Disney's Muppets Movie Edgy Marketing Campaign

Disney (NYSE: DIS) is releasing its latest Muppet movie, aimed at a wide audience. Apart from kids, Disney also wants to wow parents who grew up loving the Muppets the first time around.

The Muppets phenomenon has been around for 35 years. The latest movie has just been released in 3,440 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. For promotion, the services of controversial comedians such as Sarah Silverman, Ricky Gervais and Wanda Sykes were enlisted.

Similar to their hominoid counterparts, Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog and Animal have hit the talk show circuit. They appeared on “Saturday Night Live" and “Chelsea Lately." When talking to E! talk show host Chelsea Handler, Miss Piggy was asked if there was any "penetration" involved with her relationship with Kermit. Miss Piggy’s love life was also discussed on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", She responded that "there might be handcuffs involved, if you know what I mean." Move over Angelina Jolie! Miss Piggy’s love interest Kermit the Frog appeared on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

The movie trailers are also catering to the mature audience. These trailers spoof "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (with a trailer titled "The Pig With the Froggy Tattoo"), "Paranormal Activity" ("Abnormal Activity") and "The Hangover II" ("The Fuzzy Pack").

Disney marketing executives refrain from going on the record. But Disney executives obviously realize that going for a broader appeal of a youth-targeted movie is highly profitable, as Sony's "The Smurfs" showed. That movie grossed a neat $560 million at the global box office.

Interesting enough, the strongest demographic for "The Muppets" consists of women older than 25. (Source: research firm NRG). 95 % of women over 25 were aware of the movie and 37 % stated that they have "definite interest" in seeing it.

Disney launches its user-generated (UGC) marketing campaign

Disney (DIS) is leveraging user-generated content for its marketing. The new Disney Parks’ campaign will use visitors’ own home videos and snap shots. Disney dubbed its new marketing campaign "Let the Memories Begin".

It works as follows. Consumers can post their content (photos, videos) on the website Disneyparks.com/memories or via the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Facebook pages.

This content is used (with permission of its creators) for a TV spot dubbed "Hugs" that premiered on the Today Show and will air on several networks, including CBS, ABC and Animal Planet. It consists of a video collage of happy children at Disney parks, with the tagline "Where Dreams Come True."

The print ads will appear in the November/December 2010 issues of People, Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple and Parents, among others.

Disney will also collect memories from consumers during a tour in major cities. A Disney vehicle will make appearances to conduct interviews with consumers.

The “Let the Memories Begin” campaign embraces all aspects of social media: messages are shared on the website, including photos, videos and texts that are categorized by theme, emotion and location. Participants can register on the new site and then a user is offered the ability to opt-in for future Disney e-mails that include “Let the Memories Begin” updates and other information on the parks. The functionality will also be a part of the Disney park pages on Facebook, YouTube and MySpace.

The next piece of the campaign will be when photos taken daily in the parks become projections at night on the Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort or “it's a small world” at Disneyland resort. Disney photographers will capture guests and will display about 500 photos per location per day.

Disney states that it got the idea for the campaign from its customers – according to Leslie Ferraro, Executive VP of global marketing, Disney Destinations: “the inspiration for this effort came from our guests. Each and every day people are making memories at our parks, posting them online and sharing them with friends and family."

Will it work? According to Forrester Research, consumer-generated content is still a fairly niche market.

But Disney is killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, Disney expects that its consumers will relate better to real people with real experiences, than to professional ads with professional actors. With the popularity of social media, a UGC marketing campaign is the way to go. Secondly, using (free) UGC saves a lot of marketing budget.

All in all, lots to gain with not much to lose....will this be the future of B2C marketing?

A grasshopper’s marketing leap

Grasshopper, an 800 phone number provider for small businesses in the US, rebranded itself.

To advertise the new name (they were previously known as GotVMail) and brand, they grafted a clever marketing strategy.

They started with compiling a list of the 5,000 most influential people in the US. It included influential bloggers, journalists, celebrities, TV anchors, and CEOs (Pete Cashmore, Adam Ostrow, and Tamar Weinberg).

