Yizhuang Guo's Blog

I believe many kids (including us) grew up fans of Disney, where many of our little childish dreams

(Like seeing the “real” Mickey Mouse or Kissing Cinderella) came true. A classmate, Jonathan Chen’s Blog “Walt Disney: Replaying the Classics” discusses a point where replaying the old movies like “The Lion King” can’t keep Disney in the competitive market for a long time. However I somehow disagree with this point, based on the current Disney’s company situation in the market.

First of all, every movie that Disney produced is just the same as a product, so it has a “movie life cycle” just like a product life cycle. However it is a bit different from the product life cycle because movies are usually short-term —- although the popularity of the movie can last a life time, the profit it brings to the company is only the highest in the period when it first comes out and becomes available in theatres. So by replaying “The Lion King” in 3D is introducing the same product again after several years to a new market, which are kids from the next generation after us. So Disney can actually generate profits again by playing “The Lion King” again, and even many of us who watched it when we were young would go and watch it again since it’s not only a movie but a symbol that refreshes our childhood.

Now for the point that “simply replaying movies will not keep Disney in the market for a long time”, I disagree because according to Disney’s current situation, the company has already built a strong brand and an invulnerable relationship with the markets by not only providing movies but also travel resorts like Disneyland in several places in the world. So yes simply replaying old movies isn’t a good idea but considering Disney has other services, kids’ dream can come true again.

Reference: https://blogs.ubc.ca/jonchenmkt/2011/11/07/walt-disney-replaying-the-classics/

My last blog deeply reflected my feelings toward Steve Jobs’ death, and a brief description of his achievements (although
everyone would know). However, I have never actually looked inside the marketing mix of Apple Inc. However, I read a classmate’s blog “Big Apple” by Jiayao Guo, I finally got a chance to have a deeper understanding of Apple’s business.

Beginning with the product, the “thing” that really helped Apple to come back from the cliff was ipod. To me, it is still a mystery why so many people would like ipod that much, since there are so many other good MP3 players that are more powerful, has better sound quality, etc. However, I thought one possibility is that since product is designed to solve customers’ problems, a simple and concise little ipod is all that customers need to listen to music. From the first ipod generation to today’s ipod-touch and ipod-nano, the ipod family has evolved a lot of times, yet still dominating the MP3 market, by doing enough to “solve customers’ problems”.

As for price, when ipod was first introduced, of course Apple would set the price low to attract customers, but not that low that it couldn’t cover its cost. As a result, the price was easily accepted by customers in consideration of its design and functions. Right now, for iphones, ipods, macbooks, ipads…Apple could set a somewhat monopoly price for customers since the company has already build a strong relationship with customers, and can even ignore the other competitors.

There are currently 3 Apple stores in Vancouver, excluding other retailers (like UBC bookstore) that sell Apple products, so the place isn’t really a problem for the company. Also considering Apple users are very loyal, so they will buy their products either from stores or online. Mobile phone service companies such as Rogers and Bell provide special contracts for iphones and plans, and such promotions benefit both Apple and the Mobile service company.

Giving the chance to look deeper into their strategies, it reinforced my idea that Apple will continue to play a big role in the technology market in the future, at least for our generation.

reference: https://blogs.ubc.ca/guojiayao/2011/11/07/big-apple/