disney plans major promotional campaign

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.