上海交通大学：《学术英语写作与演讲 Academic Writing and Presentation in English》教学资源（学生论文）05 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies

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The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 2 - Contents1 1. Introduction ·····················································································- 4 - 2. Literature review ···············································································- 4 - 2.1 Theme music ···········································································- 4 - 2.2 Marketing theories·····································································- 5 - 3. The demand analysis of Disney consumers ·················································- 7 - 3.1 Demographic analysis·································································- 7 - 3.2 Psychological analysis ································································- 9 - 3.3 Social analysis·········································································- 10 - 4. The marketing impacts of theme music ····················································- 10 - 4.1 The impact on price ··································································- 10 - 4.2 The impact on place ··································································- 11 - 4.3 The impact on product ·······························································- 12 - 4.4 The impact on promotion ····························································- 13 - 5. Case Study: the huge success of Frozen····················································- 14 - 5.1 Theme music ··········································································- 14 - 5.2 Marketing strategy····································································- 14 - 5.3 Market performance··································································- 15 - 6. Conclusion ·····················································································- 16 - Reference ····························································································- 17 - 1 Chapter 1 & 6 were written by Ji-Hyun Kim, chapter 2 & 3 were written by Yifu Luo, chapter 4 & 5 were written by Jie Chen

国上大￥ The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies 1.Introduction In mid-December 2001 the first part of The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring was released,and within a few weeks the theme music of the same name became no longer just a piece of ordinary music,but the tune that everyone seemed to be humming at every possible time.Plenty of theme music is rather familiar to us,even sometimes we have to sing the theme song at the first place to recall the story told by the film.For example:Take a Look Around in Mission Impossible,He is a Pirate in Pirates ofthe Caribbean and Hedwig's Theme in Harry Potter.The phenomenon proves that the promotion of the theme music is of vital importance to the marketing of the movie itself.The Walt Disney Studio,as the only large movie studio that has never been through amalgamation or merged and perhaps the most recognized global media brand among children and families worldwide (Wasko,Phillips,Meehan,2001), holds on to its own style both in film-making and music production.Therefore Disney movies become the perfect example of studying the interesting relationship between theme music and marketing strategy,as well as how the theme music influences its market performance.Nevertheless,little is known about the exact mechanism working behind the music and the box-office and currently there are few researches related to film-making carried out in this perspective.Our work has generalized the relationship between theme music and marketing strategy,as well as that between excellent marketing strategy and market performance,by applying the 4P marketing theory. Moreover,we have analyzed the box-office value of ten hottest Disney movies and taken one specific Disney movie Frozen as an example,to reveal how an actual production process is like.The framework of the marketing strategy can be applied to better understand the success of an individual film and it will generalize the contribution of theme music of a film to its market performance. 2.Literature review 2.1 Theme music Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program,television program,video game or movie,and is usually played during the intro,title sequence and/or ending credits.The purpose of a theme song is often similar to that of a leitmotif. Cook (2015)believed that theme music can be made extensive use in an effort to explore the feelings behind world views and set up one of his own.Sometimes the music is intended to convert abstract feelings or atmosphere into concrete images,often -4-

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 4 - 1. Introduction In mid-December 2001 the first part of The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring was released, and within a few weeks the theme music of the same name became no longer just a piece of ordinary music, but the tune that everyone seemed to be humming at every possible time. Plenty of theme music is rather familiar to us, even sometimes we have to sing the theme song at the first place to recall the story told by the film. For example: Take a Look Around in Mission Impossible, He is a Pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean and Hedwig's Theme in Harry Potter. The phenomenon proves that the promotion of the theme music is of vital importance to the marketing of the movie itself. The Walt Disney Studio, as the only large movie studio that has never been through amalgamation or merged and perhaps the most recognized global media brand among children and families worldwide (Wasko, Phillips, & Meehan, 2001), holds on to its own style both in film-making and music production. Therefore Disney movies become the perfect example of studying the interesting relationship between theme music and marketing strategy, as well as how the theme music influences its market performance. Nevertheless, little is known about the exact mechanism working behind the music and the box-office and currently there are few researches related to film-making carried out in this perspective. Our work has generalized the relationship between theme music and marketing strategy, as well as that between excellent marketing strategy and market performance, by applying the 4P marketing theory. Moreover, we have analyzed the box-office value of ten hottest Disney movies and taken one specific Disney movie Frozen as an example, to reveal how an actual production process is like. The framework of the marketing strategy can be applied to better understand the success of an individual film and it will generalize the contribution of theme music of a film to its market performance. 2. Literature review 2.1 Theme music Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and is usually played during the intro, title sequence and/or ending credits. The purpose of a theme song is often similar to that of a leitmotif. Cook (2015) believed that theme music can be made extensive use in an effort to explore the feelings behind world views and set up one of his own. Sometimes the music is intended to convert abstract feelings or atmosphere into concrete images, often

