MARKETING PLAN ON

DISNEY COMIC

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

HISTORY

COMIC CULTURE IN INIDA

COMIC AND INDIAN CHILDREN

OBJECTIVE

SITUATION ANALYSIS

STP ANALYSIS

SWOT ANALYSIS

MARKETING MIX(4P’S)

PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

The segmentation of Disney comics is in urban area and especially metro cities. They targeted the kids segment of 6-17 age groups. They position their brand in gift shops, fun schools and libraries.

4p’s: products are Disney today, Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse digest, Disney adventure, the adventure of Donald duck, Disney adventure, and Disney mobics. Price is in the range of rs 35 to rs 50. Place are metro cities where they target to sell. In Promotion strategies they have t-shirt for their fans, Free Sample distribution, and creative stories.

New category of products are based on Mickey mouse and Donald duck, the comics adventure of Donald duck 2nd is launched in February and Mickey mouse house is going to launch in end of march after the exams of .

Porters five forces analysis also show that the market is attractive to launch new products.

ABOUT THE COMPANY:

American Disney comics began in 1930 when WALT DISNEY himself began writing a MICKEY MOUSE daily comic strip for newspapers with Ub I werks handling the art. When control of this strip shifted to the talented Floyd Gottfredson in the year, its ensuing popularity led to the growth of an entire comic strip department within the Walt Disney studio and the production of such additional strips as Silly Symphonies and Donald Duck latter, and initially the former, drawn by the great A1 Taliaferro.

It seemed a shame, of course, not to reprint these strips in the growing comic book industry, so in 1935 Disney associates Kay Kamen and Hal Horne began to publish Mickey Mouse Magazine; when Horne dropped out of the deal, Kamen farmed out production of the magazine to Western Publishing. Besides comics, the magazine featured stories, games, and poster-style full-page illustrations.

In 1939, Western began publishing a series of one-shot comic books entitled Four Color, containing a wide variety of newspaper strip material. When in early 1940 an all-Donald Duck number in this series was a big success, Kamen and Western editor Eleanor Packer took the hint and transformed Mickey Mouse Magazine into a full-fledged comic book, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

TODAY’S COMIC CULTURE IN INDIA:

Around three decades ago comics were not much in vogue in India. The selection that was available was in the Form of imported digests and books like Tintin (originally French private detective), Asterix and Obelix (superheroes Of Gaul, erstwhile France), Archie and Commando (war stories Of World War II) etc. The change came in the mid ’60s when a leading newspaper publication house of India launched Indrajal Comics. It was the first serious effort directed towards the evolution of comic culture in India. The immediate success of Indrajal Comics gave a further Boost to the indigenous comic industry and in 1967 came the educational comics’ series called Amar Chitra Katha (Immortal Picture Stories) by Anant Pai, who is also considered the father of Indian comics. Lately there has been an upsurge in the publication of indigenous comics. Devoid of any superheroes or cult figures like Superman, Spiderman or Tintin, the Indian children have found their own heroes in the form of comic figures like Shaktiman (person having powers like Superman), Nagraj (Snake man), Tenali Raman (witty minister of a king), Motu-Patlu (fatso and skinny), Chotu-Lambu (short and tall), Billoo (naughty kid), Kapish (monkey having the power to lengthen his tail), Chacha Chaudhary (intelligent uncle), Rajan-Iqbal (detective friends), Mahabali Shaka (extremely powerful man), Fauladi Singh (Iron man), Agniputra Abhay (son of fire) Another section of middle and upper class children living in urban areas more or less relate better to foreign comic characters like Disney’s Mickey and Donald. The fast-paced changes in the last decade have proved beneficial for comics in India. Besides being in print, the Indian comics have now started getting their due share on the television also. With companies moving in top gear and indigenous comics getting huge appreciation, comic culture in India is all set to take a giant leap in the near future.

Comics and Indian Children:

Comics, with the rise of the Indian middle class and its purchasing power and indigenous production, have gradually become an integral part of the children’s world in India today. Almost all Indian children, especially those belonging to the lower middle class and above and living in urban areas, grow up with comics available to them in a wide array of choices.

Objective:

On initial stage Disney comic would try to achieve 10%market share, and upcoming 5 yrs they want to capture the 35% market of entertainment industry.

Situational Analysis:

The Indian comics market has a huge potential that is to tapped, it is estimated that there are around 30 million buyers of comics books in the Indian market with in the age group of 6 years to 17 years covering all income groups & educational levels. At present the market size is around Rs.100 crore but is estimated to grow upto 400 Crore. in the next decade. In the present scenario around % million English comics are sold in India along with the other 30 million in vernacular languages.

In the next decade it is estimated the & 70 % of the worlds comics volume would be sold in India & China. According to estimates of Prick Waterhouse Cooper media comics publishing revenues from 2006-10 in India are expected to grow by 13.3 %.With this the global opportunity of expansion also stands along as the global turnover of comics industry & comics’ related merchandise are expected to generate turnover of $ 40 Billion.

