HOW WE HELPED THE TROLLS GO ON AN EPIC WORLD TOUR
Marketing Campaign
SIX MUSIC GENRES. TEN NETWORKS. TWENTY SHOWS. ONE ADORABLY BADASS CAMPAIGN.
From hip-hop to country, Trolls World Tour brings together everyone's most beloved musical genres. But then came an unexpected intermission: due to the spread of COVID19, our campaign faced theatrical closures and a shelter-at-home order, to say the very least.
So how could we help Trolls World Tour release amid a global crisis? By reminding ourselves the one thing at the heart of every great musical performance:
The show must go on.
As a priority for the entire NBCU family of brands, our campaign’s tour through almost two dozen intellectual properties needed to get fans around the world excited for the Trolls franchise’s film encore — all during some of the most trying circumstances in global history:
- 1) Integrate into 10 networks authentically, collaborating and supporting teams across the entire NBC Universe
- 2) Flexibly pivot from theatrical messaging to an on-demand at home message
- 3) Activate core fans of each NBC property by synthesizing Trolls organically into the world and characters of each show
- 4) Represent all the Trolls and the film’s six musical genres equally
- 5) Stay true to Trolls’ light-hearted, colorful humor amidst tragic events unfolding across the globe
Put simply, this was no normal gig. But 25 campaign beats later, we’d put on one hard-rocking campaign to remember, and sent a record number of viewers to the big show, right from the comfort — and safety — of their living rooms.
Client NBCUniverseal
Project Trolls World Tour
What We Did
- Social Strategy + Ideation
- Social Media Campaign + Engagement
- Original Videos, Images, Cinemagraphs
- Organic and Story Content
- Copywriting
A SOCIAL-MEDIA WORLD TOUR
Coordinating across the NBCU ecosystem, we paired over 20 individual properties to the characters and moments of Trolls World Tour. In addition to organic content, for partners like Bravo, we also crafted interactive IG Story mini-games and Carousels.
TROLLING THE STARS
Organically synthesizing the Trolls into each show provided lots of opportunities for content. For E!, we created a modified #TBT campaign stream called #TrollBackThursday where the Trolls could be seen visiting the Kardashians over the years.
MUSICIANS ARE ATHLETES TOO
Though sports around the world were suspended, we teamed with NBCSports to create content that creatively installed Trolls into iconic moments across its catalogue of legacy sports programming.
A RACE TOWARD RELEASE
Our sports creative also included races like the Tour de France, as well as the Nascar and Indycar circuits.
THE TROLLS ARE LOOSE
In addition to collaborating with NBC's sports, reality and scripted programming, we also worked on competitions like The Voice and World of Dance -- as well as 30 Rockefeller itself, outfitting the iconic building with some new signage.
ROCK ON — FROM HOME
The challenging circumstances around Trolls' release opened an opportunity to reach fans looking for a light-hearted, family-friendly way to spend Easter weekend at home, including video mash-ups and snackable disruptive moments.
ORGANIC NEW NARRATIVES
With so much great content in the NBCU library, we could also leverage existing show creative to build new narratives, stitching Trolls creative into existing IP. For Universal Kids' Norman Picklestripes, that included creating custom phone shells to show the Trolls "calling" Norman!
A GLOBAL WORLD TOUR
The Trolls' World Tour was fittingly global, including several integrations with some of Telemundo's most popular Spanish-speaking properties.
A RECORD-BREAKING HIT
The Wall Street Journal headline says it all. Trolls World Tour didn't just perform well against expectations, but re-established industry norms for how a theatrical campaign can find success with a direct-to-consumer digital release, ultimately generating a record-breaking 5MM rentals in just three weeks.
A RECORD-BREAKING WORLD TOUR
Breaking digital records while rewriting the playbook on theatrical releases, Trolls World Tour executed on all of its “Symphony” goals, connecting natively with fanbases across the NBCU ecosystem to ultimately propel the franchise to a “digital platinum” opening.
A special thanks to our brand and social partners at NBCU, NBC, NBCSports, Universal Kids, E!, Bravo, SyFy, Oxygen, USA, Telemundo, and Universal Studios Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, whose partnership helped ensure success during some uncertain times!
Results
- 25+ Campaign Beats
- 20+ Unique Show Integrations
- 10 Network Collaborations
- #1 ALL-TIME on FandangoNow for pre-orders and digital rentals
- #1 ALL-TIME Top-grossing at-home release ever for an opening weekend
- #1 ON ALL ON-DEMAND PLATFORMS including Amazon, Comcast, Apple, Vudu, Google/YouTube, DirecTV
- $100MM+ in 3 weeks, surpassing a 5-month domestic theatrical run by the first film
