It’s Her Cruel World and We’re Just Living in It
Disney’s Cruella Campaign
One of Disney’s most wicked, rebellious, and fashionable villains is finally getting the chance to share her story. Known as an iconic villain for many generations, Cruella has the opportunity to draw audiences, young and old, to this new dark and edgy story. Breaking from the traditional Disney mold of bright and happy characters, we are given a film that is a little rough around the edges, capturing unlikely viewers that may be outside of the Disney belt.
Overview of Marketing Plan
Disney has a wonderful opportunity to attract audiences, young and old, from different generations. Through social media, Disney will create a campaign that will spark excitement and curiosity about Cruella. Not only does Disney want to increase viewership in select theaters, but with COVID and social distancing mandates affecting the majority of the world, Disney will also want to attract viewers to the at-home premiere of this film. On different social media platforms, Disney will attract viewers of all ages, inviting them in on Cruella de Vil’s dark origin story. This infamous villain is already familiar to many, but we want to tease the audience that there is more than what meets the eye with Cruella. Throughout the different phases of the movie release, Disney will work with brands and influencers to create a cohesive message that will capture the attention of pre-existing fans as well as users who may not have been initially intrigued through the creation of original content and hashtags across social media.
Set Social Media SMART Goals for Campaign
Disney will have a specific goal throughout each of the different film phases of Cruella. Different goals are necessary to reach for the Cruella campaign to be holistically successful. During the pre-event film phase, the primary goal for Disney is to attract Disney+ subscribers to purchase the $30 premiere access fee to watch Cruella. When Mulan was first premiered on Disney+ the film garnered the attention of many with an increase of 68% in new Disney+ subscribers. However, of these signups, not many resulted in purchasing the $30 premiere access fee to view Mulan. In fact, “two-thirds of Mulan purchases came from users who have already been subscribed to Disney+ since 2019 while Mulan‘s opening weekend sign-ups accounted for just 4% of purchases” (Observer). While the secondary goal is to inform viewers about Cruella and to generate hype for the upcoming film, Disney must focus on attracting their current audience through social media, to pay the premiere access fee. This goal will be measured by the number of premiere access passes bought by pre-existing Disney+ subscribers. Disney will also be able to see how the audience reacts and responds to the content being presented online. Through audience analytics tools, they will be able to see the reach of the content, what content followers mostly engage with, and from there, continually mold their content to satisfy the wants of their users.
In phase two of the Cruella film, Disney will be focusing on generating interest for Cruella and driving users to Disney+ and the theaters. This will be possible through partnering with fashion influencers and other brands. We will track the success of these partnerships through the usage of the #StyledByCruella and #CruellaXColourPop hashtags. Disney will see how many times the hashtag has been used, clicked, and shared. This part of the campaign will begin on the day of the film release, May 28th, and last until the beginning of the post-event on June 26th.
During the post-event phase of the film release, Disney’s goal will be to generate excitement towards Cruella, leading users to watch on Disney+. To keep the spark alive after the film leaves the theater, Disney will create a smartphone game app. The game will either be titled Escape from Hellman, which highlights Cruella’s attempt to steal Baroness von Hellman’s dogs, or Dalmatian Dash, which is a kid-friendly name for Disney’s brand. Much like the game Temple Run, players have to swipe left, right, up, and down to avoid obstacles and Hellman from stopping Cruella. The success of this app will be seen through the number of downloads on Google Play and iPhone App Store along with the sharing of the game hashtag on social accounts. The launch of this app will begin within the week Cruella leaves the theaters.
Campaign
Platforms Used
Due to the nature of the Cruella film being dark and villainous, this movie will likely skew to the older crowd and older children (insidethemagic). To reach these audiences, Disney will be utilizing 3 different social media platforms: Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Through each of these platforms, we will be able to reach our target audience and connect with them on a specific, personal level through posts and influencer content. With Instagram, Disney will be able to target their Gen-Z and Millennial users. On Facebook, Disney will be able to attract their Millennial and Gen-X users. And on TikTok, Disney will target their Gen-Z audience as well. While other platforms could be utilized, we believe that Disney’s target audience is residing on these platforms, as such, it will be beneficial to hone in on these specific platforms over others.
Voice
Disney is typically known for its bright, happy, and quirky characters and films. However, Cruella de Vil is far from those attributes. Cruella will have an online voice that mimics how she is portrayed in the film: dark, rebellious, eccentric, and chic. This is Cruella’s world, and we want her villainous voice to take charge on social media and deliver a compelling presence online like she would in “real life.”
