Growth Analysis

 Growth Analysis

    As the coronavirus pandemic continues, the decisions on how to handle operations within 
the Walt Disney Company is crucial. The governor of Florida has opened all restrictions and the 
company must figure out if opening up the theme parks to full capacity is the correct decision in 
these thought-provoking times. Currently the theme parks are running at a 25% capacity with 
certain attractions still not reopened. These decisions have been made for the safety and security of the guests and cast members. As the state reopens and the consumer has increased pandemic fatigue, some decisions have to be made:

• Reopen the parks at a higher (50% or more) capacity.

• Bring back all entertainment (including stage shows, fireworks, parades) to the theme parks and give guests more offerings. 

• Open back up all restaurants and give guests more offerings.

• Reinstate the fast pass options for the rides and attractions.

• Reopen the parks to normal and stop using the reservation system to visit the theme parks.

    In the chart below, the projected increase in revenue is much higher should the parks reopen at a 50% or 100% capacity. Although the revenue per million could be higher, the consequences could be significant. With the parks at a higher capacity, the risk of infection to the guests of the coronavirus is much higher. With the possibility of spreading the virus to the guests, the trust and brand reputation could have negative long-term consequences. 

    These decisions are crucial to the success of The Walt Disney company as it could lose trust in the brand. As the pandemic continues, the company needs to make decisions based on consumer trust as well as the health and safety of the consumer and employees. As much as opening up the parks to a higher capacity could temporarily bring back the guests and increase revenue, this could potentially be a huge backlash should the data show the coronavirus being spread from the theme parks. 

Expansion Recommendation

 

Expansion Recommendation

As the Walt Disney Company is already a globally recognized entertainment company, I do not recommend an expansion at this time. The company is suffering great losses due to the coronavirus pandemic and currently cannot afford, nor would it be a smart investment, to expand. That being said, as the world starts to open up from the restrictions, a recommendation to expand these promotions to nearby states in the near future is advised. 

This past promotion has drawn 35,401 unique visitors to our theme parks. And our projected numbers for the next promotion are at 41,829. Creating this campaign and expanding to nearby states could potentially raise our unique visitors in 2021. The proposal would be to start with the closest states to Florida: Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. Should this draw visitors from these states in, not only can we expect more return on investment, but hopefully a start in study in the behaviors in tourism and travel from the rest of the United States. 

Bayesian Analysis

 Bayesian Analysis

A recommendation is to run this same marketing promotion in the spring of 2021, when we assume lower attendance to the parks will occur again. This will be after the holidays and presumably, with the pandemic still in place. Assuming our numbers will be slightly higher as rules loosen within the state, the Bayesian analysis shows our probabilities change for the promotional event in 2021. Although similar in relationships, the probabilities are slightly different.

(Freeman, 2020)

Lottery Analysis

 Lottery Analysis

  On this particular group of people, if we gave away a trip to Hawaii, the chances of a female from Central Florida winning would be the highest probability. This is the largest group in the selection that we have. There is a 20.41% chance that the person winning is female from Central Florida. The lowest probability of a winner would be a male from the panhandle at a probability of 0.034. 

If awarding a bonus instead of a random selection, the suggestion would be to award the bonus to someone in the lower probability percentile. On a marketing standpoint, awarding it to someone with a lesser probability would give the consumer a higher trust rating and perhaps a “that could be me” perception on winning another prize. In that case the focus would be on the groups with the lowest percentile – men and female from the panhandle and men and female from the Keys. 

(Freeman, 2020) 

Selected Sampling

 Selected Sampling

On our campaign, these are the numbers of the those who clicked on the Facebook ad and have purchased the 3 – 4 days Florida resident tickets and are eligible for the contest. 

(Freeman, 2020)

    With this we see that the probability of the winner of the resort stay is female would be 19,165 / 35,401 =.541. The probability of the winner being male would be 16,236 / 35,401 = .459.

(Freeman, 2020)

It is easy to see that most entrants are from the Central Florida area. This makes sense as they are the ones who can visit the parks on a normal day, not have to pay for a hotel room, or make any special travel arrangements. The number of people who purchased those tickets decreased the further away there were from Orlando. The lowest numbers are those from the panhandle and the Keys. 

Target Customer

 Target Customer

The target customer for this promotion would be Florida locals. Most travel is still restricted in the United States and this would focus on customers that are within a few hours from the theme parks. For that we will be focusing on targeting our customer by demographics. We are simply focused on Florida guests are they are the most realistic consumer to our offerings at the moment but will divide our guests by five locations: Central Florida, South Florida, Panhandle, Northern Florida and the Keys. 