In India the sales of comic books is done mainly through the unorganized sector. This sector includes vendors, bookstalls & hawkers. Whereas the participation of the organized such as Bookstores, News agencies & Subscription providers in very low.

Disney comics, being a great brand name in the initial stages should concentrate on organized sales through the supply chain of Wholesalers & Retail book shops. The for further expansion & to penetrate into the market the unorganized sector can also be tapped.

Disney comics can provide the buyer with high quality & entertaining comics with its altogether popular cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse & Donald duck. And can publish complete story cartoons like Duck Tales & Tales Spin and most popular of all Disney’s ALLADIN.

STP ANALYSIS:

TARGETING : Disney Comics segment the upper high class n the upper middle class kids. The range of their comics is pretty high which was only affordable for these two class kids. The first monthly issue of Disney Adventures magazine priced at a nominal cover price of Rs. 40 is targeted at Indian tweens in the 6-13 age group and features compelling local content including a special feature on Bollywood Hit – Dhoom 2.

SEGMENTATION: Comics are mostly popular in kids, so Disney is also targeted the kids segment to achieve the high sales volume. But specifically they target the metro cities because the kids at these cities are most aware about the upcoming new brands and product. For instance: Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta. High income and aware people are easily available in metro cities so to grow their sale these are the best segment.

POSITIONING: Well known branded products gift shops like Archie’s, we position our brand at their because the target costumers do mostly shopping of these kind of items at their. Fun schools can also be a attractive place. Well known library like British library, their also we can place our comics.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

STRENGHT:

Brand Value : Disney has already created its brand value in the market like US. So in the consumer mind there is reliable image of Disney comics, so without any droughts’ they go for new Products of Disney comics.

Finest quality: They have a good quality magazine, in comparison to other Magazines. So people want good quality and they get it through these.

Unique style: They have their own creative style of story writing. Their Stories are opting from various myth and cartoonist.

WEAKNESS:

Lack of experience: In Indian market Disney never introduces any product Before comics. So they don’t have that much experience and loyalty of customers in comparison to other Companies.

Higher cost: Disney comics cost are higher than other comics, Because of Their distribution channel and fine quality but India is a price Sensitive country so here this is a weakness of Disney comics.

OPPORTUNITY:

Attractive and large market: Disney comics requires kids to target so India is positively attractive market for them and and here the population of kids is very large In number.

High demand: in today’s scenario the level of stress is increases day by day for kids so they need some kind of entertainment, and this is an opportunity to sale Disney products.

THREATS:

Large no of competitors: in India comics are famous from very early years so here already many companies are existing. Like: Raj comics, Diamond comics and Virgin comics. So the competition is very high.

MARKETING MIX (4p’s) OF DISNEY COMICS:

PRODUCT :

Disney today:

This monthly magazine is published by Aroon Purie for Living Media India Ltd. in India. Disney Today features 28 pages of comics each month, ranging from Carl Barks to William Van Horn.

Mickey Mouse:

This monthly magazine was launched in 1996 by Indian Express Newspapers, situated in Bombay and under license from the Egmont Company. The magazine has a nice semi-glossy colorful cover, featuring some text about the contents. Inside, about 9 of the 36 pages are dedicated to puzzles and activity, while the rest is filled with comic stories. These stories come from Dutch publisher Geillustreerde Pers and Egmont in Denmark. The stories feature a wide range of characters.

Mickey Mouse Digest:

This monthly digest-formatted comics-only Mickey Mouse magazine features Italian stories from the standard characters, such as Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge and Mickey Mouse. Each issue starts with an introduction by Mickey himself on the inside cover. While the last two pages consist of some letter columns and editorial information, the rest of the digest is filled with comic-stories. Like the other Mickey Mouse magazine, this one is printed on the same standard paper that Egmont prints all its other digest and pocket books on. The cover is made of nice glossy paper.

Standard Egmont covers are used to be shown on the front of each issue. This magazine was launched in 1996 by Indian Express Newspapers, situated in Bombay and under license from the Egmont Company.

The Adventures of Donald Duck:

Disney Adventures:

Info media India Ltd., the country’s leading special interest publications company, announced a strategic alliance with Disney Publishing Worldwide India (DPW), a division of The Walt Disney Company India Private Limited, to launch ‘Disney Adventures,’ one of the world’s most widely circulated tweens and kids’ magazine, in India. This launch also marks the first launch of an international magazine for Indian tweens and kids here.

DisneyMobics:

The Walt Disney Internet Group, a division of Walt Disney, is set to introduce Disney comic

strips & full length stories for Indian mobile users. “Disney Mobics”, as they will be known,

will be available on Reliance Communication, Airtel and Hutch users. The service will begin

with Mickey, Winnie the Pooh and going forward, a new character will be introduced each

week.

Place: Disney comics are specially targeted to high income people, so the place is metro cities. Like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Calcutta. At these places distribution network is also easily available. All the places are easily approachable persons in these places are also aware.

