DreamWorks vs. Disney

Joanne Kelley U5

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Sit down and grab a juice box because it’s…

Table of ContentsHistory Social Media Analysis

Behind the Mouse 3 Facebook 9-10

Making the DreamWork(s) 4 TwiIer 11-12

Movie Production Instagram 13-14

Hit Movies 5 LinkedIn 15-16

Why It Worked 6-7 Social Mention 17

Upcoming Movies 8The Winner 18

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Behind the MouseDisney Animation was founded on October 16, 1923. It was originally started as “Disney Brother’s Cartoon Studio”, and was made to focus solely on short films until it expanded to feature production. It became Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1986, then Walt Disney Animation Studios when it acquired Pixar Animation in 2006. It has become one of the most revered animation studios, the first to pioneer storyboarding and has produced over 54 animated films.

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Making the DreamWork(s)DreamWorks SKG was formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and former Disney exec Jeffery Ka_enberg. DreamWorks Animation was then founded in 1997 by the merger of the animation division of DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images. They produced animated movies that incorporated both traditional and computer generated images (CGI). DreamWorks Animation was named in 2000 and became a separate public company in 2004. Despite its success, it has gone through numerous distributors – first its own studio, Paramount Pictures, and then 20th Century Fox in 2013.

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Hit Movies in the Past 5 YearsÑ  Frozen (2013)Ñ  Inside Out (2015)Ñ  Tangled (2010)Ñ  Big Hero 6 (2014)Ñ  Toy Story 3 (2010)Ñ  Cinderella (2015)Ñ  Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Ñ  Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)Ñ  Madagascar 3: Europe’s

Most Wanted (2012)Ñ  How to Train Your

Dragon (2010)Ñ  How to Train Your

Dragon 2 (2014)Ñ  Megamind (2010)

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Though many audiences love the DreamWorks characters, most of their hit movies released are sequels and sequels to those sequels. DreamWorks movies span through the 2010’s, while four of Disney’s seven top movies have been in the last two years.

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Why It Worked: FrozenIn fall 2013, Disney released the movie Frozen. It was announced in November 2012 that it would be the princess movie where the main characters were both female and the movie itself would be female-centric. With $150 million dollar budget, Disney had high-quality animation and stunning detail, which made the characters genuine and easily likeable.

With $1.3 billion in worldwide box-office revenue, $400 billion in the United States, it is the highest-grossing animated film of all time. It also won two Academy Awards, two Grammys, and other awards and accolades.

Critics a5ribute the success to many factors, such as the classic Disney Renaissance film feel, the atypical villain, romantic subplot twists, and the very well-received soundtrack. Frozen has over 25 million likes on its’

Facebook page and over 64,500 followers on Twi5er.

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Why It Worked: Shrek 2In May 2004, DreamWorks Animation released Shrek 2, the sequel to Shrek. As the one before, it received great reviews from critics and became the highest-grossing film of 2004. It had the biggest opening of an animated movie until beaten by its own sequel, Shrek the Third, in 2007. It is the seventh highest-grossing film of all time and was the highest-grossing animated film of all time until 2010. With its $150 million dollar budget, it garnered $441 million in gross revenue. It wasnominated for the Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards and the song “Accidentally in Love” was nominated for Golden Globes, Academy Awards, and Grammys. Most critics compared it to its predecessor, many saying it was be5er. Shrek and its characters have since become

a musical and is performed across the United States and United Kingdom.Shrek has over 45 million likes on Facebook and post very frequently, even though the films were released over 10 years ago.

Upcoming Movies

Ñ  Moana Ñ  The Good DinosaurÑ  ZootopiaÑ  Finding DoryÑ  Pete’s Dragon

Ñ  Kung Fu Panda 3Ñ  How to Train Your

Dragon 3Ñ  TrollsÑ  Bollywood Superstar

Monkey

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Facebook: DreamWorksDreamWorks Animation has just launched different Netflix series, and most of their posts are centered on promoting them to their audience. However, because they have not been around as long as Disney, they are missing the nostalgia factor that Disney has for the adults. Just like Disney, they cater to both the adults and children, but their posts skew more towards the kids

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than the parents.Though they may not reply to comments, sometimes the official movie pages, like How to Train Your Dragon, do comment back.

