My daughter loves Club Penguin, its a game where you own a penguin, play some games, earn some coins, buy an igloo - make some friends. Sort of like life. Club Penguin is owned by Disney as are the franchise monsters of High School Musical and Hannah Montana.
So guess what? Disney have created the "first official community of Disney fans," D23 will offer members a quarterly publication, a Disney collectable gift, and discounts on special events, including the D23 Expo coming to Anaheim this September. Also you get access to the D23 site, which features daily news and merchandise offers. Fun loyalty scheme and social network..and something in it for everyone
So you can imagine my surprise when I read that the portal will require a $75 annual fee. Sure, everybody's got to eat - right? I just wonder if consumers are willing to pay for the service?
FT.com and WSJ.com generate revenue with a subscription model but they offer insights that we value. Is Disney entertainment that desirable? In addition, will consumers be able to find most of the information provided other places (e.g., youtube, Mouse Planet, etc)? Even on Facebook the Disney group have 1.75m fans!
Now I'm not as smart or as rich as Bob Iger but shouldn't D23 be launched as a free social networking site for Disney fans globally? That's a lot of marketers dream audience.
Instead you have to stump up $75 for marketing collateral? Sounds a little Goofy if you ask me!
1 comment:
Actually, all the online content is free, and the forum type functions are left to the existing fan forums. The money mainly covers the cost of the magazine subscription.
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