Imagine paying good money to follow a 12 year old to school and through the mall, rummage through his room, and quietly observe how he interacts with his friends and family. Then imagine repeating it with dozens of other 6 to 14 year old boys. That is exactly the sort of marketing research Disney is doing to try to learn how to attract more boys to their audience and to the Disney brand.
Regardless of what you’re selling – movies, games and clothing to kids, the house on the corner, a railroad car full of industrial plastic, or an evening at a fancy restaurant – understanding what makes your customers tick is a large part of your success. A few gifted sales people seem to have a unique instinct, but for most businesses, marketing research provides vital insights into why customers behave as they do – insights about where they choose to spend their money, and why.
Marketing research comes in many forms, from the simple and informal to large, highly structured large formal studies. Today’s New York Times reports on Disney’s use of the marketing research technique “ethnography” to gain a candid, day-in-the-life experience of what 6-14 year old boys are really like.
The Times reports that boys “hop more quickly than their female counterparts from sporting activities to television to video games during leisure time. They can also be harder to understand: the cliché that girls are more willing to chitchat about their feelings is often true.” Big ‘duh’ to any of us who have lived with 12 year olds, but Disney’s insights likely run a lot deeper than that.
It will be interesting to see how the Disney brand and programming evolve to add more boy-focused appeal to a line-up heavily tilted toward Hannah Montana and The Little Mermaid. Perhaps …
– Some outdoor adventure themes
– Outwitting the older crowd to right a wrong
– Helping smaller, younger girls and boys figure how to handle a tough situation
– Learning a new skill – from klutz to competent
How would you like to see Disney appeal more to boys?
