This week’s “Toon Tuesday” column (I.E. “How will ‘Ratatouille’ fare in Hollywood’s Summer 2007 rat race ?”) generated an awful lot of controversy. I got phone calls from Burbank, e-mails from Emeryville. With all sorts of folks who are intimately involved with this production chiming in, wishing to dispute various aspects of that story.
Mind you, I still stand by what I wrote. But I thought that — in the spirit of fairness — that it might also be appropriate to share another perspective on this story with JHM readers.
Now I can’t tell you who actually gave me this info. All I can safely say is that this individual & I spoke at length on the phone yesterday. And given the number of years that he’s worked for the company, I felt that this gentleman’s point of view was well worth considering. And speaking of views … This guy really enjoys the view from his office in the Team Disney Burbank building.
There? Is that vague / specific enough for you?
Anyway … Here’s a few highlights from yesterday’s phone call:
Are we facing some challenges with the marketing of “Ratatouille” ? Absolutely.
But you have to understand that we face marketing challenges with each & every movie that this studio produces, every TV show that we put on the air, even the individual attractions that we open at the theme parks. Which is why we tailor all of our marketing campaigns accordingly, always taking into consideration the specific PR needs of each individual project.
Copyright 2007 American Broadcasting Company
Take — for example — what we’re doing right now with “Ugly Betty.” This is a new comedy that’s been doing extremely well for us, making ABC competitive again from 8 to 9 p.m. on Thursday nights. Which is a time slot that we’ve traditionally lost to CBS‘s “Survivor” series.
But “Betty” has actually begun beating “Survivor.” And it’s proving to be a great lead-in for “Grey’s Anatomy.” And I like to think that a lot of this success is due to the careful individualistic approach that we’ve taken to the promotion of this quirky new comedy.
Copyright 2007 American Broadcasting Company
I mean, everyone these days sets a website that can then be used as a promotional vehicle for their network’s new shows. So ABC of course did that for “Ugly Betty.”
But — because we felt that potential viewers really had to get to know America Ferrera’s character before they could then embrace the show — the network then set up a second website, bettysuarez.com. Which is basically a showcase for the Betty character, to show how good & kind & smart she is. Which is why web-savvy viewers would then want to see this character succeed after she’d been dropped into the cut-throat corporate environment of “Mode” magazine.
Copyright 2007 American Broadcasting Company
We’ve also begun using the other arms of the Walt Disney Company to help get the word out about “Ugly Betty.” Take — for example — this past Sunday, when we had dozens of Betty Suarez lookalikes wandering around inside of the Disney-MGM Studios theme park on New Years Eve.
Copyright 2006 Disney Enterprises
To increase this show’s overall exposure, we also staged an “Ugly Betty” mini-marathon on ABC this past Saturday night. With the three most recent episodes of that program airing back-to-back in the 8 – 11 block. This was followed by a full blown “Ugly Betty” marathon on ABC Family on Sunday. With all 10 of the episodes that we’ve produced to date airing in chronological order. Then — on New Years Day — these same 10 episodes aired on SOAPnet as part of that channel’s annual “Serial Bowl” event.
Copyright 2007 SOAPnet LLC
And every one of these “Ugly Betty” marathons repeatedly hyped the fact that ABC would be airing a brand-new episode on Thursday, January 5th. So hopefully a brand-new bunch of viewers who have just been exposed to “Ugly Betty” this past weekend will now be tuning in to catch this new episode. Which should then help improve the show’s ratings.
Plus we’re beginning another huge promotional push for this new ABC comedy through our “Be Ugly in 2007” campaign. This features a website that talks up the pro-social message of the prpgram. How “Ugly Betty” teaches young girls to disregard society’s unrealistic standards for physical beauty and just be themselves.
And that site has downloadable wallpaper, stickers, even a daily affirmation card. Which not only reinforces the message of that show but also reminds potential viewers to watch “Ugly Betty” on ABC every Thursday night from 8 to 9 p.m.
Copyright 2007 American Broadcasting Company
Plus we’re teaming up with Girls, Inc. & CosmoGIRL magazine this coming weekend to hold an event in NYC where America will be making an appearance. And while this event is basically a kick-off for a fund-raiser for Girls, Inc., it will still raise awareness of the “Be Ugly in 2007” campaign. Which — in turn — helps promote the “Ugly Betty” television show.
Mind you, only the Walt Disney Company — because of our theme parks & our television networks & our pre-existing relationships with all of our promotional partners — can orchestrate a marketing campaign of this size, scale and complexity. Which puts us in a really unique position when it comes to making the public aware of our upcoming movies & TV shows.
Copyright 2007 Disney Pixar
And what we’re doing now for “Ugly Betty,” we also plan on doing for “Ratatouille.” Using every available platform — the Disney Channel, “Disney Adventures” magazine, VMK, ad inserts in our upcoming DVD releases — to make sure that people are aware that a new Pixar movie is on the way. That they know that this new Brad Bird film is special and funny and — in order to get the full experience — they really have to see it in a theater on a big screen.
Copyright 2001 Disney Pixar
And as for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” … Do you remember what happened the last time a Pixar movie went head-to-head with a “Harry Potter” movie?
That was back in November of 2001, when “Monsters, Inc.” was released on the 2nd of that month while “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” came out on November 16th. And even though these two films were supposedly competing for the very same audience, they still both went on to rack up really impressive grosses. With “Potter” earning $315 million during its initial domestic release while “Monsters” pulled in $255 million.
Copyright 2001 Disney Pixar
So — yeah — we’re heading into a really competive summer. As is every other studio out there. But I’m sure that — thanks to Pixar’s reputation as well as Disney’s marketing might — “Ratatouille” will do just fine.
Of course, what would really be great is if we could persuade John Lasseter to have Pixar produce another one of those trailers like the one that they did for “Monsters, Inc.” that actually acknowledged “Harry Potter.” Maybe even do one that makes fun of “Transfomers.” But I don’t know if that’s going to happen. Those guys kind of have their hands full right now.
Look, I know that a lot of people both inside & outside of the company are concerned with how “Ratatouille” is going to perform. That they’re worried this Brad Bird film may not do as well as “Cars.” And if this picture under-performs, that will then be turned into a referendum on whether or not Disney paid too much for Pixar.
All I can tell you is that Brad has put together an incredibly entertaining movie that’s going to play well to all ages. And that we’re going to back that picture up with one of our most comprehensive & innovative promotional campaigns ever.
And instead of always talking about the $7.4 billion that Disney paid for Pixar, I’d suggest that it’s time that you begin focusing on the tens of billions of dollars that the Walt Disney Company is going to make over the next few decades because we now own the Pixar characters outright.
So there you have it, folks. The view from the other side of the fence. Where a particularly confident executive talks about the Walt Disney Company’s unique ability to reach consumers and the impact that the Mouse’s marketing might will supposedly have on “Ugly Betty” and “Ratatouille.”
So what do you folks think? Was this exec that I spoke with yesterday over-selling Disney’s ability to market its movies & TV shows? Or does Walt Disney Studios really have an advantage as it heads into the sure-to-be-competitive Summer of 2007?
Your thoughts?