Then they created a package to be sent by snail mail consisting of real chocolate covered grasshoppers ( a wink to their new name) with a simple message and video URL. The URL linked to an inspirational YouTube video about how entrepreneurs can change the world.

The packages were shipped out by FedEx last May. Some of the recipients (Josh Lohensohn of CNET) posted videos online of themselves eating the grasshopper. The campaign created a lot of buzz, especially on blogs and Twitter.

Some data (source: mashable.com):

• 4,911% traffic increase from April to May 2009
• 144,843 video views with 162 comments
• 1,500 tweets
• 120 blog posts in one month
• Tweets from Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, and Jason Calacanis
• 7 national TV mentions, including FOX

What are the success factors?

A sound concept
This was not just a renaming/rebranding, but a repositioning of the company. Needham-based GotVMail Communications LLC is a maker of communication systems for small businesses. They wanted to relaunch their company targeting entrepreneurship – a shift from being a telecommunications company to a company that helped entrepreneurs.

A theme that makes sense
The company chose the grasshopper to communicate the idea of jumping forward. Since grasshoppers can jump 20 times their own size, they nicely symbolize small businesses (their potential customers) that want to leap forward.

Flawless execution
The grasshoppers were farm-raised insects and dipped in chocolate. They were very professional packaged and clearly stated what was inside.

The front of the envelope said:
“Yes, these are real grasshoppers. Approved by the FDA of Thailand”.

On the back was written:
“You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper. They’re farm raised, covered in chocolate and rich in protein. So, not only will you be breaking boundaries, but you’ll be eating healthy, too.”

The call to action was on the attached tag:
Entrepreneurs can change the world.Join the movement now!http://grasshopper.com/idea
Perfect marketing mix
This campaign combines a snail mail FedEx package with word of mouth (WOM) and social media. The landing page of the video URL made it easy for postings on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites using an AddThis widget.

Attainable goals
The Grasshopper campaign was able to achieve its main goals with a small budget:

• To get attention
• To hold interest
• To get people talking
• To be considered as a supplier

No word if PETA was among the 5,000…..

How do you promote a tourist destination in time of recession? By linking it to a global job hunt!

To promote their Great Barrier Reef, Tourism Queensland launched in January 2009 a highly successful marketing campaign to get media exposure. They announced that they were looking for a caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef. Job applicants were cordially invited to apply for their Barrier Reef “dream job”.

According to the especially created website www.islandreefjob.com, the “best job in the world” is Island Caretaker, living on the Hamilton Island. The job is for 6 months, with a salary of Euro 10,000. The real work is to create weekly blogs, keep a photo diary, make video updates and conduct ongoing media interviews to promote “the wondrous Islands of the Great Barrier Reef”.

With wonderful tongue-in-cheek humor, additional duties are listed as: feed the fish (since there are over 1,500 species living there, they pretty much feed each other), clean the pool (an automatic filter is in place) and collect the mail (by joining the aerial postal service).Applicants were invited to apply by sending video – close to 35,000 respondents from 200 countries followed up. To make sure that the videos were not boring, the advertising agency (CumminsNitro in Brisbane responsible for the campaign) posted a (fake) video showing “Tegan” (one of their employees) getting a tattoo of the Great Barrier Reef to show her devotion to the tourist destination.

The focus will now turn to short-listing the Top 50, which will be announced on the Island Dream Job website on Tuesday, March 3. The Top 50 will be narrowed down to a final 11. In a clever marketing gimmick, 10 candidates will be short listed by Tourism Queensland, while an 11th 'wild card' applicant will be chosen by popular vote, thus guaranteeing ongoing media coverage. These eleven applicants will be flying to Hamilton Island in early May 2009 to take part in the final selection process. The final selection will be announced on May 6.

