Devilishly Divine Marketing: Disney’s Cruella
Introduction
On May 28th, Walt Disney Pictures will release their newest film, Cruella. The film adapts the infamous Dalmatian thief from the classic Disney animated film 101 Dalmatians (played in the new film by Emma Stone) as a young fashion designer in the 1970’s trying to make a name for herself, inevitably going through a transformation into the vivacious baddie we all know and love. The film will be following the hybrid release model, as the previous Disney film release Raya and the Last Dragon followed, and will release both in theaters and on Disney+ on May 28th, with a $29.99 price tag on top of the regular subscription price for access via Disney+. Marketing for this film will focus on spreading awareness of the film and enticing audiences to watch it, whether they feel safe enough to see it in a theater or would prefer to view it from their home via Disney+. Posts will be made across platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. The goals of the campaign are to obtain a reach of 1 million users on posts, and to drive viewership of the movie on opening weekend via Disney+ to at least 3 million viewers.
Campaign
The social media campaign for Cruella will primarily focus on Instagram and Facebook. Instagram is a good fit for our campaign as the character of Cruella is very fashion-forward, and Instagram is all about sharing pictures, which works with that theme. A younger target demographic also tends to use Instagram, with 71% of adults age 18–29 using the platform (Tankovska, 2021), so that will help to get a younger demographic interested in the movie, which will lead to a larger turnout as younger demographics often help to drive sales of movies like this. Facebook is sort of the opposite story to Instagram, but is just as instrumental. Facebook has over 2.74 billion monthly users (McLachlan, 2021), so the platform is a great way to get a lot of eyeballs. Facebook tends to be used by adults for the most part, and many adults with families are likely to see ads for the movie and decide to watch it with their families. Or even just adults without kids who enjoy Disney movies may see the ads and decide to give it a watch.
The social campaign itself will have a voice similar to Cruella herself: very fierce, elegant and bold. Think the same level of ferocity that Harley Quinn embodied in the recent movie Birds of Prey, but obviously more Disney/family-friendly. Tags used on social media will include #Cruella, #CruellaMovie and #HearHerRoar (in reference to a line from the film). The hashtags are already in use on Twitter and include a custom emoji (example seen here), as Walt Disney Studios often does in partnership with Twitter to promote many of their films.
Partnerships for the film include a line of Loungefly bags inspired by the character, a fashionable but affordable clothing line at retailers such as Kohl’s and Target, and partnerships with various fashion influencers on Instagram.
Visuals
This post would be used to promote the film’s release date as it draws closer, and to share a stylish version of a movie still as well, given Instagram’s “aesthetic” leanings. The target audience of this post is younger demographics that use Instagram, more specifically female users, which make up 57% of Instagram users (Barnhart, 2021). Alternate versions of this kind of post can include a video clip or trailer instead of a still image, while still providing the same purpose.
This post is an example of an Instagram story that would be posted on release day, to commemorate the film’s release in theaters. This story would be posted alongside a similar regular post, helping to grab attention. This post would once again be geared towards a younger demographic in hopes of reaching a younger audience.
This Facebook post would be posted upon the announcement of Cruella’s streaming and Blu-Ray disc release date. The post is aimed at Facebook users, typically adults/adults with families.
Sources:
Barnhart, B. (2021, March 9). Social media demographics to inform your brand’s strategy in 2021. Sprout Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/.
McLachlan, S. (2021, January 20). 27 Facebook demographics to inform your strategy in 2021. https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-demographics/.
Tankovska, H. (2021, April 14). U.S. Instagram age group February 2021. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/246199/share-of-us-internet-users-who-use-instagram-by-age-group/.
