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Disney really is after what it thinks is the hottest new market: infants. They’re negotiating to have a presence in maternity wards and creating advice and social networking sites aimed at new and expecting parents, and now they’re opening stores specifically for their Disney Baby brand. To avoid confusion: the Disney Baby brand is not a line of Disney products featuring child versions of its characters, but sets of clothing, supplies, toys, and more, all for infants.
USA Today reports that Disney has opened its first official Disney Baby store. So far it only has one location – a mall in Glendale, California – but they’re already referring to it as their “flagship.” The store is testing both the Disney Baby as an entire retail destination concept, and also being used to sniff out which products are popular and which aren’t. If sales go well at the store, Disney will open more locations. In addition, Disney Baby sections will be added to regular Disney stores nationwide.
The Disney Baby brand specifically focuses on items and supplies for children aged zero to two. Although the point of the brand is just to have Disney products for babies, some of it will in fact include images of Disney characters as babies (think baby Mickey onesies). Anyone who’s ever shopped for or really been around babies might think Disney Baby as news is strange: countless Disney products for babies have been available for decades.
The main difference is that now Disney will be selling its own products directly, though some should still be available in department/chain stores like Wal-Mart. Now that Walt Disney Co. has taken more interest in the brand, we should also see a wider variety of Disney baby products available.
Bob Chapek, president of Disney Consumer Products, had typical business-speak things to say about the opening of a Disney Baby store and the expansion of the brand: “This gives Disney the opportunity to reach out to moms when magical moments begin. There’s no more special occasion than the birth of a baby.”
That’s very true, Mr. Chapek. But it’s also a little creepy: you want to reach out to moms. To do what? You’re not helping them, you’re selling them things. You want their money, so it’s sort of silly that you’re implying or pretending that somehow Disney is a part of the family, that a company, no matter its image, somehow has a place in a new family.
All right, so I’m being a bit silly: this is just how PR and marketing talk always sounds. But it can just be strange to hear. Yes, Disney is looking to inculcate fans from birth, but it’s a giant media company with a huge merchandising arm, of course it wants to do that. The bottom line is that if you’re expecting and you’re a Disney fan, now there’s going to be even more merchandise available for you to purchase.
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*(The above image by Joe Shlabotnik is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)