Has Disney Pushed The Limit By Entering The Maternity Ward?

Disney sales representatives are currently visiting 580 hospitals across the country to market to newborns’ parents. The pitch is simple. If you give Disney your email address to sign up for BabyDisney.com you get a free Disney onsie. According to NPR, sales reps can be visiting new moms within hours of delivery.

Since I’m not a mom, it is hard to say what my reaction would be if one of these Disney reps came traipsing into my hospital room. It really would come down to their approach.

From a marketing standpoint, it is a brilliant idea for Disney to be part of such a huge family milestone. It would be hard for a mom to push the Disney representative away if he or she were simply offering their well wishes for the new little bundle of joy. Plus the family will likely remember that Disney was part of the first few days of their baby boy or girl’s life.

Collecting email addresses is certainly not the goal. There are plenty of less expensive ways, like purchasing databases, holding contests, etc. to gather email addresses. Disney’s goal is to take advantage of the $36.3 billion annual baby market. This shouldn’t be too hard for Disney to accomplish, considering its “princess” market is a $4 billion industry.

What do you think? I would love for others (parent or not) to weigh in. Would you be annoyed? Has Disney gone too far? Or would you gladly give your email address for a cute little onsie?

Jennifer Manocchio

President

After starting her career with Edelman in Chicago, Jennifer joined Sweeney and quickly established herself as an exceptional industry innovator. In 2004, she opened Sweeney’s first full-service office outside of Cleveland and quickly rose through the ranks to become agency president. Jen leads by example and without fear. She has been critical to agency growth throughout the past decade and continues to lead the agency into the future.