Disney may be a small world after all, but it takes big people to access it, especially via mobile devices.
Disney’s efforts into building a database of mobile numbers is designed to be “for kids, enabled by parents,” according to A.J. Rhodes, director of strategy and marketing at the Walt Disney Co. And in fact, “65% of the interaction is parents on their phone with their kids,” Rhodes says. “It’s a co-view experience. Parents are launching [The Disney application] on their phones and handing it to their kids. The kids watch it and hand it back.”
This makes sense, given the multitude of governing regulations which cover accessing Disney fare. As Rhodes notes, enrolling children on Web sites online means the interactions fall under COPPA – the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. But when they sign up via SMS, the interactions fall under somewhat less onerous telecom law, Rhodes said.
Granted, this is Disney, and Disney plays it cautious no matter what. Enrollment is on a double-opt-in basis, no matter what the channel.
According to Rhodes, sweepstakes are the number one way people act through mobile with Disney. In fact, during the last three or four sweeps the site hosted, 50% of the entrants came from mobile devices – and with a mobile device, double-opt-in is easier, especially for kids.
For this reason, Rhodes advocates a complete and seamless integration between all channels, from Web sites to mobile devices to social networking outlets: Between 40% and 45% of people access Facebook, for instance, from their mobile devices.
Once enrollees have been confirmed, Disney sends two messages a week to mobile devices, a frequency it determined based on reactions to messages and who was clicking through. But the messages can’t be straight marketing messages: They have to offer value to the recipient, such as inside information, first access to movie previews and other exclusive offers.
“As easy as it is to opt in [via mobile], it is just as easy to opt out,” Rhodes says. “There has to be fun and value within messages.”
In a similar vein, recognition for opting in should be tendered as soon after enrollment as possible. “If people opt in and don’t get a message immediately, and then receive one two weeks later, they won’t know what they have opted into.”
Exploring mobile marketing is not something Disney did lightly, and Rhodes’ final comment was about establishing a long-term strategy for, and commitment to, the channel. “We have established specific goals,” he said. “We sat down with business partners and mapped out who we wanted to talk to, how frequently we would speak to them, and what we wanted to say. We wanted to build a road map attached to the campaign; one which would represent an overarching time period, as opposed to doing it during Christmas and abandoning it in January.