国上浒文通大学 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies sung at the beginning or the end of the film with the credits,usually telling the overall emotion of the piece.When the theme song is named for the title of the work,it is the title song(Reitz,2004).At the very beginning,theme music is used for establishing a mood or providing a cue that a particular scene is about to happen,which is really useful in early days of radio and movies.In some cases,the lyrics of the theme song provide necessary exposition for people who may not be very familiar with the previous stories. By this,Kenkichi and Takehisa(2006)find out a way to construct a system which generates variations on a theme music fitting to story scenes represented by texts and/or pictures,which provides a very specific way of how to compose a piece of melody to express a certain mood.Also,methods used for music mood classification to assist in the automated tagging of theme tunes are also proposed (Mann Cox,2011).In modern times,with the development of the movie industry,theme music is more like a representation of the series or the protagonist. In addition,in some certain cases such as The Sound of Music,the theme tunes included in the movie is of more value than the movie itself(Although the movie also hit $158,671,368 in the year of 1965,which is rather considerable).Also,the song with the same name from movie Mamma Mia!suddenly becomes the brand ABBA's most favorable song But under most circumstances,theme music is drawn from previous character ofrelated works or about the character itself,such as the Batman:The Animated Series theme song,which was drawn from the theme for the 1989 Batman film created by Danny Elfman and set the mood for the cartoon.Another example is the theme song of Spider- Man:The Animated Series,which featured a reworked cover of the theme song from the classic Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s.The song was performed by Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry. In these cases,the producer wants to memorize the hero figure that he is trying to present on the screen by using the theme song,while audiences remember such characters by humming the theme song,which spreads like virus. 2.2 Marketing theories Marketing as a field of practice and an academic discipline is a contentious area.This is partly due to the perception of marketing as finding ways in which to sell things to people that they do not want or need like some soft products such as insurance,because of which marketing has been blamed for many social ills and many critics of marketing and critical marketers have examined the dark side in marketing (Kerrigan,2010). -5-

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 5 - sung at the beginning or the end of the film with the credits, usually telling the overall emotion of the piece. When the theme song is named for the title of the work, it is the title song ( Reitz, 2004). At the very beginning, theme music is used for establishing a mood or providing a cue that a particular scene is about to happen, which is really useful in early days of radio and movies. In some cases, the lyrics of the theme song provide necessary exposition for people who may not be very familiar with the previous stories. By this, Kenkichi and Takehisa (2006) find out a way to construct a system which generates variations on a theme music fitting to story scenes represented by texts and/or pictures, which provides a very specific way of how to compose a piece of melody to express a certain mood. Also, methods used for music mood classification to assist in the automated tagging of theme tunes are also proposed (Mann & Cox, 2011). In modern times, with the development of the movie industry, theme music is more like a representation of the series or the protagonist. In addition, in some certain cases such as The Sound of Music, the theme tunes included in the movie is of more value than the movie itself (Although the movie also hit $158,671,368 in the year of 1965, which is rather considerable). Also, the song with the same name from movie Mamma Mia! suddenly becomes the brand ABBA’s most favorable song. But under most circumstances, theme music is drawn from previous character of related works or about the character itself, such as the Batman: The Animated Series theme song, which was drawn from the theme for the 1989 Batman film created by Danny Elfman and set the mood for the cartoon. Another example is the theme song of SpiderMan: The Animated Series, which featured a reworked cover of the theme song from the classic Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s. The song was performed by Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry. In these cases, the producer wants to memorize the hero figure that he is trying to present on the screen by using the theme song, while audiences remember such characters by humming the theme song, which spreads like virus. 2.2 Marketing theories Marketing as a field of practice and an academic discipline is a contentious area. This is partly due to the perception of marketing as finding ways in which to sell things to people that they do not want or need like some soft products such as insurance, because of which marketing has been blamed for many social ills and many critics of marketing and critical marketers have examined the dark side in marketing (Kerrigan, 2010)

