In today's Orlando Sentinel, Jason Garcia highlights Disney's recent push to broaden the market for its Disney Vacation Club timeshare program. New television commercials and new destinations are all part of an ad campaign designed to attract customers who are not necessarily die hard theme park fans.
Disney Vacation Club is hoping to tap into a new market by seeking customers who value the "Disney" name, yet are not sold on theme park destinations alone.
Sybil Woolfork, Disney Vacation Club's director of marketing, said the television commercial aims to remove one of the "key barriers" keeping potential time-share buyers from considering Disney's program.
"It really does help to dispel the myth that Disney Vacation Club is only Disney," Woolfork said.
"What we really focus on is going after those consumers who have a real interest in travel and have a respect for our brand," Woolfork said.
DVC's resorts in Hilton Head, South Carolina and Vero Beach, Florida were the second and third locations added to the Vacation Club back in 1995-96. Initially Disney had grand designs for creating a program that could compete with the likes of Marriott and Wyndham by offering worldwide vacation opportunities.
Disappointing sales forced Disney to reevaluate its future. Planned resorts in Colorado, New Port Beach, California and New York City were tabled . The next decade was spent focusing on resorts attached to its theme parks on both coasts.
In 2007 Disney began to show signs that it was targeting the non-theme park guest again. July saw the opening of a Disney Vacation Club sales center in suburban Chicago--over 1000 miles from the nearest Disney theme park. In October, Disney announced construction of a resort on the island of Oahu in Hawaii which will feature over 400 timeshare units. And Vacation Club officials have publicly stated that other destinations lacking a theme park affiliation are under serious consideration.
Additionally, Disney uses its partnership with timeshare trading company Interval International to promote the availability of worldwide travel opportunities.
For Disney, it is a question of expanding the appeal and thus the target market of its timeshare program. Disney hopes to use expansion and aggressive marketing to convince guests that a DVC purchase is not necessarily an obligation to make annual treks to Central Florida.
Source: Orlando Sentinel (Includes video)
