Disney, High School Musical 2, Advergames

So, I must confess, I don't know much of anything about the increasingly-popular "High School Musical 2" beyond what I have heard about it shattering some Nielsen records, and beyond what I see on the teenie-bopper celebrity magazine covers at the check-out aisle in the grocery store. It is obvious, however, that many people out there are much more into it then I am. In fact, according to the article that I read in MediaPost, interest in the show brought more than 23 million 'unique visitors' to Disney.com in August, breaking its all-time traffic record.

But how do you retain interest once people are on the website? Games. Disney has perhaps the largest arsenal of comic characters out there availble to them to use in their online gaming. For Disney, online gaming is a win-win situation, as they are not only generating interest in the web site, but they are also simultaneously promoting their brand. Due to Disney's media giant status, the entire website is all about promotions, cross-promotions, and more...the entire web site recently went under a full revamp, and now, with the help of the teen music kids there, it is getting more hits than ever, which is great for Disney, and also for their other corporate content sponsors, such as HP and General Mills. Disney, and its mass of subsidiary companies, is so vertically integrated now that it has begun to sell integrated advertising packages that span across their enormous media offerings, including network and cable TV, the internet, and radio and print, to partners such as Visa. These multi-platform buys take a lot of the guesswork out of media placement.

All in all, Disney is making some smart moves.

The majority of the information in this post came from The MediaPost Publication article entitled "Disney.com Sets Record Propelled By 'High School Musical 2,' by Tameka Kee, dated Thursday, 13 September, 2007.
Link to it here: http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=67350