Brand Management and Brand Loyalty

Disney Entertainment Connecting with Core Customers Disney is a world leader in understanding their target markets and uses advanced systems and innovative technologies to understand their consumer base on a level never before possible. Disney's overall value proposition target involves making experiences more memorable and accessible through innovative technology. Disney's primary strategic objective is to produce high-quality content through their entire product mix which includes a variety of brands that are used to target different market segments.

Since Disney's product mix is so diversified and includes many different brands and operating channels, maintaining close relationship with its customers and maintain its level of quality and customer service can be difficult to manage effectively. To illustrate the complexity in product mix, the media channels alone consist of The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group which operates as its own brand but also has several extensions including Walt Disney Pictures and Television, Miramax Films, Pixar Animation Studios and Disneynature.

The Disney-ABC Television Group operates ABC, ABC News, ABC Family, ESPN, The Disney Channel and several others. Interactive marketing is handled by Disney Interactive Media Group and includes Disney.com, ABC.com, and ESPN.com (Hitt, 2009). Maintaining effective brand images for all of these brands requires talented human resources that also believe in the brand. Employees who are in consensus with an organization's brand are more likely to act consistently in ways supporting how the organization hopes that external constituencies perceive it and its products/services (Aurand, Gorchels, & Bishop, 2005).

Furthermore, employees can now connect with consumers on a more intimate level that through many channels, including social media, which is referred to as integrated marketing communications. Maintaining the Brand Image For a company such as Disney, maintaining their brand image and creating customer loyalty has never been more of a challenge. Today consumers can share information and reviews about products and services from virtually anywhere on the planet and with an endless array of different devices, including smart phones.

Establishing and maintaining a "relationship" with a brand is a complex concept that often is taken for granted. The concept of branding involves consumers attributing human characteristics to products and brands. This is known as anthropomorphizing inanimate objects has been identified as a universal activity in virtually all societies (Fournier, 1998). Disney has been a master of brand management and one of the reasons that it owns so many brands under its product mix is that Disney creates brands for smaller and smaller market segmentations.

For example, the Disney brand is focused on children and family oriented goods and services while they market content that is directed at mature audiences under different brands. Marketing departments have found it has become increasingly difficult to reach consumers with their organization's message through traditional channels even when the traditional social media channels are considered (Kelly, et al., 2010). Organizations must now find creative solutions to create close relationships with their customer base and creating focused branding can help companies like Disney have far better control over brand.