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Note: This was a group project written for a class.

Introduction

The Age of Influence by marketing consultant Neal Schaffer is a guide for the rising trend of influencer marketing. He organized his book into four parts: (1) establishing baseline knowledge of digital marketing, (2) the basics of influencer marketing, (3) advanced uses of influencers, and (4) how to become an influencer. This paper will highlight successful implementation and recommend practices described in Schaffer's book to The Walt Disney Company.

Best Practices

Digital Media

There are four kinds of digital media: paid, owned, earned, and employed. Schaffer defines paid media as "that which you engage with through paid measures" (Schaffer, 81). It is ad space companies buy to reach their target audiences, like ad banners or pay-per-click ads. Disney promoted the streaming service Disney+ with paid media. Disney spent about $420 million on Facebook and YouTube ads in 2020 (Merchan, 2021). Even when Facebook faced controversy over objectionable content, Disney's strategy remained intact by shifting funds toward YouTube (Merchan, 2021).

Owned media is a company's media, such as blogs, newsletters, self-hosted videos, social media, and apps. The Walt Disney Company has a website for the whole conglomerate, thewaltdisneycompany.com, which is more for investors as it mentions stock price and social responsibility. Consumer-oriented owned media would be Disney.com, which heavily advertises Disney+ while also noting news, parks, toys, clothes, and live shows. Disney Parks Blog promotes Disney's theme parks. Various Disney properties, such as Hulu, Pixar, Marvel, and ESPN have websites, apps, and social media accounts to engage with consumers.

Schaffer defines earned media as "media where you have earned coverage" (81). Those would be online spaces dedicated to talking about Disney that Disney does not own. For example, The Disney Blog states on its about page, "web log for all fans of Walt Disney, The Disney Company, and its many products . . . Someone does not affiliate the Disney Blog with The Walt Disney Company in any way." Disney Tourist Blog discusses Disney parks, hotels, and dining experiences along with occasional movie reviews. Earned media shows how dedicated fans can be to the Disney brand.

Employed media is the newest of the four digital marketing types. Employees of a company create employed media, which can take the form of coverage, message amplification, or content creation. Unlike the other three, employed media is not a part of Disney's strategy. According to Jessica Jones (2020), Disney World forbids (or "cast members," as Disney prefers to call them) employees from mentioning their jobs on social media. The goal is to preserve the illusion of wonder that is integral to the Disney World brand. Even when Disney is not following marketing trends, it is still a powerful brand.

Traditional Influencer Marketing

There are different types of traditional influencer marketing: gifting swag, gifting product, giveaway/sweepstakes, and affiliate marketing. Gifting swag is mailing influencers different items such as pens, cups, and t-shirts. Sending influencers unrelated branded swag reminds influencers of the brand every time they use the items.

Gifting product is sending the actual brand product to an influencer. Brands do that so that influencers will mention them in posts on social media, and "when this is done right, the photos of real people using the product can make a powerful connection to the people you want to attract" (Schaffer, 91). A giveaway or sweepstake is part of an influencer collaboration. Influencers do giveaways if the product will relate to the audience.

Affiliate marketing is what brands do if a product is too expensive to give away. The purpose of affiliate marketing is to involve an influencer and make a profit. The BuzzFeed article, “55 Magical Disney Gifts for The Fan Who Seems to Already Have Everything, ” lists little gifts for Disney fans to collect. That is an example of affiliate marketing because the top of the article states, “BuzzFeed may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page” (Braga). BuzzFeed posted these items in an article on their website, and in return, they get a commission for each sale.

Experimental Campaigns

Account takeover, event coverage, brand ambassadorship, product collaboration, and the shout-out are all experimental campaigns, which aid the expansion of a business and product. Using these campaigns, one can experiment with allowing their business to grow with no-traditional techniques. As stated by Schaffer, "The shout out is a type of campaign originating from Instagram." (98). The shout-out was one of the first ways to campaign on social media. As mentioned earlier, Disney is cautious about the relationship social media has with its branding, and it is unlikely this tactic fits with the overall strategy of careful stagecraft.

Account takeover started with Snapchat but has now expanded to Instagram as well. Takeovers allow other users to use an account and would mostly go through a whole day in their life. For example, many athletes would take over a big account and take viewers through an entire day, with them expanding their following and others'.

Event coverage is when a company makes an agreement and invites an influencer to cover an event. An example of this is in the Econsultancy article, "10 very cool examples of experiential marketing." The Doc McStuffin Disney TV show is about a girl who heals toys, and to promote the show, Disney hosted an event where children can try to diagnose a teddy bear. Event coverage like that stirs interest in the show even after the event has concluded.

A brand ambassador is a popular way for businesses to promote themselves and their products. When one thinks of a brand ambassador, most associate them with clothing companies, but other brands can use them. Brand ambassadors are influencers companies have long-term relationships with because brand ambassadors engage with the brand as needed. Such a relationship requires personal investment, but it allows brands to have a recognizable face and personality to go along with their brand. Disney is famous for employing this with its Disney channel stars.

Product collaboration is a win-win for a company and an influencer. Product collaboration is more than promoting a brand's product; a brand and an influencer come together to make a new product. That is excellent for influencers trying to expand their platform and come out with a product with the company's help. Disney has yet to do this, but such an iconic brand will have many influencers with younger audiences eager to create.

Conclusion

The Age of Influence is a wonderful guide for the rising trend of influencer marketing. While this report focused on digital media, traditional influencer marketing, content creation-centric marketing, and experimental campaigns, there is still much Disney can learn about influencers. There was a lot that related to these key practices. We have talked about how well Disney uses digital media to promote their products. More importantly, how they promote their streaming service Disney+. Disney's use of traditional influencer marketing is phenomenal. While Disney usually takes a conservative approach, the company uses experimental marketing effectively. Allowing influencers to cover events has proven to be better than press releases. These examples help support how and why companies use these kinds of marketing and how these factors already help Disney. It would be wise to pay more attention to influencer marketing in the future.

References

About. The Disney Blog. (n.d.). https://thedisneyblog.com/about/.

Braga, H. (2021). 58 magical Disney gifts for the fan who seems to already have everything. BuzzFeed. https://www.buzzfeed.com/hbraga/gifts-for-the-disney-fan-who-has-everything-2020.

Econsultancy. (2019). 10 very cool examples of experiential marketing. https://econsultancy.com/10-examples-experiential-marketing/.

Jessica, J. (2020). Few things you need to know before becoming a cast member. https://disneyaddicts.com/few-things-you-need-to-know-before-becoming-a-cast-member-278483/

Merchan, W. (2021). Disney+ marketing in 2020: Behind DISNEY PLUS' $525M digital advertising strategy. Advertiser Database & Digital Marketing Intelligence. https://www.pathmatics.com/blog/disney-marketing-in-2020-behind-disney-plus-525m-digital-advertising-strategy.

Schaffer, N. (2020). The age of influence: The power of influencers to elevate your brand. HarperCollins Leadership.