This NY Times article highlights the "research" that Disney did in its attempt to capture the market of boys in the 6 to 14 age range, a segment of the population that has been rather weak for Disney. So far, it has resulted in the DisneyXD channel, which is only the beginning of its campaign.
Ms. Peña and her team of anthropologists have spent 18 months peering inside the heads of incommunicative boys in search of just that kind of psychological nugget. Disney is relying on her insights to create new entertainment for boys 6 to 14, a group that Disney used to own way back in the days of “Davy Crockett” but that has wandered in the age of more girl-friendly Disney fare like “Hannah Montana.”
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The people on Ms. Peña’s team have anthropology and psychology backgrounds, but she majored in journalism and never saw herself working with children. Indeed, her training in consumer research came from working for a hotel operator of riverboat casinos.
“Children seemed to open up to me,” said Ms. Peña, who does not have any of her own.
Sometimes the research is conducted in groups; sometimes it involves Ms. Peña’s going shopping with a teenage boy and his mother (and perhaps a videographer). The subjects, who are randomly selected by a market research company, are never told that Disney is the one studying them. The children are paid $75.
I suppose if you are willing to invest into something, you might as well get as much information before hand on how to proceed and know your target audience.
Zz.
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