olds, Disney is reaching out for the hearts, minds, and most importantly, dollars of the influential 10 to 12 year-old demographic.
TWICE: Disney Consumer Products Sets Sights On Tween Market
TWICE: Disney Consumer Products Sets Sights On Tween Market
Disney Consumer Products is making a major push to attract tweens this holiday season, according to its global electronics VP Chris Heatherly during a holiday CE and toy press preview, here, today.
Heatherly said that in the past, much of Disney’s CE offerings and the properties attached to those products, like Winnie the Pooh, were skewed towards a younger audience. He said that this year’s focus on properties like Hannah Montana, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “High School Musical” will hopefully help the company to attract a slightly older audience.
Some might think that a company so deeply associated with children might be hesitant about going after an older audience in a marketplace where makers of youth products are so often concerned about the age compression phenomenon, but Heatherly argues that Disney’s tween-targeted CE offerings are meeting the needs of a “different kind of customer.”
Heatherly said that in the past, much of Disney’s CE offerings and the properties attached to those products, like Winnie the Pooh, were skewed towards a younger audience. He said that this year’s focus on properties like Hannah Montana, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “High School Musical” will hopefully help the company to attract a slightly older audience.
Some might think that a company so deeply associated with children might be hesitant about going after an older audience in a marketplace where makers of youth products are so often concerned about the age compression phenomenon, but Heatherly argues that Disney’s tween-targeted CE offerings are meeting the needs of a “different kind of customer.”
I was going to make a snide crack about Disney co-branding a Special Edition iPod, until I got to this:
The company’s entire media player line is complemented by Disney’s recently launched Mix Central Web site (www.DisneyMixCentral.com), which functions as an online media store. It sells songs and music videos from Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records and podcasts from the Disney Channel. The downloadable content is said to be compatible with all Disney Mix Stick and Mix Max players as well as any other players that support Windows DRM 10.
In a release on the site's launch Heatherly said, “The Disney Mix line has established itself as the top media player for kids because it’s easy to use and designed specifically with kids in mind. Designing an online media store where parents can easily find and download the music their kids want was the natural next step.”
In a release on the site's launch Heatherly said, “The Disney Mix line has established itself as the top media player for kids because it’s easy to use and designed specifically with kids in mind. Designing an online media store where parents can easily find and download the music their kids want was the natural next step.”
Satire is dead. In retrospect, Disney, control freaks that they are, would never partner with Apple, now that Apple is no longer on-side with DRM. With Disney Mix, not only can tweens buy their media hardware from Disney, but download copy-protected content directly.
I'm still waiting for Disney Financial Services to offer a Mickey affinity American Express, marketed directly to tweens, so that they can pay for all this stuff.
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