Disney talks Hannah Montana mobile

The future of retail would seem to favour the convenience of online shopping, however Disney Interactive Studios believes that 'bricks and mortar' stores still hold the key to reaching its target audiences. With 600 Sainsbury's stores now selling gift cards giving access to the latest Hannah Montana videogame for mobile phone among other fun-filled content, Yahoo! UK Games spoke with Sunil Gunderia, vice president, head of mobile for Disney Interactive Studios, Europe to hear more about why.

Yahoo!: Is the Hannah Montana product really a game, or something more with which to accessorise your mobile phone?

Sunil Gunderia: That's absolutely correct. The bundle that we have on offer is one where you not only get interactive entertainment through the game but you're also able to customise your handset to your favourite Hannah Montana ring tone as well as with graphics.

Y!: This seems to be a different market even than the young female audience Nintendo is targeting with DS?

SG: I would say it's consistent with the new gamers coming into the marketplace and certainly with female gamers in general, Hannah Montana is a core part of the audience. But if you look at the broader range of offerings that we have across gaming there's quite a bit we do with social gaming, you know ‘Pass Around' gaming, with multiplayer in terms of how we try to innovate. We doubtless see the mobile platform as being very significant in gaming - not just with mobile phones, but platforms like the iPhone and iPod Touch that are in the marketplace now. Certainly for Disney with our family audience we are really well placed to take advantage of this new trend and cater to this new audience that's coming to gaming.


Y!: What would you say is especially unique about Hannah Montana for mobile phone?

SG: The unique thing we're doing with Hannah Montana, and the whole package and the bundle that we have is the first time we're working with retail to distribute the game. We think it's important because as gaming software for mobile devices becomes more mass market we think there's a real opportunity to sell through new channels where we know our customer is rather than just selling through digital channels. Digital remains very important overall but we'd like to help grow the market itself by bringing our product to new channels.

Y!: Is Disney taking the view that, where families are concerned, personal contact with a product is still important? Is retail preferable to online for the next few years?

SG: We go to where the consumer is and currently there is a large consumer base at retail. The partners that we work with at retail have a lot of footfall and therefore there's a valuable audience there. They may not be as familiar with some of the content that we're trying to offer and this is a great way to get it in front of them.

Overall from a strategy perspective the company is certainly embracing digital and we look to not only make content available through traditional retail, but really putting it in front of the consumer wherever they go. So, we start with Sainsbury's and a retail push that's actually physical, but tomorrow it could be an electronics retailer where they say it's less about the physical product but they have traffic that would be interested in the products that we have to offer.

Y!: Are the products that Disney is bringing to mobile going to continue along the lines of Hannah Montana - for a more general audience rather than games like Pure?

SG: We're careful to look at who we're targeting, and who is actually playing the games in the marketplace. I think the mobile market is fantastically interesting for a company like Disney because if you look at the some of the user trends there is an equal amount of gameplay among male and female, it's pretty much a 50-50 even split. Also there is gameplay among our core audience - the ‘teen / tween' level - as well as Moms and families. There's a lot of opportunity as the casual game market develops for us to create what works in the marketplace. At the moment our audience is casual because that's what most people are enjoying on these platforms.

Y!: We have to ask! Is there more High School Musical also 'on the cards'?

SG: High School Musical is a massive franchise for our company and it's something we've done games for before. In terms of retail bundles it's certainly something we'd be looking at soon to come. The timing of Hannah Montana is that we have a lot of company activity around it - her new TV show just started running on the Disney Channel and she's massively popular over here [in the UK].


Yahoo! UK Games wishes to thank Sunil Gunderia for his valuable time answering our questions today. We'd like to invite your comment on the convenience of online retail versus the appeal of shopping for tangible gifts in a regular real-world store.