Fairy Dust to Help Disney Sales

by stephanie ~ October 31, 2008

Nearly every article I come across about advertising or the media begins with a mention of companies struggling to find ways to gain consumer spending in times of economic difficulty.  In spite of everything going on on Wall Street, many companies are making it through.

Disney, one of the world’s largest companies, is profiting off something incredibly tiny:  a fairy.

While the company often tends to focus on princesses, talking mice, and singing teenagers, they now are putting more effort into its Disney Fairies business.  The Disney Fairies line will be marketed towards girls aged 4 to 8 (rather than the 2-5 age that the Princesses line aims at).  Disney’s chief executive, Robert A. Iger, hopes to turn Disney Fairies into another franchise.

On Monday, Disney released “Tinker Bell,” the first of four straight to DVD movies about the fairies.  First day sales were about 22% above projections, and the movie sold one million copies by Wednesday.

Disney has been working hard to increase public knowledge of the Fairies brand recently-adding a Fairies attraction at both Disney World and Disney Land, introducing books providing Tinkerbell’s back story, and a plethora of fairy merchandise.  Pleased with achieving high sales of their first DVD, Disney plans to increase the amount of merchandise even more in the next few months.

Some wonder if Disney is setting itself up for disappointment in this economy.  Disney’s stock did drop 22%, but it’s not so bad considering its peers have dropped up to 65%.  Also-good news since the release of the DVD-shares of Disney rose 6%.  Iger admitted that no one is immune in “an environment this challenged,” but he believes the Fairies line has more potential than some of Disney’s other efforts (as they currently deal with the aging of their hit teen stars).  “As everyone knows,” Mr. Iger said, “fairies are forever.”

Cutting advertising and merchandising is not going to keep a company afloat.  Companies like Disney, Hennessy, and others have proved successful by utilizing different and unique ideas to stay afloat.

Harvard’s John Quelch spoke of this in a recent blog:  “This is not the time to cut advertising. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.”

For more information on the Disney Fairies:

New York Times: Disney Hoping ‘Tinker Bell’ Spreads Fairy Dust on Sales

Disney:  The Official Fairies Website