Disney’s Cruella: Social Media Strategy
The pandemic saw many delays of long anticipated movies and The Walt Disney’s Cruella is no stranger to that. Originally meant to be released in December 2020, the unique origin story of Cruella de Vil is set to be released on May 28, 2021. Disney is releasing the film simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access purchase. The film takes place during the 1970s and follows Estella as she navigates the fashion industry in London. What makes this film unique is that it is a new story on one of Disney’s most hated villains.
The goal of this social media marketing plan is to reframe how viewers see the film. There has been a lot of talk about how this film is trying to push viewers into believing that Cruella is a misunderstood character with a backstory that makes her how she is. While promoting the film, Disney will be partnering with Humane Societies to show that, though the character of Cruella does turn out to be a cruel individual when it comes to animals, the company is doing what it can to show that is the opposite of how they see it. As well, Disney will partner with influencers to promote safe viewing from home with their fury companions.
SMART Goals
Disney is releasing Cruella both in theaters and with Premier Access on Disney+ for an additional fee. This is Disney’s third time releasing a new movie using the Premier Access feature, previously using it for their live action Mulan adaptation and their newest original movie Raya and the Last Dragon. While movies theaters were still closed for the majority of 2020, Disney released Mulan on Disney+ with Premier Access on September 4, 2020. It saw 9 million US Disney+ subscribers purchasing the Premier Access between September 4 and September 12, making up about 20% of the US Disney+ subscribers (Palmer, 2020). With the success of Mulan and the current reopening of movie theaters, Disney opted to release Raya and the Last Dragon both in theaters as well as with Premier Access. However, Raya and the Last Dragon saw 20% less purchases on Disney+ during its March 5, 2021, release (El-Mahmoud, 2021). There was also a decrease in signups for Disney+ between March 5 and 7 compared to the first month Mulan was available while also only bringing in about $68.4 million at the box office.
For this campaign, Disney will be focusing on driving Disney+ subscriptions up 20% and see an increase of tickets sales by 10%, with the biggest push for Premier Access. There are viewers who are comfortable to return to movie theaters but to make the most out of this film debut, Premier Access will be the driving force. To spread awareness of Premier Access, Disney will promote a fashion inspiration on social media two months before the Cruella premiere. It would call for a contest where the audience will share their best Cruella inspired looks for themselves and if they have a pet to match. The best looks will be featured on the Cruella Instagram and receive a free three-month subscription to Disney+. Success will be measured by an increase in interactions with the Cruella social accounts as well as the Disney+ social accounts. They will also monitor how many people enter the #MyCruellaLook contest and how many people plan to attend the #CruellaAdoptionDay events. With a thorough social plan, the success of this marketing strategy will rely on the social media team’s presence and ability to listen to their target audience. By monitoring the success of each phase of the campaign, they will be able to adjust anything before publishing posts.
Campaign
Target Market and Platforms
The campaign will focus on creating content across a multitude of platforms. The main target market for the campaign will be millennials (25–40). This audience are the ones who grew up with the story of 101 Dalmatians and Cruella de Vil and would be the most interested in the backstory of the character. For many, she was the first villain they experienced and quite a terrifying villain at that. A secondary market would be families with older children as the dark nature of some of the content and theme may not be suitable for a younger audience.
The major platforms this campaign will focus on will be Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook with secondary platforms being Twitter and YouTube. Instagram is the second largest social networks behind Facebook and is ideal for photo and video sharing with vast majority of users being within the target market (Barnhart, 2021). It will be vital in measuring engagement and receiving user-generated content to promote the film. The next platform the campaign will focus on is Facebook. Facebook still remains the most used social platform with 2.7 billion monthly active users (Barnhart, 2021). Due to its size, Facebook makes sense for advertising and drive of engagement with content. The last major platform to focus on is TikTok. Even though there has been controversary surrounding the platform, TikTok has proven to be the hottest new social platform over the last two years. While the largest age group on the platform falls below the target market, there are a good number of millennials that use TikTok. This will be a great platform to offer short-form video content from trailers and promotions. Twitter and YouTube will be secondary platforms. YouTube will be vital in sharing cast interviews and promotional videos with collaborations with Humane Societies and captivating trends. Twitter will be utilized to encourage audiences to start talking about the movie and what they hope will come from the experience. This will encourage conversation and create buzz over the movie.
Voice and Hashtags
The voice of the campaign will follow that of the movie and the characters: dark, creative, edgy, and confident. Utilizing the persona of Cruella will help the audience to form a connection to the previously unrelatable character. While forming these connections, it is also important to keep the integrity of The Walt Disney Company’s values.
Having a specific branded hashtag will be vital in measuring the success of the campaign and its relation to brand awareness. For this campaign the main hashtag will be the title of the film, #Cruella. During the campaign for the film, there will be more specific hashtags relating back to specific content and call-to-actions. For example, since Cruella aspires to be a top fashion designer, creating a campaign for #MyCruellaFashion will encourage audiences to create their own spin on a classic Cruella look or create other looks that would fit the film. As well, with the push to show audiences are doing their part to stay safe during these times, sharing their #CruellaWatchFromHome will encourage engagement in showing peoples fun viewing experience. Other partnered events will create their own branded hashtags to share information about when things will happen. For example, if local Humane Societies host adoption events in partnership with Disney to promote Cruella, they can use #CruellaAdoptionDay.
