What you’ll read: When COVID-19 threatened Marvel’s Phase 4 rollout, Disney’s WandaVision campaigns helped save the day.
When any company releases a new product, there’s usually a period of growth before it becomes a mega-success, but most businesses aren’t Disney. In just over a year, the Disney+ streaming platform acquired 129.8 million global subscribers — approximately half of what Netflix had managed after an entire decade.
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With a back catalog of first-party content, any Disney-managed streaming platform would likely be moderately profitable. However, a closer look at the first year of Disney+ marketing suggests it wasn’t taking any chances. As COVID ravaged its theatrical and amusement park revenue streams, Disney doubled down on marketing campaigns to make sure everyone tuned in for one specific series: the experimental superhero drama WandaVision.
From Packed Theaters to Pandemic Streams
After launching multiple Disney+ originals, it’s easy to forget the brand preferred to keep its superheroes in theaters. Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, and other Marvel Entertainment pictures were massive hits that enthralled audiences worldwide. But when the Marvel Cinematic Universe branched into television, Disney kept each new project at arm’s length from most film characters and storylines. Most notably, when the time came to develop Marvel’s Daredevil TV series, Disney licensed the entire project to Netflix, side-stepping any creative risk.
To Disney’s credit, however, its cinematic strategy paid off. By 2019, it had focused most of its creative efforts on 23 films split across three creative phases. The grand finale of its storyline, Avengers: Endgame, was a record-breaking smash hit. It was even the highest-grossing film of all time for a brief period until Avatar returned to theaters two years later.
By 2020, Disney was riding high on this success and ready to tackle the streaming market directly with Disney+. Yet even at this point, Marvel’s primary focus was theatrical. The core of “Phase 4” would feature blockbuster films, while Disney+ would branch into more experimental content like the reality-bending WandaVision.
At the time, favoring theaters probably seemed like a safe decision. But of course, COVID-19 changed everything.
How WandaVision Could Save The Day
WandaVision wasn’t supposed to be the opening salvo of the MCU’s Phase 4 — that was originally going to be the long-anticipated Black Widow. Compared to the reliably entertaining Avengers films, WandaVision was downright risky, featuring two secondary characters in a charming yet unsettling family drama inspired by classic TV sitcoms.
Unfortunately, the pandemic disrupted all of Disney’s plans. Movie theaters shut their doors, filming schedules were put on hold, and post-production facilities were closed for staff safety. Disney entered 2020 expecting a victory lap powered by enthusiasm for Avengers: Endgame. Instead, it would be a full year before Marvel Entertainment would release new film content.
As Disney adjusted production timelines and release dates, its priorities changed. With both theaters and amusement parks shut down, Disney+ represented the company’s most reliable short-term revenue stream. So WandaVision’s release was bumped up to introduce Phase 4 and act as Marvel’s flagship series on Disney+, which would attract a new wave of subscribers to the platform.
While WandaVision’s success wasn’t exactly an unknown quantity — it starred recognizable names like Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany, after all — Disney’s expectations were high. WandaVision needed to prove that Disney+ could compete with original programming from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO Max. It also needed to rekindle the enthusiasm of Marvel fans who hadn’t watched a superhero movie on the big screen in over a year. Disney and Marvel Entertainment had their work cut out for them.
The House of Mouse Doubles Down on Disney+
In the early days of COVID-19, many entertainment companies responded by slashing their budgets. Disney, on the other hand, doubled down on its marketing campaigns. The House of Mouse leveraged all of its resources to make sure everyone talked about WandaVision — and by association, Disney+ — leading up to the January premiere. This exposure would not only attract back long-time Marvel fans but people who craved quality entertainment after months in lockdown.
But Disney didn’t just flood the market with WandaVision ads and promotions. Instead, it chose placements that would get the most attention. WandaVision’s first trailer, for example, was launched during the 2020 Emmy Awards to a television audience of 6.1 million viewers. Within 24 hours, this initial splash helped push another 53 million views for the trailer on YouTube.
And that was just the beginning. Disney disseminated another twenty-four ad spots, trailers, and behind-the-scenes videos across multiple first-party YouTube channels. This content wasn’t just for advertising purposes, but so news outlets and fan sites — themselves desperate for new content to cover — could edit and reshare footage with their own commentary, extending WandaVision’s exposure even further.
Next, Disney leveraged its subsidiaries and partners to create unique cross-promotional opportunities. Televised banner ads and custom guest spots were common examples, but a few companies created unique stunt interstitials. Most notably, ESPN produced a WandaVision-themed retrospection of itself, presenting different versions of its logo from the 1950s to the present day.
As WandaVision’s premiere approached, Disney continued to produce new creative and key art. As part of a December 2020 countdown, Marvel released a series of WandaVision posters through social media channels. Each image showcased a specific decade’s aesthetic, from the black-and-white 50s to the colorful modern-day 2000s. By the time January 2021 arrived, just about everyone with an online presence was partially aware of WandaVision, and likely curious about what to expect.
Bringing WandaVision to Social Media
The WandaVision premiere launched on January 15, 2021, but Disney’s marketing push wasn’t over. Since new episodes arrived every week, audiences would follow the big reveals, twists, and turns for months — and new viewers would want to join. So WandaVision’s marketing team used this opportunity to find creative ways to keep the conversation going across social media.
One good example is the WandaVision Instagram account. Instead of posting updates from recent episodes, Disney created an interconnected grid that borrowed from each episode’s aesthetic theme. This approach gave WandaVision’s profile a distinct look that immersed Instagram in the viewing experience. (It’s worth noting that WandaVision’s page resurrected this approach to promote the release of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.)
Over on Twitter, Disney took advantage of hashtag tools to create a series of hashtag emojis. These images of #Wanda, #Vision, and #WandaVision were charming in their own right, but they also focused all conversations about the series to keep followers up to speed with new events. More importantly, it helped Disney measure the impact of its promotional campaigns across all of Twitter every time a new episode dropped.
WandaVision’s Bottom Line
We all know WandaVision was a critically acclaimed series but did its marketing have an impact? The bottom line is that Disney+ membership rates surged throughout WandaVision’s launch. In Q1 2021, the platform gained 21 million subscribers compared to 13 million in Q4 2020. An extra 8 million viewers may sound modest, but they collectively represent $767 million in annual subscription revenue — over three times WandaVision’s estimated budget. What’s more impressive is that Disney+ acquired roughly half of its incoming 2021 subscribers during those three months, ending the year with 44 million new customers.
While competitors like Netflix rely on viral marketing to get attention, sometimes the classic marketing techniques work best — specifically, making unique creative, leveraging brand partnerships, and shouting from the rooftops about your exciting product. Even if you don’t have Disney’s marketing budget, there’s a lot you can learn about applying tried-and-tested strategies in our social media environment.