| In the context of economic globalization and China’s WTO accession, cultural trade develops rapidly, becoming an essential factor in promoting economic growth and heightening international competitiveness. In many developed countries, the development of cultural industry is faster than traditional manufacturing industries. And cultural industry, as a sunrise industry, becomes a leader in economic development. Even for many developing countries, the cultural industry becomes a new economic growth point. Among all the cultural products, the development of cartoon films, which are easy to spread, is becoming increasingly important in enhancing the cultural soft power of a country. Under this context, more and more countries begin to pay much attention to the development of cartoon industry.Although China enjoyed a golden age of animation from the1950s to the1980s, the development of cartoon industry is seriously backward, which is not commensurate with China’s identity as the historic country with five thousand years of civilization. On the contrary, the United States makes remarkable success in cartoon industry. With the fast development of technology, the American culture has an increasingly important role in the world. As an immigration country, the America combines different cultures and gradually develops a cultural atmosphere that is suitable for the cultural development, especially the popular culture and the mass culture. In the early twentieth century, Walt Disney created a mouse named "Mickey", and since then, Mickey Mouse begins the journey to spread all over the world, which is a good example of the successful globalization of a cultural brand.As Walt Disney’s most famous character, Mickey Mouse came into the public eye for the first time in "Steamboat Willie" on November18,1928, as the star of the first sound cartoon. And By1932, only four years after his initial appearance, the world was in love with Mickey Mouse. On the rich list of world’s ten virtual character launched by Forbes on November of2003, Mickey Mouse ranked second which was worth$4.7billion. Nowadays, wherever the media reaches, more than80percent of the children know the Mickey Mouse and the famous Disneyland. Until now, the magazine "Mickey Mouse" is published in more than twenty-four countries and regions. Based on the above, this paper attempts to study systematically the successful globalization of Mickey Mouse, figure out the current problems of Chinese cartoon market and put forward suggestions to the development of Chinese animation studios.Besides the successful business operation of Disney, the name, design and cultural meaning of Mickey Mouse contribute a lot to the successful spread of the brand. And in order to expand the little mouse to the whole world, it needs some effective strategies. Three major globalization strategies used by Disney are very successful. The first one is the value chain extension strategy. Mickey has gone through four major innovations throughout his life with the effect of stretching out its value chain. The first one is the licensing arrangement for the trademark of Mickey to be used by desk makers in1929. Later, Disney started the franchising business model for the cartoon image. Then when Disney had some financial problems, the playback of the classic movies got the company out of trouble. The third innovation which is also the most valuable one was the building of theme parks, bringing a profit of billions of dollars every year to Disney. As the official Walt Disney mascot, Mickey has played a central role in the Disney parks since the opening of Disneyland in1955. As with other characters, Mickey is often portrayed by a non-speaking costumed actor. And he has participated in ceremonies and countless parades. The fourth innovation comes in the form of classic movies which were played on television, making a big money for Disney through advertising. With these four innovations, Mickey’s value has increased exponentially, turning this common cartoon image into a golden mouse.Branding strategy is another important strategy for the globalization of Mickey Mouse. The cores of the brand of Mickey Mouse, even Disney, are the innovation, quality, community, storytelling, and optimism. Whenever Mickey is, Walt Disney will try his best to protect the copyright and intellectual property of the little mouse, making sure that Disney owes whatever he creates. Also, talent and high-tech play an important role in the success of Mickey Mouse. The well-remembered cartoon was of significance not only because it was the first appearance of the world famous cartoon icon, but also because it was the first carton that has synchronized sound. In the later1930s, Mickey Mouse went through another great successful change. Most of the great cartoons for Mickey were presented in color which was also another new advanced technology.Recently, Disney has paid much attention to China where Mickey Mouse achieved complete success. Under this situation, it is significant to pay attention to the development of China’s cartoon market. Mickey Family, including the brand culture, animated picture, group marketing strategy, derivatives and their product features and so on, can all offer the Chinese cartoon industry certain referential meanings to its development. This paper uses SWOT analysis to explore the current situation of cartoon market of China.The strengths that China animation studios have are the abundant national cultural resources and the huge market demand. China is an ancient country with more than5000years of recorded history and a highly developed civilization. The strength of the Chinese culture is evident in such a large number of idioms and proverbs. Additionally, Chinese cartoons have a huge potential market demand due to the large population base. According to statistics, there were only50million cartoon consumers among1.3billion Chinese. China now has more than5,000cartoon enterprises, but an output value of only30billion Yuan. Experts estimate that China’s cartoon industry still has great development opportunity.However, the development of Chinese animation studios is hindered by both the external and internal factors. The business environment is not quite favorable. Most successful cartoon images suffer from the piracy problem and the lack of sound investment and financing system. The studios also have problems in the production, distribution and exhibition of cartoons, including the lack of innovation and story-telling skills, the narrow audiences positioning problem, the lack of creative talents, and the incomplete cartoon industry chain.Chinese animation studios also face the threat from Hollywood in the domestic cartoon market with the gradually opening up. In February,2012, China and the United States reached an agreement, allowing the American studios to release more films each year in China.Although, the Chinese animation studios are weak and not strong enough to compete with the foreign companies, opportunities sill exist. As the central planners of China try to promote the economy towards consumerism through its manufacturing industry, in the coming years, they are trying to double the share contributed by the economy film entertainment and other media. And cartoons are seen as a central component. So with the government policy support, there is a great opportunity for the development of China’s cartoon market.At last, there is something that the Chinese animation studios should learn from the Mickey Mouse to better this situation. First of all, the Chinese cartoons should be focused on the originality and innovation, combining local culture with popular culture, establishing "self-protection" mechanism, increasing investment in new technology and training creative talents. Then the Chinese animators should learn to build local cultural brand and use the brand strategy. Although it is miserable for Chinese animation studios to compete with the mature Mickey Mouse when they are weak and not strong enough, they can learn from the successful operation of Mickey and figure out their own characteristic and find the right way of globalization.In a word, as a country of ancient civilization, China should exert its cultural advantage and tries to be a power nation in cultural industry. In recent years, cartoon industry is developing rapidly and will certainly be a new growth point of national economy in the future. However, in China, the cartoon industry is still in a low level and falls far behind the world’s advanced level. Therefore, it is crucial to find out the reasons that impeding the developing proceedings of Chinese cartoon industry and resolve these block, and promote the international competitiveness of the cartoon industry. |
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