On January 20th 2006 one of the biggest Global media companies changed how the rest of the media world saw them with just THREE WORDS.
This company was founded 83 years earlier by two brothers with a single focus on one word ANIMATION.
The company is the Walt Disney Company and the three words are HIGH+SCHOOL+MUSICAL. And this weekend I witnessed beatle-like mania amongst my daughters friends as HSM live on stage came to our town.
If you are not yet a parent the significance of these three words may have escaped you. But you have to remember that the Walt Disney had built its entire IP on animation over 80 years from those humble beginnings in California in the 20s. Through various phases of its life animation remained the IP rock of the organization from Theme Parks to Film and consumer products to Computer Games. Even the much publicized tussle with Pixar Studios and its eventual purchase has not yet been as significant as HSM.
But going back to that Saturday evening (e.s.t) on the U.S Disney Channel no-one quite realised what was about to happen to Kids TV. On October 24th 2008 this franchise returns this time on the movie screen with HSM-3 (with a fourth installment due Summer 2009). This movie is likely to be the biggest grossing film of quarter with a budget under $20m.
It’s not just about HSM and DVDs, Concert Tour, Stage Musical, Reality TV Show (coming in July 2008), Ice Tour, Book Series, Consumer products Website, Video Games, International spin offs, but also the spin offs and billion dollars empires of Hanna Montana, Miley Cyrus, Zack & Cody, Disney Channel TV etc etc movies that ensure the Walt Disney annual report appears to be brochure for this new brand and its share price hits a six year high of $35.
Here is a company that was being written off by Wall St in 2002 after failing to take advantage of Online and now with a incredible return to fortune with a pot of IP Gold is now riding high again. Such is the success of HSM/Hanna that if you under 16 you now are more likely to think of these new characters than a duck or mouse, believe me I have wallet scares.
So we can we learn from this in our journey at Golden Square? HSM is new brand less than 3 years old and probably worth billions of Dollars. It was built on a large distribution system called Television and morphed across all platforms because it was brilliantly executed creative idea to remake Grease meets Romeo & Juliet for the global tweens.
In my opinion ideas can come from any angle at any time, none of the Head honchos at Disney believed HSM would be a success. It was the vision of a guy called Kenny Ortega who previously worked on Dirty Dancing, Super Bowl, Academy Awards and multiple Olympic opening ceremonies and he with his creative battled to bring to the small careen with a tiny $4m budget
“Lots of people can spot trends and have great idea, but only some do anything about it, So what is the six letter word that determines success in life – ACTION.” (borrowed Copied from Brian Clark of Copy blogger)
What is your new idea?
The one that could propel GS to even greater heights?
What ideas are you going to get done today?
Clive