The applicants neatly represent the targeted tourist population. The highest number of applicants came from the United States, followed by Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Applicants are all ages, nationalities and come from all walks of life – including writers, tour guides, marine biologists, environmentalists, students, bloggers, mums and dads and retirees and celebrities such as an Amazing Race winner, a New Zealand travel show host and a former Young Australian of the Year.The main question remains if the costs justify the results.

One this is already clear – it put Hamilton Island firmly on the (media) world map

PETA’s rebranding of fish – will its Sea Kitten marketing campaign work?

PETA is known for its often provocative and controversial campaigns, such as comparing factory farming to the Holocaust.
In its latest campaign, it tries to convince the public that fish are capable of showing physical affection, of feeling pain and of grieving when their companions die. They are in PETA’s opinion not different from pets such as dogs and cats.

Since fish are not furry and cuddly, PETA tries to change the public image of fish from slithery and slimy to cute. Similar to happy Disney characters, it launched a website featuring “Finding Nemo”- like Sea Kittens. Aimed at small children, the website allows its visitors to create and name their own Sea Kittens. There is also a section on the website with (rather scary) bedtime stories trying to get the PETA point across. One of the stories read: “Tony the Trout is the smartest Sea Kitten in his school. Already litter-trained at 2 months old, Tommy went on to double-major in neuroscience and environmental studies at Clamford University, eventually graduating with honors. When Tony is caught and fed to a precocious young child who, having eaten one mercury-filled sea kitten too many, falls to the bottom of his class, the irony is not lost on him.”

A spokeswoman of PETA explained, that "If everyone started calling fish 'Sea Kittens,' they'd be a lot less likely to violently kill them for food, painfully hook them for 'sport,' or cruelly confine them to aquariums. When your name can also be used as a verb that means driving a hook through your head, it’s time for a serious image makeover.”

PETA kicked off its marketing campaign at the beginning of October 2008 at a school in Fayetteville, NC. As a gimmick, a huge Sea Kitten welcomed the children, explaining that Sea Kittens are just like puppies and kittens and should not be eaten. As part of the marketing campaign, PETA launched a petition calling for the US Fish and Wildlife Service to abandon its backing for fishing (or Sea Kitten hunting in PETA’s language).

Will the campaign work? Doubtful…….

How I see it, the main “mistake” of the campaign is its target group. PETA wants to stop fishing, which per definition is an activity not conducted by totlers. The best what PETA will achieve is changing the eating habits of the little ones, which will disrupt a balanced diet. It is doubtful that school cafeterias serve fish as a whole, including heads and fins. It’s hard to make the connection between a fish finger and a real fish/Sea Kitten. Fish is also a main food source for many communities, and is a great source of omega-3 fatty-acid which helps reducing the risk of breast cancer.

Furthermore, no matter how you look at it, fish are just not cute! Even the biggest dog or lion has a high hugging factor: nice fur and two eyes looking straight at you. Fish have pointy heads with two large eyes on each side, staring unblinkingly at you (whether dead or alive – as we all know from eating trout in restaurants). They are scaly and cold-blooded, which makes it not exactly appealing to touch. Being cold-blooded and living in water it can hardly strive to become our favorite pet. It is also difficult to relate to the mood of fish – how do they show that they are unhappy? They don't growl, purr or bark... (OK, they do show anger, if I rememberJaws or Moby Dick correctly) And there is the “fish-eats-fish” angle; big fish eat shoals of little ones, which don’t score high on the cuteness scale.

The main result of the current campaign is its high entertainment value. Apart from creating our own silly Sea Kitten (see illustration), many of us are making relentlessly fun of PETA’s Sea Kitten in articles and on blogs. It downgrades the campaign to a Jessica Simpson-like gaffe level, similar to her "Is this chicken or is this tuna?" question while looking at a can of Chicken of the Sea tuna on her reality show. As Michael Pearce of the Wichita Eagle pointed out in his hilarious article, calling fish “Sea Kitten” needs some serious rewriting. He pointed out that according to the New Testament; Christ fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and “Sea Kittens”; not to mention the fact that several of his disciples were Sea Kitten hunters. Oy!