Blu-ray Challenge Begins; Disney On It in 101 Ways (Hettrick)

[Jeff®]

Blu-ray Challenge Begins; Disney On It in 101 Ways


by: Scott Hettrick

Now that the format was has ended with HD DVD, the marketing of Blu-ray to the average consumer must accelerate quickly.

There is evidence that Disney, for one, is already on it.

The new "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" two-disc Platinum Edition DVD debuting on March 4 includes multiple visual and printed promotions for a variety of Disney Blu-ray titles and Blu-ray in general.

One of the multiple sneak peeks on the movie disc itself (in addition to a new DVD premiere movie I was previously unaware of: "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning" on August 26 -- apparently not on Blu-ray) is for the fall release of the Platinum Edition of "Sleeping Beauty," which is trumpeted in the video preview as the high-definition event of the year and the first Disney animated classic to be released "on high-definition Blu-ray Disc" this fall. (Note that "high-definition" gets priority over "Blu-ray Disc.")

But the first thing a consumer will see even before popping in the disc when opening the case is another slickly produced full-color Disney 12-page news/activity/promo brochure, with a center spread devoted entirely to Blu-ray.
Interestingly, the words Blu-ray do not stand out at all. Instead "Next Generation" and "High Definition" get the bold face and large font.
The spread features a visually appealing and quick-and-easy-to-grasp list/graphics of bullet points of what makes Blu-ray important to the consumer under the attention-getting heading "Welcome to the Revolution."
Bullet points are: Pristine Picture; Superior Sound; Next Generation Interactivity; Unsurpassed Capacity; Complete Compatibility; and Advanced Durability. Each is followed by a simple and brief elaboration. This is where the term Blu-ray Disc is noted in a more subtle fashion.

The back cover of the same brochure has a printed full-page ad for "Sleeping Beauty," noting that it is "on 2-Disc DVD and Blu-ray Hi-Def" this fall. (Again, interesting that it's not "Blu-ray Disc" but Blu-ray Hi-Def.")

This is exactly the kind of marketing that all studios and CE companies need to do to reach the current DVD consumer who needs to upgrade to high-def disc. And prioritizing the words high-def over Blu-ray is not a bad idea either, especially now that HD DVD will no longer be a confusing competitive moniker to worry about.

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