Hashtags
For the Cruella Campaign, Disney will be utilizing several hashtags. A couple of these hashtags will be utilized throughout the entire campaign while others will be specifically used depending on the film phase the campaign is in. Hashtags like #Cruella and #DisneyPlus will be used throughout the entirety of the campaign. During the pre-event phase, Disney will incorporate specified hashtags like #DisneyDateNight, #CruellaAtHome to draw in users to watch the Cruella premiere at their homes. During the event when the movie has been released, Disney will also use hashtags #StyledByCruella and #CruellaXColourPop to share user-generated content (UGC) highlighting style and beauty from the film. For the post-event phase of Cruella, Disney will incorporate the hashtag #EscapeFromHellman or #DalmationDash to advertise the Cruella app.
Partnerships and Influencers
Throughout this campaign, Disney will be working with influencers and establishing partnerships with other brands to further the hype for the Cruella film. In the pre-event phase, Disney will be working with Orville Redenbacher to give Disney+ users a coupon for a free box of popcorn after purchasing the premiere access pass for the film.
In the second phase when the movie has been released, Disney will partner with influencers on Instagram and TikTok to push their #StyledByCruella hashtag. These fashion influencers will be curating their own Cruella looks that either represents the style seen in the film or a modern take of how Cruella would dress in 2021.
On Instagram, Disney will be partnering with fashion infleuncers On Instagram, we will be working with Rosey Beeme @roseybeeme. Rosey Beeme is a plus-size fashion influencer who enjoys creating new and exciting looks that range from bright and colorful to dark and mysterious, which is perfect for representing Cruella. Rosey Beeme also is passionate about pop culture and the film industry. She has already shared her excitement for the Cruella film on her Instagram stories. Rosey would be a perfect influencer to represent Cruella fashion and would use this opportunity to create stylish looks to share with her followers.
Next, Disney will work with Courtney Quinn on Instagram as well. Her account is @colormemagic and she is a fashion influencer who loves all things Disney and pop culture. She is known for creating eye-catching, colorful looks. Courtney Quinn will put her flair on Cruella’s style and make it her own.
Lastly, Disney will be partnering with ColourPop to create a Cruella-inspired eye-shadow palette. ColourPop has created several Disney-inspired makeup sets in the past with films and television shows like Bambi, The Mandalorian, Mulan, Lizzie McGuire, and Frozen. ColourPop developed a “Disney Villains” inspired eyeshadow palette in the past, so creating one that focuses specifically on Cruella, will be highly doable.
Disney will be using this partnership to share different beauty vloggers’ looks as well as UGC created by fans or owners of the palette. On TikTok, Disney will also be working with fashion and beauty influencers using these hashtags as well. For fashion, Disney will be partnering with Anna Obrien known as “Glitter and Lazers” on her TikTok channel. She posts fun and funny clothing hauls and fashion inspiration for her followers. She has worked with many different brands including Target and Steve Madden and it would be on-brand for her to work with Disney for the #StyledByCruella campaign as she is always looking for ways to create unique fashion looks.
On the beauty side of TikTok Disney will look to partner with Makeup by Ruthie. She is only 16 years old but has an established presence online. Ruthie loves to create unique and dramatic looks, which is right on brand with Cruella. Because of Ruthie’s age, she can attract a younger audience that Disney is looking for.
Visuals
While three different social media platforms will be utilized throughout this campaign, I believe that Instagram will have the most impact on Disney followers. Using content to tease the audience in the beginning of the campaign will spark curiosity about what’s to come. Also, posting engaging pictures will push users to comment and interact with other users about the film, in hopes that this will attract more people to the Cruella movie.
Caption: Hmmm?? Something evil this way comes?💋 #DisneyPlus
While I beleive Instagram will have an incredible impact on the campaign, I also beleive Facebook will do it’s part in bringing in our target audience. Here is an example post for Facebook:
Caption: It’s her cruel world and we’re just living in it 💋🔥 #Cruella #StyledByCruella
Lastly, utilizing TikTok will help bring in the younger audience, Gen-Z, that Disney is also looking to attract. Here is an example post for TikTok:
Caption: The official unbeatable score…Can you top it? #Cruella #EscapeFromHellman
For Cruella to be successful on all fronts, Disney needs to utilize their social platforms to the best of its ability. Social media has the power to send this film to the top just by creating a sense of excitement for Cruella among Disney’s followers. By taking ahold of social media’s advantages, Disney will attract viewers from all over allowing for the Cruella film to be successful.
Sources: