This year Disney is
100 years old, which sounds
crazy old on one hand; on the other hand, most of us grew up with the
magic of Disney. We watched just about everything it had to offer and found ourselves singing along to musicals and intros.
Now that we are all grown up
(kind of), we can admit that a lot of those movies still hold up to this day.
One thing about Disney movies is that they often hide important life lessons and
pearls of wisdom like
buried treasure. Among the wisdom found in Disney movies, there is also a great amount of
marketing advice to be discovered in order to add a little magic.
So, to celebrate 100 Years of Disney, media update is listing 10 things marketers can learn from some of the most popular Disney movies throughout its 100 years.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
This is the movie that started it all! Snow White was the
first-ever full-length animated film. In the film the Evil Queen —
yes, that is her name — keeps asking the mirror on her wall if she is the
fairest of them all.
Marketers,
take note. You don't have to ask a mirror about your
beauty, but it is important to keep
monitoring what people are saying. Using media monitoring can keep
your finger on the pulse of conversations about your brand.
Mary Poppins (1964)
This film is truly
a gem. Julie Andrews played the
practically perfect Mary Poppins. In the film, our favourite nanny teams up with Bert for an
educational trip to cartoon land. Here, Mary says something that is
incredibly important: "Why do you always complicate things that are really quite simple?"
Marketers,
always remember to keep things
simple. When things are
too complicated, or there is
too much information, people will lose interest altogether.
The Lion King (1994)
The Lion King is as
iconic as they come! We all know
Hakuna Matata, and some of us even cry when Mufasa dies —
spoiler alert! In the movie, Simba lets the
mistake he
thinks he made consume him and rule over his life; but later on, he learns to forgive himself.
Not every campaign is going to be
a hit, and every marketer knows that you are going to make a
mistake …
or a few. It is important to
not let them define you but rather to find a way to move forward.
The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Okay, so this one might not be the
most popular, but its
cult following made it qualify for our list.
Also, it's a really good movie! This movie is at its core a
funny movie. The humour is clever and the laughs are real. The funny moments and great quotes such as, "
Wrong lever!" and, "
No touchy" made this movie
truly memorable.
When
marketers have fun with their campaigns and ideas in the way the writers did with this movie, you can create something
truly memorable and
enjoyable. Don't be afraid to
have fun with marketing.
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
The Pirates movies became a franchise of
five films and have a
massive fan base. The films all focus on
Captain Jack Sparrow as he lives in search of
treasure or battling
scary creatures. There is a lot we can say about Captain Jack, but on top is the fact that he is
absolutely great at
creative problem-solving.
Any
marketer will tell you that things often
go wrong, and then you need to find some way to
fix it. That is why we look to
Jack for multiple
great lessons in
creative problem-solving as it is a
crucial skill that every marketer needs.
Cars (2006)
Cars was the first
combined effort from Pixar and Disney since Disney bought Pixar in 2006. This film became
extremely popular with a massive database of
memes and gifs inspired by the film.
In this film our main man —
sorry, vehicle — Lightning McQueen, finds himself in a small town called
Radiator Springs where the
native mobiles teach him a lot that ends up helping him later on.
The marketing industry is
ever changing, so it is important for
marketers to
keep learning and upskilling. Never accept that you know everything,
because you don't. You can learn from courses,
mentors and other marketers — as long as you
keep learning.
Frozen (2013)
You will have to travel
far and wide if you want to find someone that
doesn't know about Frozen and the iconic
Let It Go song. This film became a
quick favourite of children and adults all over the world.
Frozen tells the tale of two sisters. One sister has the ability to freeze
just about anything, while the other one has the power of …
positivity, I guess. When Elsa runs away, Anna
takes the risk of trying to find her.
The lesson in this film is to
take risks.
Let me clarify! Take calculated risks. With so many campaigns and brands out there, a marketer needs to
take some risks in order to
stand out among the crowd and reach their goals.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
When Disney received the rights to Lucasfilm, it wasted
no time to restart the
Star Wars franchise — with
great success. The movie was a hit and fans of the originals
and new fans all raced to watch all the films that followed.
In
The Force Awakens our new Jedi, Rey, gets kidnapped by Kylo Ren, but she uses the
Jedi mind trick on a stormtrooper in order to escape.
We know that Jedi mind tricks are
sadly not possible. But the concept of
persuasive marketing is very real.
Persuasive marketing is all about using your
knowledge about
human behaviour and
psychology to change or inspire customers'
attitudes towards your product or brands.
Avengers Endgame (2019)
Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment way back in 2009, and while just about
every Marvel movie is extremely popular, there is no denying that
Avengers Infinity War and
Avengers Endgame became
iconic pop culture moments in our world.
Avengers Endgame was the
big finale of the
Infinity Saga within the MCU. The OG Avengers, along with a few
new friends, teamed up to try and bring everyone lost during Infinity War back.
The key takeaway in this film is
not that time travel is real but rather the concept of
working together to reach a
common goal. If Steve can ask Tony for help, you can ask other departments to help you. Working with others also gives you an excuse to say:
Avengers Assemble!
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Over the last few years, Disney took on the task of making
live actions for
almost every princess movie they ever made. The latest one to get released is
The Little Mermaid, and when the film was announced it
made waves.
The casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel ended up being quite controversial, but Disney
did not stop there. It ended up with a
very diverse cast that started a
very needed conversation around
diversity in the media.
Diversity is
incredibly important in marketing because it is important for people to
feel seen by you and your brand. Consumers are focussed on the
important issues now
more than ever and marketers need to listen. We live in a
diverse world and your marketing needs to
reflect that if you want to become a part of the consumers' world.
What is your favourite Disney marketing stunt? Let us know in the comments section below.
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