positioning hanna-barbera cartoons 1995

8/14/2019 Positioning Hanna-Barbera Cartoons 1995

1/30

HANNA-BARBERA

WHO ARE WE?(Hint: The answer lies somewhere in the question)

Revised 2/16/95


2/30


3/30

Why is this position harder than others?

At Hanna-Barbera were confronting unique problems, because our positioning must

serve as a bridge between our past, our present, and our future. We already hold a placein the minds and hearts of the world. We must maintain whats good about that current

perception, and eliminate whats bad. We also have to be able to live with what we decide

today, and give ourselves room to evolve into the next century.

And whatever we decide on must have the ring of truth.

Audiences respond when they hear the ring of truth.

A positioning sage

Hanna-Barbera cant be the Out-of-Left-Field Cartoon Studio--the Raw Magazine of

animation--because our heritage wont allow it.

We also cant be the Middle-Of-The-Road Cartoon Studio--the Sears of animation--

because we wont allow it. We demand more. Ten years from now we want to look back

on a body of work that cracks us up and knocks our own socks off. Thats why we came

to work here.

So...we must position ourselves as something we actually are, and aspire to be somethingwe actually can be.

Time for a look at history....


4/30


5/30

We created a whole string of tremendously successful cartoons. And, guess what? Most

of them were teams: Ruff and Reddy; Yogi and Boo Boo; Augie Doggie and Doggie

Daddy; Fred and Wilma; Fred and Barney; Pebbles and Bamm Bamm ...the list goes on

and on.

Were still here thirty years later. We dont run the company anymore, but we still

actively contribute to it, and our team spirit still guides it.


6/30

HOW IS HANNA-BARBERAS HISTORY DIFFERENTFROM THE OTHER MAJOR ANIMATION STUDIOS?

The first-person plural can not be applied with any credibility to Disney or Warner Bros.

Those studios dealt in loners.

The Existential Loner...with helpers

Walt Disney may have shared the business side of things with his brother, but creativelyand promotionally it was always a one man show. And his studios work reflects that.

Mickey Mouse never had a relationship with Minnie that remotely resembled the heartfelt

emotions Fred feels for Wilma and Barney. Donald and his nephews were basically just

about shtick. Compare them to Yogi and Boo Boo. After decades of cartoons, none of

the basic Disney stable of shorts players has any relationship you could really put your

finger on.


7/30

And as for the Disney feature film characters...

Snow White was the benevolent boss of the seven dwarfs--not their friend.

Bambi was existentially alone in the forest.

Pinnochio went alone into the world too. Jimminy Cricket was his conscience, not a

full blown character.

Dumbo--same thing: A freak with a minute conscience character telling him what to

do.

Cinderella: Alone with a cruel step-family and a menagerie of subservient helpers.

Only Lady and the Tramp, of all the Disney classics, approaches the were-in-this-

together feeling that can be found in nearly every Hanna-Barbera cartoon. But even here,

most of the film involves Lady confronting a hostile world alone...with helpers. She and

the Tramp are opposites, drawn together by circumstance, who form a happy, if uneasy,

alliance at the end.


8/30

Disney Studios has not strayed from this Existential-loner-with-helpers

formula.

Something in that formula spoke to Walt Disney. It had the ring of truth. The audienceheard the ring of truth and responded. They are still responding today. Disneys latest

films follow their tried and true formula slavishly, and their success speaks for itself.


That positioning sage again


9/30


10/30

The Looney Loner formula had the ring of truth for Leon Schlesingers

cartoon unit.

The audience heard the ring of truth and responded. And they continue to respond.Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies continue to be great crowd pleasers wherever they

go.


Same sage, one page later

(But its interesting to note, if only for the sake of discussion, that, unlike Disney,

Warner Bros. has not remained true to its formula. Recently reopened under the

wing of Steven Spielbergs Amblin Productions, theyve dropped the formula of

proud, dangerous Looney Loners who might explode at any moment. The neo-

Warner characters seen on Animaniacs and Tiny Toons come in groups. They

have next-to-no individual identity. And theyre very surface. They declare

themselves to be zany from the get-go, and constantly make self-referential

comments. The classic Warner stars simply were zany and only occasionally

broke the fourth wall. What will be the fate of the neo-Warners cartoons? Time

will tell.)