国上浒文通大学 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies However,the American Marketing Association launched a new definition of marketing at their 2004 Summer Educator's Conference:"Marketing is the activity,set of institutions,and processes for creating,communicating,delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,clients,partners,and society at large"(AMA, 2007). When it comes to the marketing of the arts or within the cultural and creative industries, such notions of putting customers at the center is contested.As one of the basic elements of the"Customer as King"philosophical approach to marketing is to find out what the customer wants,there is a clear tension between this approach and the process of product development and marketing in the film industry,which is in common with other arts sectors.Once the film is completed,issues of marketing,consumption of the film and economic value of cultural industries are considered. Film marketing,in line with the marketing management processes in other industries, begins at the new product development stage and continues throughout the formation of the project ideas,through production and distribution and exhibition."If film consumption can be seen as a journey,it may be difficult to identify the beginning and the end of such a journey"(Kerrigan,2010,4-5).In this way,film consumption may be viewed as a more cyclical activity and film consuming may be inspired by other cultural products such as music,etc. Meanwhile,since films have become an essential asset to transnational media corporations (TNMCs)such as Sony,Time Warner or Disney,these and other corporations have utilized a strategy called event movie since the 1990s (Jockel Dobler,2006).The event movie strategy takes advantage of the film industry's macro structure and combines established concepts (blockbuster,high-concept marketing) with new business models,turning the value chain to value cycle. Last but not least,Lane and Husemann(2004)argue that interest-based word-of-mouth effects and advertising play an important role in the marketing of movies,applying a formal theory for the causal mechanisms underlying viewing figures for cinema films, by drawing upon a range of diffusion theories,using specific illustration from sociology, epidemiology and marketing.We believe that theme music is a very effective way of word-of-mouth advertising strategy of one film.Although such role of theme music is not clarified in the article,it is reasonable inference. -6-

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 6 - However, the American Marketing Association launched a new definition of marketing at their 2004 Summer Educator’s Conference: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (AMA, 2007). When it comes to the marketing of the arts or within the cultural and creative industries, such notions of putting customers at the center is contested. As one of the basic elements of the “Customer as King” philosophical approach to marketing is to find out what the customer wants, there is a clear tension between this approach and the process of product development and marketing in the film industry, which is in common with other arts sectors. Once the film is completed, issues of marketing, consumption of the film and economic value of cultural industries are considered. Film marketing, in line with the marketing management processes in other industries, begins at the new product development stage and continues throughout the formation of the project ideas, through production and distribution and exhibition. “If film consumption can be seen as a journey, it may be difficult to identify the beginning and the end of such a journey” (Kerrigan, 2010, 4-5). In this way, film consumption may be viewed as a more cyclical activity and film consuming may be inspired by other cultural products such as music, etc. Meanwhile, since films have become an essential asset to transnational media corporations (TNMCs) such as Sony, Time Warner or Disney, these and other corporations have utilized a strategy called event movie since the 1990s (Jöckel & Döbler, 2006). The event movie strategy takes advantage of the film industry’s macro structure and combines established concepts (blockbuster, high-concept marketing) with new business models, turning the value chain to value cycle. Last but not least, Lane and Husemann (2004) argue that interest-based word-of-mouth effects and advertising play an important role in the marketing of movies, applying a formal theory for the causal mechanisms underlying viewing figures for cinema films, by drawing upon a range of diffusion theories, using specific illustration from sociology, epidemiology and marketing. We believe that theme music is a very effective way of word-of-mouth advertising strategy of one film. Although such role of theme music is not clarified in the article, it is reasonable inference