Stat Box: 6 Million page likes

Facebook: DisneyDisney’s Animation Studios play to both of their demographics – the young children who enjoy animated films and the parents who accompany them. They post pictures about their new and old films, which excite the children and bring nostalgia to the adults. They post frequently, at least every other day with around two posts each day.

They also use hashtags that are trending around current events and connect them back to their new and old characters. Their Facebook page is kept current – however, they don’t engage with comments or complaints within the page.

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For Facebook, Disney takes the cake. And Kronk here can make a delicious cake.

Stat Box: 13M page likes

Twi5er: Disney11

Disney’s Twi5er closely mimics its Facebook page. However, because Twi5er has a maximum character count and is mostly for quick reads and glances, Disney has streamlined their posts to make it tailored for Twi5er. They keep the posts short and sweet. They don’t post lengthy videos – they make sure that they keep their hashtags relevant and retweet posts from different celebrities, employees, and other Disney accounts that promote their upcoming movies. They also use Twi5er as a “behind-the-scenes” channel and for special sneak peeks, like teasers, for their most recent projects.

Stat Box: 1.08M followers

218 following

Twi5er: DreamWorks12

DreamWorks Twi5er has a leg up on Disney: it doesn’t recycle content. Though it frequently promotes its upcoming productions, it also has more content and uses more trending hashtags in order to capitalize on them. Like Disney, it retweets only those that are involved in their productions. However, they also do conversation promotions and use hashtags to get their audience involved in communicating with them.

Stat Box: 1.04 Million followers

139 following

Congrats DreamWorks, you’ve hit a gold mine on Twi5er.

Instagram: DreamWorks13

DreamWorks Instagram posts include both posts promoting their upcoming productions and posts that their audiences tag them in. Though they engage more with their consumer, they don’t take advantage of the image base of the platform. Because they are an animation studio, pu5ing the imagery out there should be frequent and scheduled. Their Instagram does not line up with their Twi5er or Facebook but does have unique art that their fans and artists create.

Instagram: Disney14

Disney’s Instagram does have some overlap with their Facebook, but they are more drawn toward aesthetically pleasing posts. This should be their strongest social platform, because it is focused on images, which is what the Animation Studio specializes in. They use it to introduce new characters and promote their smaller projects, like short films, and post relatively frequently. They understand that Instagram is mainly for short posts and videos, and that they needed to showcase their best. They did a great job of balancing

Stat Box: 519k followers 31 following

Informative posts with nostalgic ones.Disney, you are the Instagram “HERO”.

LinkedIn: DreamWorks15

Dreamworks has about half of its 5,000 employees on LinkedIn and over 115,000 followers. Though they have a thorough description of their company, they don’t post any content besides job listings. They have no imagery or anything else on their site, just a list of job openings.

LinkedIn: Disney 16

Disney has a short description along with an a5ractive background cover. They have over 1,200 employees on LinkedIn and over 70,000 followers. They do well with posting job openings and also have great content pertaining to their productions and events they are involved in.Disney, you got the job. LinkedIn is yours.

Social MentionStrength

58%

Sentiment15:1

Passion39%

Reach31%

Strength46%

Sentiment13:1

Passion23%

Reach34%

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Disney has a Strength that is 12 percent greater than DreamWorks. Because of its array of movies, shows, and theme parks, it makes sense that it is more widely talked about than DreamWorks. Because it has been around longer, Disney has stronger Sentiment, the ratio of positive to negative things said about them on social media, and because they have more hit movies in the past few years than DreamWorks has and not as many sequels. Passion is stronger because of the nostalgia factor and that Disney takes advantage of with their posts. However, Reach is only 3% greater for DreamWorks, which may be caused by their recently launched Netflix series.

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And the Winner is….18

Disney Animation Studios has a be5er social media strategy than DreamWorks Animation Studios. Though DreamWorks performed well on Twi5er, Disney creates and curates content that is relative to worldwide trends and relates them to past and upcoming movies. Disney has greater passion, sentiment, and strength because they have been around longer and have more original ideas and movies. They post content that emotionally appeals to both children and adults and use the platforms accordingly. I would recommend using different content for each social channel so that the real fans that follow them on multiple social networks won’t feel like they’re reading the same things. I would also encourage them to engage with their audience more so that they don’t feel neglected – though they do have the advantage of founding earlier than DreamWorks, that does not mean they can ignore their audience.