The Disney Channel Gets the Message Out

Everyone is familiar with the vast entertainment empire that began with Walt and Roy Disney. This behemoth is a master at weaving together all of their beloved characters, theme parks, movies and other "assets" to promote the Disney brand. One of their most effective tools for corporate-wide promotional efforts is the Disney Channel.

The Disney Chanel is home to various family oriented shows as well as movies that provide delight to children the world over. This channel produces original TV series and small-screen movies that are marketed to both young kids as well as teenagers.

The channel also plays a big role in promoting the various Disney characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse and even the most popular kid in the planet "Hannah Montana". Of course, having a channel of your own, dedicated to the company’s most valuable assets (their characters), greatly contributes to furthering the popularity of the attractions based on the movies, series and characters they produce. The promotional efforts support Disneyland and other theme parks as well as the Disney Cruise line for example. These other divisions benefit from the continuous popularity of the channel’s various shows. The psychology behind it is pretty simple, when you think about it. The children, even the young adults, who watch the show see all these wonderful places and would want to visit them in person. The Disney Company is simply making children's dreams come true by recreating the fantasy worlds they show on television inside their theme parks. It is, in every sense of the word, the stuff that dreams are made of.

You see marketing for the Disney Channel in literature at parks and hotels. The Channel promotes the parks and cruise line and movies. The parks and cruise line include Disney characters to hang out with guests, as do the parks, of course. Ask any kid about their dream destination and you’re likely to get Disneyland as a response. Even adults enjoy their time inside the park, because inside of most everyone is a kid who’s still into exploration, still would like to believe in fairy tales and still enjoys the simple joys of life such as the feeling after a good roller coaster ride. The Disney Company has managed to corner that market and has the ability to bring out our inner child each and every time.

Even their television shows are proof of this. Parents enjoy watching the movies just as much as their kids do. It enables families to bond over something in common and who wouldn’t want to extend that bonding time even further? What better way to do that than spending time with each other in a Disney Cruise or by visiting a Disney theme park? It truly is a great service to families, but one that is capitalized on heavily by the company.

Sometimes the movies themselves inspire certain park attractions, think Tarzan's Tree House and Indiana Jones Adventure that have their own present or historical place in Disney theme parks. There are times that it is the other way around, such as with The Pirates of The Caribbean movies. Then, of course, the theme parks updated the rides to include Jack Sparrow. That is serious cross-promotion going on!

The movies and shows themselves are probably the best marketing tools to help make Disney theme parks even more popular. Who wouldn’t want to experience the movie magic for themselves? The thrill of being in the midst of Pirates, seeing Tarzan’s tree house in person and being able to join one of Indiana Jones’ adventures would be like a dream come true for kids and even adults alike.

All of the above is consistent with the entrepreneurial philosophy held by Walt Disney himself. He loved creating fantasy and entertaining the young and old alike. But he and brother Roy also could see that there was money to be made in it all. The Disney empire has always been about getting people to pay for the wonderful entertainment they provided. The Disney Channel is the ultimate means to spread the word.

J. Michael Key has written on a wide variety of topics, especially on Southern California travel topics.

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