Price:

India is very price sensitive company. Here normally range of comics starts from 11 rs. To 50 rs. As Disney comics are of very good quality, and having brand value so the prices are little high in comparison of others. So approximately it starts from Rs.35 to rs.50. Reliance user can download rs 3 per strip and entire story will available to hutch and airtel user rs 50.

Promotion:

Disney comics continue applying new promotion strategies to grow their sales .like

Disney T-shirt: They are providing Disney t-shirts to their Disney fans. Servo puff’s Stuff a collection of t-shirts for fans of Disney comics, including several ones based on famous Carl Barks stories, like “I Went to Plain Awful and all I found was this square egg!” and a Calisota University.New stories:

For creating new demand in the market, they promote their comics by creating new stories, fresh creative ideas.

Sample Distribution:

They are giving their sample of comics with the news paper, to advertise and to introduce the

comics in market.

Disney channel:

Promotion through Disney own entertainment channel launched in India two years back and they promoted their own comics through large no of advertisements on this channel.

PORTER’s Five Forces Analysis:

Buying Power of Buyer’s:

In Indian market the buying power of the consumer or the buyers is high. As there are a lot of other comic books available in the market, so the buyers can easily switch over to other comic publications. The cost factor of available comic publications makes it easy for the consumers to

switch from one comic to the other. Generally comics with 40 to 50 pages are priced between Rs. 15 to Rs 20. As done by the major players like Raj comics & Virgin Comics.

Buying Power of Suppliers:

1. Suppliers in the Indian market do not enjoy Bargaining power as the buyer does. There is limited no. of publication house that have license to publish comics of famous carton characters in India. So under such a condition the bargaining power of suppliers goes down.

2. The suppliers of comic publishing material in India loose bargaining power because of low switching costs as India is a price sensitive country. If they don’t provide competitive cost the publisher can easily switch over.

Threat of New Entrants:

1. In the present scenario the Threat of new entrants is high in the Indian markets, Recently in June 2006 Virgin Comics entered Indian market by tying up with Gotham Comics. These comics are getting good response in the market and after seeing the market potential more comics & entertainment companies are likely to enter Indian markets.

2. At present the market potential of the Indian comics market is Rs. 100 crore but is likely to grow four times to Rs. 400 crore in next decade. This may also attract new players in the market from with in the country & outside.

3. The entry cost is low in the Indian market & as far as the market potential is concerned it is comparatively very high. There are around 300 million potential customers in the age group of 6 to 17 from all educational levels & income groups. The Govt. rules & regulations are easily achievable & getting a publishing license does not

Threats of Substitutes: The availability of substitutes is quite moderate, substitute to comic books Joke books, Cartoon Channels & animated cartoon movies are available in the country but still comic reading is very popular among the age group of 6 years to 17 years.As far as rural India is concerned cartoon channel & animated movies does not attract the buyer much so the threat of substitute is not very high.

Threat of Rivals:

There are only 6 to 10 big players in the comics industry in India, the major of which are Raj Comics, Diamond Comics(published both in Hindi & English), AMK media & the newly Virgin Comics(published both in Hindi & English). Other than this there are Comics on Archie,

Garfield & super heroes like Superman & Batman published by Marvel comics. As far as English comics are concerned there are no big rival but in Hindi publication like Raj Comics & Diamond comics hold fabulous monopoly with there entertaining cartoon characters.

Base Low/high Favorable/unfavorable reasoning

Buying power of buyers

High unfavorable Low switching cost

Buying power of suppliers

Low Favorable Limited no of publishers

Threat of new entrants’

Moderately high Moderately favorable The demographic situation is highly favorable to enter

Threat of substitute

Moderately high Moderately favorable Popularity of animated movies

Threat of rivalry Low Favorable Low brand value in comparison to Disney comic

So finally we can say that only one base of buying power is unfavorable and the rest are favorable so the market is attractive to enter.

EVALUATION AND CONTROL

1. Periodic Review:

The activities of the marketing and sales team will be reviewed at the end of each

month on terms of targets reached and what is proposed plan for the next month, if

they want any changes in the existing system, problems faced by them etc. The report

has to be submitted in all respects to their respective team leader which will in turn

would be discussed with the marketing head of the region.

2. Training Needs :

At the end of each quarter a review assessing training needs, if any , will be submitted

by all the team leaders to their Seniors so that timely action can be taken to train the

sales force and in case there Is requirement of more people it can be done accordingly.

3. Revenue Assessment:

A report has to be submitted by respective department showing all the costs incurred by

them post launch of the product and an estimate of budgeted expenditure for the next

quarter. In addition there will be a meeting of the heads of all the deptts. To ascertain

the profitability of the launch and subsequent planning.

4. Reviewing the Supply-chain and Dealer meet:

The product manager will organize a dealer meet to assess the stock in hand and the future requirement and problems faced by dealers if any. Further dealers will be updated about the marketing plans company is going to take up to the extent of providing discount schemes or financing the consumers. A report has to be submitted on performance of the channel suppliers and in case there is a need for any deletions, substitutions and leaving out a channel in case of non-performance.