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