Tinker Bell, the cute fairy who has long played second fiddle to Peter Pan, makes her grand entrance in the Walt Disney Co.’s virtual world of “Pixie Hollow” today.
In a sprightly act of marketing magic, she appears in the online game just four days before the Oct. 28 straight-to-DVD release of the Tinker Bell animated movie.
New toys, called “Clickables” that link to the online world, are hitting store shelves for the holidays, and some 7.5 million fairy avatars that children have created will now be allowed to become privileged members of the world for $5.95 a month.
The arrival kicks off a multimillion-dollar payday for the Walt Disney Co. on a Tinker Bell franchise that is already worth US$1 billion this year and highlights the company’s “Disney Difference” approach to leveraging its assets in books, movies, games and merchandise.
“This is probably our first real effort at this more holistic approach to a franchise that includes a very immersive online experience tied to consumer products, physical goods,” said Steve Wadsworth, president of Disney Interactive Media Group.
Tinker Bell’s established fan base and online plans convinced studio executives that the DVD could succeed without a theatrical release, since theatres will be crowded already with family films, including Disney’s own High School Musical 3: Senior Year on Friday, Bolt Nov. 21, and DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa on Nov. 7.
The sale of 12 million copies of some 400 Fairies books published worldwide since 2005 has more than readied Tinker Bell fans to hear her voice for the first time.
“We’ve always had Tinker Bell product in the marketplace. She’s always been a very popular character for us,” said Kathy Franklin, vice-president of girls franchise development for Disney Consumer Products.
The goal, Franklin said, is to grow revenue in the franchise year over year. The model is its Disney Princess business, a group that joins Sleeping Beauty and Snow White with more recent heroines like Pocahontas and Mulan, and reaps $4 billion a year.
Executives say Disney’s various virtual worlds have become tidy earners.
Steve Parkis, the senior vice-president of Disney Online Studios, said makers of virtual worlds generally convert five to 20% of visitors into paying customers with monthly subscriptions.