But enough of this pontificating. What can we learn from all this?


11/30

WE ARE WEWe are a team. Thats what separates Hanna-Barbera from the rest of the animation pack. The

essential ingredient is the word we. The question isnt What is Hanna-Barbera? The

question is Who are we? Lets explore this idea further...


12/30

We are the descendants of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.

They were a team. We are a team.

They were the rescuers of cartoons. We have set out to be the rescuers of cartoons.

Therefore, heres what we can legitimately claim...

We are First in TV Cartoons. (And all the other firsts we can think of.)

We are Cartoon Heroes, figuratively and actually.

We are Funny Cartoons.

We are Adventure Cartoons.

We are Classic Cartoons.

We are New Cartoons.

We are Serious About Cartoons.


13/30


14/30


15/30


16/30

What have we done for us lately?

The primary new productions that have emerged recently, or are about to emerge, from Hanna-

Barbera

2 Stupid Dogs & Swat Kats--Comedy and adventure cartoon teams

What A Cartoon shorts--48 New productions in the classic funny cartoon mold, many of which

feature teams (George & Junior, Powerpuff Girls, Cow & Chicken, etc.)

Jonny Quest--a team that carries on the tradition the adventure cartoon form we invented in the

60s.

The Jetsons--One of the classic funny cartoon teams.

We are remaining true to our heritage. Bill Hanna and Joe

Barbera made funny and exciting cartoons featuring teams.

Were making funny and exciting cartoons featuring teams. We

should continue to do so.


17/30

And what about our parent in Atlanta?

What about our larger corporate profile?

We are a wholly owned subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting.

Which is owned by Ted Turner.

Ted Turner is a team kind of guy. Not that he doesnt make mny autocratic decisions--he

does. But look what those decisions have created--a team of networks that, together, form

one of the most powerful forces in cable TV.

He purchases properties, not to pillage and lay waste, but to increase the strength of histeam.

Ted Turner perceives Hanna-Barbera as a valuable part of his team. Thats one of our

major strengths. By being part of the TBS team, we can form alliances, like the one we

have formed with the Cartoon Network for What-A-Cartoon.

Again, this may seem stupefyingly simple. But compare our situation to, say, David

Letterman a year ago. He wasnt part of the NBC team. GE doesnt have Ted Turners

team spirit. And now they dont have David Letterman. Real team spirit is a rarity.

By the way, Ted Turner also saw fit to buy the Atlanta Braves--a team if ever there was

one. And he goes to the games.


18/30

How about our audience?

Kids are our audience. Always have been, always will be.

We aim to become kids experts, and provide a world of Hanna-Barbera products for kids.

All of our contact with kids will stem from cartoons.

Kids love cartoons. Kids love teams.

Why?

Cartoons

For reasons that remain mysterious, cartoons land squarely on kid psyche. Many adultslike cartoons, but virtually all kids eat em up.

Teams

Teams represent comraderie, family, community.

Teams are warm and cold, in and out, exclusive and inclusive at the same time.

A team is something you can belong to.

You can love Arnold Schwarzenegger, but you cant belong to him or with him. Same

with Pee We Herman, Robocop, Batman--even Bugs Bunny.

But you can belong with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

You can belong with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Three Musketeers--or The

Flintstones.


19/30

Hanna-Barbera: our very name is a team.

Our body of work is full of pairs, groups, teams. If we can plant the idea in the publics

mind that we are the place where their kids find fun and friendship and dependableentertainment, theyll love us...even when we screw up. Because well be their team.

Ask any Chicago Cubs fan.


20/30

But does We Are Cartoons do all that?

Is We Are Cartoons a strong enough phrase on its own to put across our team message?

