The Walt Disney Company Knows Who YOU Are

The mouse is always watching…

Regarding privacy policy, The Walt Disney Company does its best to be transparent about how they handle Personal Identifiable Information (PII).

What do you know about me?

They collect both personal and anonymous information. The following are types anonymous and personal information they collect:

• Registration information – Name, country of residence, gender, birthdate, email address, username, and password
• Transaction information – Postal address, telephone number, and payment information
• Information provided on company public forums
• Information provided in personal messages via the company system
• Social networking information and information provided on third-party sites using Disney registration information
• Location information – By mobile device or IP address
• Usage, viewing, and technical information – Device identifier, IP address, and data associated with usage

How do you know me so well?

TWDC collects this information when a consumer is involved in a transaction via their sites and applications. The information provided on a third-party in association with TWDC may be collected separately. The data is collected by the use of cookies, Flash cookies, and Web beacons. They also obtain information from “trusted sources” to update information that they had already collected. In certain areas, law may require the consumer to authorize this access of data from “trusted sources.”

Hey Mickey, what are you doing with my information?

TWDC uses the data to provide their consumers with products, communication, offers/promotions, personalization, advertisements, and to improve their products and services. They also use your information to detect, investigate, and prevent any fishy (illegal) things going on.

Who else knows me?

TWDC will not share consumer PII outside The Walt Disney Family of Companies. However, there are a few exceptions; information may be shared with outside companies if it is authorized by the consumer and is then subject to that company’s privacy policies. TWDC prohibits companies performing services on their behalf (delivery services) from using personal data. When they share information with third parties, those parties are bound to Disney’s Terms of Use or rules.

Do I have any say?

The Walt Disney Company gives consumers the opportunity to control and choose what information is collected, used, and shared. These choices and controls include:

• Corrections, updates, and deletions of registration accounts
• Changes to subscriptions, newsletters, and alerts
• Whether to receive offers and promotions for company products and services
• Whether personal information is shared with other companies
• Whether to receive targeted advertising
• Request access to the personal information TDWC holds about the consumer and that they amend or delete it

What about the kiddos?

TWDC takes the extra step to protect a child’s privacy. They notify parents about their data-gathering practices, obtain consent from parents for the collection of child PII, limit the collection of PII from children, and give parents access to PII they have collected from their children as well as the option to have it amended or deleted.

Locked up!

The Walt Disney Company has implemented technical, administrative, and physical security measures to prevent unauthorized access, disclosure, use, and modification. TWDC also released the statement that, “despite [their] best efforts, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable.”

Thanks for speaking my language!

I personally love that TWDC gave me the option to choose what language I can read the terms in and laid out the policy in a way that the average consumer can understand. They made the policy extremely user friendly and presented it in a font size that is actually readable! I personally do think that Disney is doing enough to protect consumer PII. Considering they are such a global company, they must take immense measures to protect their consumers all around the globe. As technology grows, I think that TWDC is going to have to take extra precaution to stay up to date with the latest trends and grow their security with their technology. With updates to technology, there should be updates to security. They are already evidently taking tons of actions to protect consumer PII, but I think that simply putting the user in charge. By allowing the user to be in charge with the amount of information they provide and encouraging the user to be knowledgeable about the usage of the information they provide, they decrease their liability and overall allow consumers to take the extra steps to protect themselves.

Analytics Update! (According to Blogger & Google Analytics)

Since I have been blogging, I have seen a significant increase in page views. The blog post that received the most views was “(Ad)ding Value To Your Site.” I think that this blog received more views than other posts because the title was broader and therefore more searchable. Another factor may be that this post could apply to any brand’s site.

My traffic is coming mostly from the United States and Russia. I wish that I could ask the Russians how I reached them, because it would be cool to get a global reach with this blog. Maybe the fact that I used companies that are pretty well known around the globe, added to its global appeal.

A way I can improve the reach and engagement of my blog is by directly asking my viewers to engage with me! So, what do you guys think? Any constructive criticism or compliments? Let’s talk about the topics! Share my blog on your social media, and I will share on mine. Let’s get this convo going!

Disney Privacy Center. (n.d.). Retrieved December 2, 2015, from https://disneyprivacycenter.com

Website Design + Analytics Update!

Hello again hoopla-ers! Bri here! I am back again to talk about the website and mobile website presence of Scripps Networks Interactive.

Now let’s get to it!

Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. Website Design

The Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. website consists of content that the majority of most corporate websites would include: about the company, the brands it owns, investor relations, career opportunities, and corporate social responsibility. Something that I absolutely love about the website is the simplicity and organization of it. There is not tons of information on the landing page, but I think this is beneficial in the sense that it is easy to find where you are trying to navigate quickly.

Something else that is notable about he website is its clear spotlight on the brands it owns. The landing page has options to click through the brands as well as the option to “connect now” which will easily take a visitor directly to the brand (i.e. the pictured brand is Food Network).

Website design principles are thoroughly met. The call to action for each brand is clearly stated in a contrasting button that reads, “CONNECT NOW.” As discussed before, due to the few options on the landing page, the site is very navigable.

The site also uses a visual hierarchy to attract visitors to the area that defines their business objective. In this case, the objective of the corporation is to direct visitors to their brands that generate revenue. The largest image being the brand, then all else in surrounding header and footer bars. These bars also create beautiful design proportions on the website that are visually appealing.