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 7 - 3. The demand analysis of Disney consumers 3.1 Demographic analysis According to box office statistics, among the top 100 box office value movies throughout the history, Disney movies capture nearly two fifths of them, namely Marvel's The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Pirates of the Caribbean series, Toy Story series, Frozen, Inside Out, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lion King, Up, Monsters University, The Incredibles, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, etc. According to Time Out Magazine’s statistics, the 100 best Disney Animated movies are: Pinocchio, Dumbo, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, 101 Dalmatians, Bambi, The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, etc (Calhoun & Rothkopf, 2014). If we examine more carefully, we’ll find out not a few of them do have their own theme music. Excluding the movies produced by the Marvel Studio, which has been amalgamated by Disney in 2010 and has been a real success in event movie history, we arrange the Disney popular movies in the order of box office value and try to find out the pattern. As shown above in Figure 3.1.1, orange bars represent the movies that have POPULAR theme tunes, also called a leitmotif. For example, He is a Pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean, Let It Go in Frozen, Bundle of Joy in Inside Out, Can You Feel the Love Tonight in Lion King, There’s a Place for Us in The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. Apparently, films with catchy theme tunes perform better than the others that don’t. Figure 3.1.1 Box office value of the hottest Disney movies in history 0 50,000,000 100,000,000 150,000,000 200,000,000 250,000,000 300,000,000 350,000,000 400,000,000 450,000,000 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Toy Story 3 Frozen Inside Out The Lion King Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Monsters University The Incredibles Toy Story 2 Cars

国上海文通大华 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies How and why the theme music influences the performance of one film so much directs us to the structure of its consumers. According to statistics from NTT(Nippon Telegraph Telephone Public Corporation), shown in Figure 3.1.2,teenage girls,aged 10~20,contribute over two thirds of total Disney consumers,as most of them watch more than 2 Disney movies per year. 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s All Male Female ■201441.5 45.843.940.3 42.335.232.622.767.154.846.840.6 4738.728.4 ■201345.3 43.852.247 3942.431.431.759.660.947.449.650.443.7 35 o20124348.444.74340.535.831.729.659.354.746.846.54638333.8 Figure 3.1.2 Gender and age structure of Disney movie consumers In the figure3.1.2,men's choices of films seem to differ a lot from that of women's,for women are more likely to watch Disney's animations very often.Meanwhile,Disney's animation's audiences are more likely to be teenagers and young people under 30,who are more open to art.Usually,musicals (or opera)and strong color contrast are much easier to control and expressed by the director.In the meantime,animations are also most popular among the kids,who will be more addicted to melody and storytelling.It is of vital importance for the producers to realize they do have to build up certain group of followers.And to make the full use of them,a certain approach to enlarge the influence,which refers to the addition of theme song,ought to be provided,through which the fans will subconsciously make an advertisement for the film they love,and they won't deny it. Moreover,to gather popularity,the Walt Disney Company's globalization strategies, primarily focusing on Disney's customization efforts for the media franchise,including the customization of songs and the soundtracks,allow the company to customize its brands and issue movies to appeal to teenage fans across the world cost-effectively (Lustyik,2013).It is known that besides the original English version,Frozen's theme -8-

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 8 - How and why the theme music influences the performance of one film so much directs us to the structure of its consumers. According to statistics from NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Public Corporation), shown in Figure 3.1.2, teenage girls, aged 10~20, contribute over two thirds of total Disney consumers, as most of them watch more than 2 Disney movies per year. In the figure3.1.2, men’s choices of films seem to differ a lot from that of women’s, for women are more likely to watch Disney’s animations very often. Meanwhile, Disney’s animation’s audiences are more likely to be teenagers and young people under 30, who are more open to art. Usually, musicals (or opera) and strong color contrast are much easier to control and expressed by the director. In the meantime, animations are also most popular among the kids, who will be more addicted to melody and storytelling. It is of vital importance for the producers to realize they do have to build up certain group of followers. And to make the full use of them, a certain approach to enlarge the influence, which refers to the addition of theme song, ought to be provided, through which the fans will subconsciously make an advertisement for the film they love, and they won’t deny it. Moreover, to gather popularity, the Walt Disney Company’s globalization strategies, primarily focusing on Disney’s customization efforts for the media franchise, including the customization of songs and the soundtracks, allow the company to customize its brands and issue movies to appeal to teenage fans across the world cost-effectively (Lustyik, 2013). It is known that besides the original English version, Frozen’s theme Figure 3.1.2 Gender and age structure of Disney movie consumers 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s All Male Female 2014 41.5 45.8 43.9 40.3 42.3 35.2 32.6 22.7 67.1 54.8 46.8 40.6 47 38.7 28.4 2013 45.3 43.8 52.2 47 39 42.4 31.4 31.7 59.6 60.9 47.4 49.6 50.4 43.7 35 2012 43 48.4 44.7 43 40.5 35.8 31.7 29.6 59.3 54.7 46.8 46.5 46 38.3 33.8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