Well, lets take a look at some alternatives:

HANNA-BARBERA

The Cartoons People

HANNA-BARBERA

The Cartoon Team

HANNA-BARBERA

We Are Your Cartoon Team

HANNA-BARBERA

Teaming up to make Cartoons

HANNA-BARBERA

The Team Thats Teeming With Cartoons

Hmmm...Nothing really inspiring.

Lets take a look at We Are Cartoons in action and see how it fairs...


21/30

[INSERT LOGO PAGE HERE]

We Are Cartoons!

We Are Cartoons!


22/30

We Are Cartoons!

On the preceding page, an interesting interplay takes place.

At the top we see Top Cat alone, above the slogan We Are Cartoons! It feels pretty good.

Not pompous or over promising. Fun.

The next level shows Fred and Huck in rectangles flanking an oval of T-Bone. There is

an energy here. The two classic characters seem to be looking at the newcomer

affectionately. Their approval softens T-Bone, and T-Bones attitude heightens the hip-

quotient for Fred and Huck.

On the third level, two ovals of Jonny Quest and T-Bone flank two rectangles of Yogi and

Top Cat. Here we get a real group energy, and a quick glimpse of the range of ourcompany. Jonny Qs pose seems to point us left to right. There is a sense of history. The

full scope of our company is suddenly being defined.

This mixing and matching of logo shapes, styles characters and eras can go on

indefinitely.


23/30

WE are cartoons!

we ARE cartoons!

we are CARTOONS!

This statement swings no matter where you put the em-PHA-sis...


24/30

WE are cartoons!Were that studio in Hollywood.

We are the team who invented the television cartoon and won the hearts of kids around

the world.

We are the ones who gave birth to The Flintstones and a host of other timeless characters.

We are the raw young talents working on making new cartoons to delight a whole new

generation of cartoon lovers.


25/30

We ARE cartoons!Disney is theme parks in California and Florida, and live-action feature films, and a cable

channel, and animated features.

Warner Bros. is a wonderful old library and a bunch of Toons by Seven Spielberg.

Only one word springs to mind when you think of Hanna-Barbera: cartoons. Cartoons are

our very being. We couldnt give them up if we tried.


26/30

We are CARTOONS!When you say it that way you just have to define the word.

Heres what cartoons means to us:

Cartoons are popular

Most of the films that appear in animation festivals are not cartoons, because they

dont have mainstream appeal. We only want to make cartoons that will appeal to

a large audience, made up mostly of kids.

Cartoons are either Funny or Exciting.

Yogi Bear is funny.

Jonny Quest is exciting.

They are both cartoons.

Funny Cartoons are usually short.

Cartoons began as a short artform.Seven minutes is still the cartoons optimum

length. Many half-hour funny cartoon shows are made up of short segments.

Cartoons depict a world all their own.

Cartoons arent exaggerated satires of the real world. They are an unreal world,

filled with events that couldnt possibly happen in reality.

The Flintstones is a half-hour cartoon.

The Simpsons is not a cartoon, its an animated sitcom.

Whats the difference?

If Homer Simpson tried to power his car with his feet, he wouldnt be able to.

Space Ghost is a cartoon because its exciting, short, and unrealistic.

Jonny Quest almost isnt a cartoon, because of its Indiana Jones-like reality. The

new Jonny Quest series makes the cartoon cut thanks to the addition of the virtual

reality segments, along with the fact that no ordinary boy could ever have the type

of adventures that Jonny has.


27/30

So, at Hanna-Barbera, a cartoon is a short, unrealistic piece of animation that is funny or

exciting and popular.

Anything that does not meet that criteria is not a cartoon.

Now, I know what youre thinking...


28/30


29/30

WE ARE CARTOONS

WORKS!

It expresses our unique position in the field of animation.

It serves as a guide for what we should do in all areas of our company.

It serves as a bridge between our past, present, and future.

It defines our target audience--kids

It doesnt limit us.

It will help us fulfill our business objectives: Attract Talent to create Hits to make

Money.

It has the ring of truth.

And to quote that positioning sage...



30/30

positioning hanna-barbera cartoons 1995

Documents