Partnerships and Influencer relationships
A big partnership with this campaign will be with The Humane Society. An important part of the end of 101 Dalmatianswas that all the dogs taken from their homes or shelters ended up in a good “forever home”. While Cruella takes place before the events of 101 Dalmatians, Cruella’s character still holds ties to this idea of animal cruelty. It will be important to partner with The Humane Society to promote the importance of finding forever homes for dogs in need and to help break stereotypes surrounding certain breeds of dogs.
When it comes to influencer relations, it is important to find influencers whose values tie in with those of The Walt Disney Company. One influencer who will be good in partnering with is Leslie Kay (@lesliekay) from The DisneyBound (@thedisneybound). Leslie has well over 36K followers and she created The DisneyBound, with over 300K followers, to showcase how you can dress as your favorite Disney character whether for a day at a Disney theme park or to show a little Disney love in your everyday life. This partnership will work well with #MyCruellaFashion by encouraging followers of The DisneyBound to participate and create buzz around the film.
Another influencer partnership would be Hammy & Olivia (@hammyandolivia). They are well known for creating content in which their owner interacts with Hammy and Olivia like normal human interaction. They have 3.3M followers on TikTok and 544K followers on Instagram. Most of their content centers around being home and having a normal day. They would be good for creating content surrounding #CruellaWatchFromHome. They could create a whole spread and costumes for watching Cruella at home.
A final influencer to partner with is Tatum Talks (@hi.this.is.tatum). His content focuses on his everyday life with voice over on what his owner thinks he is thinking. He has 2.3M followers on TikTok and 327K followers on Instagram. He’s a rescue dog and would be perfect to promote adoption events held in partnership with the film. He can also talk about how he plans on watching Cruella with his “humans”.
Measurement & Tools
To determine the success of the campaign, the social media team will monitor content engagement and Disney+ subscriptions through all phases of the campaign. They will note how many followers the social media accounts have the day they announce the release date and check every month on the growth. They will do the same with the number of Disney+ subscriptions and see how many subscriptions are established due to the increase in interest in the film.
For Instagram and TikTok, content should be posted three times a week, posting on Monday around 10am, Wednesday around 3pm, and Friday around 6pm. This will hit prime viewing time for the target market and ensure content is seen. On Facebook, content should be posted two times a day, twice a week. Content should be posted around 1pm and 7pm, guaranteeing engagement with the target audience and encouraging shares.
Pre-Event post
Platform: Instagram
Caption: To prepare for the film of the summer, we want you to share #MyCruellaLook. Whether its a classic look from the original characters, a fresh look from the upcoming #Cruella film, or your own spin on 70s London fashion, share it here! The top 5 best looks will be featured on our page as well as receive a three-month subscription to @Disneyplus and just in time to watch Cruella with Priemer Access! Check the link in the bio for full contest details.
Post: April 1, 2021 10am PST (1pm EST)
During Event Post
Platform: Facebook
Caption: Come out this Saturday to Lake Eola and join The Humane Society in their #CruellaAdoptionDay. We have plenty of dogs who are looking for their forever home like Danny here. Join us from 10am — 3pm in the park by Lake Eola. For every dog adopted, you’ll be entered to win either a three-month subscription to Disney+ or two tickets and a snack voucher to see Cruella opening weekend. Check out our website to see all the furry friends you’ll meet and make sure to check out Cruella on May 28!
Post: Monday before #CruellaAdoptionDay event
Post-Event post
Platform: TikTok
Caption: Don’t miss the movie everyone’s talking about available on BluRay/DVD and digital download September 15.
Post: September 1, 10am PST (1pm EST)
Conclusion
It will be important for the social media team to monitor engagement throughout the whole campaign to adjust anything that may not be working in one area or that may not translate as a coherent connection. I feel the during event phase will be the most important. It will be the time to post more frequently, making sure the viewers are aware of when the movie is being released as well as how to see it. It will also be important to back the adoption events to help promote the film as well. Knowing that Disney hears some viewers concerns about the film and assuring them they don’t condone the personality traits of the character will help drive some viewers who were concerned about the message. Working with partnerships and influencers gives a more personable approach and, when done correctly, can feel less forced and more casual. They also offer an extended audience that organic and sponsored posts may not reach. As well, it can break the connotation that Disney is just romanticizing this villainess character. By incorporating the company’s values into the marketing plan of this unique film, it shows they can tell these stories but still care for the important messages in life. Overall, this can give Cruella a positive message heading into the release.
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/.
El-Mahmoud, S. (2021, March 27). Did Raya And Last Dragon Make Money On Disney+? Here’s What The Data Suggests. CINEMABLEND. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2564916/raya-and-last-dragon-make-money-disney-data-suggests-streaming-mulan.
Palmer, R. (2020, September 17). New Data Shows Mulan Disney Premier Access Was A Success. What’s On Disney Plus. https://whatsondisneyplus.com/__trashed-3/.
