DISNEY is planning
a major advertising and marketing campaign in a bid to boost flagging UK
visitor numbers to its US parks and resorts in the wake of September 11.
Sales and travel
industry marketing director Kevin Brett admitted it was in for a tough time and
needed agents help to increase sales.
“It’s going to be
a very difficult year and it’s going to be an uphill task. But we are expecting
bookings to pick up in the new year,” he said.
The campaign,
which will kick off on Boxing Day and run through until late March, will
feature advertorials in major national and regional newspapers as well as
magazine and radio promotions for the first time.
It will be running
more television commercials than last year which are predicted to reach 25%
more viewers or up to 32 million people.
Marketing director
Middle East and Africa Pat Mitchinson said: “Disney is doing more not less. We
are confident in the future and our plans demonstrate that.”
Disney was keen to
stress the importance of agents and operators in its plans to promote the
parks.
Brett added: “From
December to March our goal is to support our travel industry partners by
stimulating the market.”
In order to boost
sales through agents Disney will also be looking at expanding its training
opportunities and improving its communication with the trade.
It plans to
improve its website www.disneytravelagents.co.uk to include training and
incentives. Among the training courses that could be launched on-line are
Disney’s College of Disney Knowledge, which enables agents to access the
correspondence training course from computers at home or work using a protected
password.
Disney is also looking to introduce e-mail alerts and text messaging
services to keep agents and operators up to date with Disney news such as new
rides, attractions or offers.