国上济文通大华 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies song Let it Go was officially dubbed into more than 40 different languages and dialects worldwide (Keegan Rebecca,2014). Generally speaking,the Disney movie consumers are mostly young women and kids, and under most circumstances,they are the most faithful audiences. 3.2 Psychological analysis Frankly speaking,there are lots of ways to remember one movie.But when the protagonists'names are not that easy to remember,which happens from time to time when you meet a group of unfamiliar cast for the first time,or when the scene is too significant to summarize in a few words,the easiest way to recall the movie is to hum the leitmotif.When one theme music is composed well enough,which usually means the splendid melody and coherence with the plot,the sound track will sometimes surpass the movie.That is why Disney has its own music group-Walt Disney Records, and some pop musicals all have their own professional musical group (Hayao Miyazaki's animations'theme tunes are mostly composed by his best musician friend Joe Hisaishi,and in Castle in the Sky has become classics) People tend to love movies that have extra bonuses.It is not a fantastic idea to let people actually sing in the cinema.Melinda Wedde,an American mother and movie fan,says she tried not cover his child's mouth in case he sang out loud when watching Frozen in the cinema.At the beginning of Disney's latest movie Inside Out,there is a volcano singing scene which has no relation to the film itself.However,this refreshing section adds more spice apart from the main plot and brings the movie to a whole new level. Some work has looked at the emotional effects of music on mood at more mundane, everyday level (North Hargreaves,1997),and at people's ability to identify emotional expressiveness in musical performance(Gabrielsson Juslin,1996).Music, as a very strong means of emotion expression,fulfills a very explicit social function, conveying people real and intense feelings right away,which in the case is the theme music. Music plays an important role to maintain one's interpersonal relationship very well,as well as films.The producers don't have to ask or require the audience to make direct compliment after they watch the movie,the mellifluous melody will make them do so. -9

The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 9 - song Let it Go was officially dubbed into more than 40 different languages and dialects worldwide (Keegan & Rebecca, 2014). Generally speaking, the Disney movie consumers are mostly young women and kids, and under most circumstances, they are the most faithful audiences. 3.2 Psychological analysis Frankly speaking, there are lots of ways to remember one movie. But when the protagonists’ names are not that easy to remember, which happens from time to time when you meet a group of unfamiliar cast for the first time, or when the scene is too significant to summarize in a few words, the easiest way to recall the movie is to hum the leitmotif. When one theme music is composed well enough, which usually means the splendid melody and coherence with the plot, the sound track will sometimes surpass the movie. That is why Disney has its own music group – Walt Disney Records, and some pop musicals all have their own professional musical group (Hayao Miyazaki’s animations’ theme tunes are mostly composed by his best musician friend Joe Hisaishi, and 君をのせて in Castle in the Sky has become classics) . People tend to love movies that have extra bonuses. It is not a fantastic idea to let people actually sing in the cinema. Melinda Wedde, an American mother and movie fan, says she tried not cover his child’s mouth in case he sang out loud when watching Frozen in the cinema. At the beginning of Disney’s latest movie Inside Out, there is a volcano singing scene which has no relation to the film itself. However, this refreshing section adds more spice apart from the main plot and brings the movie to a whole new level. Some work has looked at the emotional effects of music on mood at more mundane, everyday level (North & Hargreaves, 1997), and at people’s ability to identify emotional expressiveness in musical performance (Gabrielsson & Juslin, 1996). Music, as a very strong means of emotion expression, fulfills a very explicit social function, conveying people real and intense feelings right away, which in the case is the theme music. Music plays an important role to maintain one’s interpersonal relationship very well, as well as films. The producers don’t have to ask or require the audience to make direct compliment after they watch the movie, the mellifluous melody will make them do so

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