Leisure marketing: Disneyland Paris

Résumé du document

In this paper, we will discuss the marketing strategy used by Disneyland in order to enter the French territory. Their strategy was probably similar to the one they would have used in the United States. They felt that if the US reacted favorably, then the French would surely react the same way. However, things took an ugly turn when Disney realized that it had failed to recognize the differences in the French market compared to the other markets they had been successful in. The French have a lovable cartoon character, a theme park with this same character closer to where the Euro Disney was built. Disney's arrogance and ethnocentrism led them to believe that the competition would not be a problem. Factors such as the economic climate, transatlantic airfare wars, the Gulf War in 1991 and 09/11 attacks put a hold on vacation travel. This was coupled with the European recession. All those macro changes did not help Disneyland to reach the expected success. As far as the Disneyland resort in Paris is concerned, we realized they possessed the necessary information but could not manage to use them in the right way. We will examine the reasons for the failure of Disney and possible alternatives available for them.

Extraits

[...] The Result of Third Culture Building: Betwixt and Between. The evidence suggests that Disneyland Paris has entered an ongoing process of third culture building. Both the original Euro Disney and the surrounding environment of France, and on a greater scale, Europe, have resulted in the Disneyland Paris of today. Interestingly, members of the original cultures that built Disneyland Paris now have difficulty making sense of it as a culture that is “betwixt and between” America and France. Once you are inside, the first thing that strikes you about Disneyland Paris is that you are no longer in France, because nowhere in France could be so clean. [...]

[...] Lastly they rather go back to Paris and sleep there than staying in a 5 stars Hotels in Disney. The beauty of the place: The managers did not take into account the quite poor weather. Marne la Vallée has a grey, cold and rainy weather during of the winter, spring and fall time. The Economical Conjuncture in France and Europe: During the recession of the 90's, Disney thought it would be easier to hire “cast members” and manage this new type of employee. [...]

[...] Lastly, the length of time spent in the theme Park. People do not sleep so much in Hotels. It is a lack of earnings because the Hotels are the best way where they make a lot of margin. Therefore, the managers made huge mistakes in their research, especially the failure to appreciate cultural differences with Europe and French employees who are less flexible than American ones (Adam, 1999). The Americans took what was done in the past and implemented it here. [...]

[...] All those macro changes did not help Disneyland to reach the success expected. As far as the Disneyland resort in Paris is concerned, we realised they had lots of information but they could not manage to use them in a right way and we will see in this paper they underestimated some crucial data Secondary data This concerns the quantitative data such as: The “missing parking place”, The laws about “firing and hiring”. Moreover, there were several difficulties. Even just the metric system was a challenge. [...]

[...] Luckmann (1967). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor. Casmir, F.L. (1999) ‘Foundations for the Study of Intercultural Communication Based on a Third Culture Building Model', Journal of Intercultural and International Communication. Craig, C.S & Douglas (2001) Conducting international marketing research in the 21st Century, International Marketing Review Mr Adrian Palmer Services Marketing ESC Teacher W. [...]