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Disney marketers making most of 'Hannah Montana'

ENTERTAINMENT: Disney machine works overtime on the Hannah Montana industry

08:59 PM CDT on Thursday, October 25, 2007

Hannah Montana is not just a show. It's a lifestyle.

To say that Disney's half-hour program about a regular teen who happens to have a secret life as a rock star is the highest-rated series on basic cable doesn't begin to describe it.

Hannah Montana is an industry of live tours (including a sold-out Nov. 14 stop in Fort Worth), DVDs, books, soundtracks, electronics, handbags, gift wrap, posters, room decor, cosmetics and the rest. It is oxygen for a specific demographic target audience.

"It's a lifestyle brand," says Disney marketing chief Adam Sanderson.

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Miley Cyrus, star of Hannah Montana, made an appearance in June at the Licensing International Expo in New York, where she announced new extensions to the Hannah Montana brand, including a fashion line and youth electronics.

The brand is only growing.

Coming soon to theme parks around the globe: Hannah Montana participatory performance spaces, perhaps on the order of karaoke, Disney-style.

The success of HM speaks to the branding savvy and omnipresence of the Walt Disney Co. In marketing circles, Disney represents the victory of branding on the public consciousness, a triumph of vertical integration combined with the astute reading of the fervent desires of today's tween, a vaguely defined group roughly ages 10 to 14.

The live tour has made headlines nationally for immediate ticket sellouts and the scalper prices that follow. A Pittsburgh software firm is the subject of a lawsuit for enabling scalpers to buy up tickets. According to the Associated Press, the highest face value for a Hannah Montana ticket was $63 for the sold-out show in Pittsburgh on Jan. 4, but people have reported seeing tickets for $2,500.

So from a commercial standpoint, Hannah Montana couldn't be more successful. But to some critics, the Disneyfication of childhood is not so benign a force.

Susan Linn, founder of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a Boston-based coalition of health-care professionals, educators and child advocates, says: "There's this incredible push to immerse girls in brands and to have them turn to brands to define who they are, define their self-worth. What does that say to kids about values, wealth, social responsibility?

"When you define who you are by a corporate brand, you're missing a chance to find out who you really are, what you really believe in, where you are in the world."

The company's stated goal is to extend the brand beyond TV, beyond the tour, into a full way of being for tween girls.

"Kids multitask," Mr. Sanderson says. "We like to be in as many consumer touch points as possible."

Fashion and accessories are huge Hannah touch points, according to Mr. Sanderson. "We're working with most of the major retailers, including our own Disney stores, specialty stores, toy stores. We're in the mall. They won't have any trouble finding us."

Indeed, good luck avoiding them.

If Hannah provides sweet, age-appropriate entertainment for tweens, can there be anything wrong with launching her as an all-encompassing lifestyle campaign?

Author and consumer activist Naomi Klein wrote that Disney has always understood that its movies were ads for its toys, which were ads for its theme parks, and "they've been stretching and building that brand cocoon since the 1930s."

Mr. Sanderson says he is giving consumers what they want.

"As a marketing person, we want to be able to meet the demand," Mr. Sanderson says. "Our job is to entertain kids and teach them a few lessons along the way. That's the primary business we're in, and we've done it extremely well."

Critics of corporate culture beg to differ.

"His job is to create the demand. That's the job of marketers, and they're very good at it," Ms. Linn says.

Joanne Ostrow, The Denver Post

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