The Scripps website also follows Hick’s Law that says, “with every additional choice increases the required time to make a decision.” The simplicity of the website and the small amount of clickable options helps users narrow in on where they need to navigate to.

All of the design principles are clearly and beautifully met. However, the mobile website is another story.

Improvements For Scripps Mobile Site

Scripps can better utilize the space and proportions of their mobile website. The design is consistent with the desktop website, but does not seem to be optimized for small screens on mobile phones. The brand photo is too large, but all other tabs to navigate to are practically impossible to read. Therefore, they are limiting the amount of traffic that come to the website to seek information about the company, career information, investor relations, etc. They should proportion the space being used to display the brands and optimize the website for mobile use, which would then increase traffic.

On a scale of 1-5, I would rate the desktop site a 5 and the mobile website a 2.

Google Analytics Update

As of now, my blog could use some improving. 65.8% of visitors are new and 34.2% are returning. With that being said, some component in my blog is not making visits recur. Average session duration is less than a minute, which means people are either scanning, or not completely interested in reading through my blog. I need to lower the bounce rate and will be doing research on how to make people hang out longer on my blog.

Something I find interesting is that the largest percentage of visitors are from Russia. Cool!

85.26% of visitors are using a Google Chrome browser, which means the rest are on Safari or other browsers. It would be interesting to do some research on how a blog or website can be designed or built to appeal all computer or mobile users.

(Ad)ding Value To Your Site

Good evening fellow marketers!

Tonight I am discussing and analyzing different ad formats on entertainment-based websites. I have been analyzing the strategies of three different companies: Time Warner, Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive, and The Walt Disney Company. However in this post, I am going to discuss the brands that they own because those are the websites that feature ads.

Ads

Cartoon Network

Time Warner Inc. umbrellas Turner who owns the Cartoon Network brand. The home page of Cartoon Network is featured below. The ad shown is for a Lego product. This is a banner ad that expands when the cursor is rolled over it. As for the mobile website, the same type of ad format exists, except there is no rollover interactivity with the banner.

Food Network

Scripps Networks Interactive brand, Food Network, features a Chevrolet Equinox ad that is half the web page. I was able to close the ad into banner size with a simple click of an “x” at the top right corner. This ad took up half the viewing area of the site therefore eyeballs could not miss the Chevrolet product being advertised. This is a form of a “Rising Star” IAB ad, this follows the guidelines of a Pushdown ad. This unit “pushes” the page content down rather than expanding over page content (the IAB guidelines will be discussed later). The Food Network mobile site ad format is parallel with that shown and discussed for Cartoon Network; this banner ad is for www.Cafe-Tables.com. Unlike Cartoon Network, they do not offer a direct option to get the Food Network app upon opening their home page (which I think they should).

Disney 

Disney.com is used as a reference for The Walt Disney Company ads. On this home page, a very traditional, simple ad is displayed. There is no interactivity or animation with this Star Wars Day at Sea advertisement. However, I would say that Disney has the best mobile advertisement. To me, they made the Ant-Man advertisement easy to mistake as cohesively being a part of their mobile page (other than the word “ADVERTISEMENT” being underneath it). I think this is a smart move because generally, people are less likely to click on something that looks like an advertisement. Disney seems to be doing some tasteful reverse psychology here.    

On a side note, I really like how there is consistency between the desktop and mobile sites!

IAB Format Guidelines

As promised, it is time to discuss the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Display & Mobile Advertising Creative Format Guidelines. Below are clippings of the Quick Reference Guide that advertisers can use to better format their advertisements to optimize the conversion outcome. This guide is very important to refer to for the advertisement to reach its potential. Consumers want information that is relevant to them when they want it. Creating interactive advertisements increases the likelihood of a consumer to click the advertisement and therefore would increase chances of conversion. The Rising Stars of the guidelines, I think, are the most successful types of advertisements. Cartoon Network, Food Network, and Disney should optimize their sites to follow these guidelines and formats to increase overall interactivity with the consumer.

Online & Video Marketing Strategy In Light Of Current TV Trends

Aside from advertisements, Cartoon Network, Food Network, and Disney do incredible jobs of marketing themselves. This is reflected in their video and online strategies. The majority of video strategies are best explored via on-air television spots. Remember in my first blog post how I analyzed a Food Network promo? Yeah, those! Ultimately, knowing that the television trend is moving from cable to streaming, it is interesting to see how these promotional strategies will change. I think that interactivity is the best step forward. Imagine being able to interact with a Food Network promo? Maybe picking which ingredient they leave out and seeing how the meal is affected? Did you burn the pasta? I think that evolving online and video strategies to make a consumer feel like they are included and being individually paid attention is where marketing and technology should be challenged.

Cartoon Network | Free Game, Online Videos,... (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.cartoonnetwork.com

Disney.com | The official home for all things Disney. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://disney.com

Food Network - Easy Recipes, Healthy Eating Ideas and Chef Recipe Videos. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.foodnetwork.com

IAB Display Advertising Guidelines. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.iab.com/guidelines/iab-display-advertising-guidelines/

The All-New 2014 IAB Ad Portfolio. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2015, from http://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IAB_Ad_Unit_Poster.pdf