Chapter 8: Segmenting & Targeting Markets

“There are three kinds of companies: those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and the rest who wonder what happened.” - Anonymous

     Now it is obvious which kind the Walt Disney Company is, this is due to their market segmentation. Market segmentation helps marketers define customer needs and wants more precisely. Disney uses geographic, demographic, and psychographic segmentation to locate their target market. Geographic segmentation refers to a region of a country or the world, market size, market density, or climate; this is used for the location of Disney's theme parks such as Disneyland and Disney World which are strategically located in the world's most visited places: Europe, Japan, India, and of course the United States. Demographic segmentation refers to age, gender, income, ethnic background, and family life cycle; this is used to help determine where to place their chain stores called the Disney Store, where to distribute their movies, and even determines what kind of movie they should create next. Psychographic segmentation is based on personality, motives, lifestyles and geodemographics; this is also used to help Disney determine who is going to buy more of their products. 

     Disney mainly targets children and their families, it uses the multisegment targeting strategy which is when a firm chooses to serve two or more well-defined market segments. Disney intrigues people of all ages; whether it is a child, teen, or parent. For small children, it has its animation films, toys and other goods from their consumer products division, a segment on their channel called "Playhouse Disney," and many more. For older kids such as tweens and teens, it has the Disney Channel, Radio Disney, their live-action films, and much more. Disney's live-action films such as Pirates of the Caribbean attracts adults as well, in order to target adults Disney uses a "family approach." Disney theme parks were built for the whole family to enjoy and they do a fine job stressing that. If you pay close attention to their advertisements you will see that they are not always aimed for children, in fact they are aimed at the parents most of the time with little phrases such as "Let the Memories Begin" and "This is Where the Magic Happens." Even the animation films are made to please the parents, with their good morals and some jokes that are meant for the child not to understand. In addition, the Disney Store has its own Home Decor department which is intended to satisfy the parents' wants as well as their children's, while the child is browsing through the toys, the parent is browsing through the Home Decor section.

     As you can see Disney does not have one specific target market, it focuses on each member of the family. It mainly targets average income families, who live in urban areas. Almost all of the Disney Stores are located in large super-centers and malls; their theme park in the United States is located in Orlando, Florida; and their films as well as consumer products are conveniently priced for the average person. Walt Disney himself said it all when he stated:

"Your dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." - Walt Disney