    Promoting this marketing plan would be mostly through social media advertising. With the pandemic, most people are at home and spending a lot of time on social media. We will target past guests of the Walt Disney World resort, those without annual passes, and those who have researched the parks during the past seven – eight months. 

On average, conversion on Facebook advertisement for travel and hospitality is at 2.82% at a very low cost of under $2.00 per click. Although this conversion is not very high, we can target the exact market we are hoping to get and the costs for the campaign will be low. If our target audience is in the thousands, this 2.82% conversion average can result in thousands of new guests purchasing these tickets. 

(Quick,2020)

Promotional Event

 

Promotional Event

As changes in our economy continue to fluctuate due to the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on tourism in Orlando, the proposal is to create a promotional event focusing on Florida residents to come to Walt Disney World. The proposal is to offer a 3 or 4-day Florida resident flex ticket at a much lower rate than usual. The goal for this promotional event is to entice Florida residents to visit the theme parks in Florida. 

There are multiple benefits to this promotion: 

1. The cost is significantly lower than the normal ticket price. 
2. It would bring the customer back or new customers in who are weary of going to the theme parks during a global pandemic – and once they feel comfortable, tell their peers that they felt safe in the parks, creating a lot of word of mouth advertising.
3. Attendance would rise resulting in more revenue.

To add to this savings promotion, the proposal is to entice our customers with the chance to win an annual pass for the year 2021. If they purchase this 3 – 4 day ticket, they are automatically entered to win 2 annual passes to the Walt Disney World resort in Florida valid the entirety of 2021. 

TARGET AREA ANALYSIS

Target Area Analysis

The talent in India is growing by the second. There are multiple colleges that are educating these young Indian minds for success and most jobs are currently in the larger urban cities. If these call centers are placed in rural areas, the concept is to gather the talent in those areas and minimize their need to move. This will encourages staying with family and not leaving their families behind, supporting and encouraging Indian culture. This will also help gain trust with these new employees and loyalty within the Walt Disney Company. 

Based on the map below, the proposal would be to start a call center in the state of Sikkim. This state is in the top 10 states in India with an English-speaking population yet the smallest of the 10 states. As one of the smaller states with a larger English-speaking population, costs would be lower and the potential for growth much higher. 

For more information on the following please visit: 

Power BI report (you can request access) 

Presentation on YouTube

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

 Quantitative Analysis

Rural India is growing at a fast pace and advancing the company’s efforts into training and recruiting talent from this area would be a great investment. Over two thirds of middle-income households are in rural India and the growth is expected to rise significantly in the next three years. Investing in this type of population can bring employees with passion and loyalty and bring excitement to their community to be partnering with such an esteemed brand like the Walt Disney Company.

MARKETING DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

 Marketing Data Flow Diagram

    In the below marketing flow diagram, we see the impact of having a reservation agent assisting Disney customers. These three positions, now outsourced, would create reservations, fix any customer related issues, and focus on sales of the Disney Vacation Club, all resulting in revenue coming in for the company. 

    On the low end, a customer service representative in the US makes about $22.00 per hour versus $5.00 per hour. If the company outsources 100 of their employees to India, the company could be saving $1700 per hour, $68,000 per week, resulting in $3,536,000 per year. This significant cost reduction could be drastically beneficial for the company and resulting an excellent bottom line.

PRODUCT / SERVICE ANALYSIS

 Product / Service Analysis

As mentioned earlier, the recommendation would be to move certain positions to India and outsource them. These positions recommended are all remote positions, focusing on those on calls and online chat services. 

Reservation Agents: As the company slowly increases capacity to their theme parks and resorts, reservation agents must be in place for the number of inquiries coming from customers. These calls and online reservations will require more interactivity from the customer as they will have more questions about the new protocols since the beginning of the pandemic. Having more reservation agents available at a substantial reduced cost, the company can provide the same amount of customer service to the clients at a highly reduced operating cost.

Customer Service Personnel: Like reservation agents, these employees would need to be implemented to fulfill the needs and personalize the experience for customers with questions and grievances. The company must operate its parks and resorts differently than they did prior to the pandemic which causes a lot of concern for guests. These guests will have concerns, grievances, and a higher number of questions than before. Having a dedicated group of customer service personnel will increase the trust and retention of the client while providing the same level of customer experience at a significantly lower operational cost. 

Disney Vacation Club Sales Specialists: Disney Vacation Club or DVC is Disney’s version of a time share. Being able to outsource these sales agents will lower operational costs as well as maintain income cash flow for the company. As sales continue for DVC, the company is positioning themselves for future repeat visitors and filling inventory of resort room operations as soon as possible. Like the previous two positions, outsourcing these positions will save the company on labor costs and provide the same level of customer satisfaction to the guests.