Liana Pavane - entrepreneur, NYU marketing grad

Glen Powell with his parents promoting Hit Man via CNN.

When I think of entertainment related marketing campaigns, my brain immediately goes to film and TV 🎬. While I’m a theater kid at heart (BA in Theatre Studies from Ithaca College), I have always found film/tv campaigns to be bigger, bolder, and overall more enticing. I know it’s partially because these forms of entertainment allow for trailers—something that is unfortunately difficult for theatrical productions to produce for a campaign. It’s also due to the fact that film/TV usually receives a much higher marketing budget. And it’s also probably because the magic of live productions are worth protecting until the audience enters the theater versus having spoilers appear in a trailer, unfortunately making many feel as though they’ve already seen the movie 😒.

So can theater take a page from film/TV’s book and replicate its marketing abilities? Would these efforts translate well to Broadway? I’m not sure, so let’s find out together.

Film Campaigns

When I think of film campaigns, I think of trailers, posters, social media accounts, and partnerships. These productions aim to dazzle 🤩 prior to the release, including interviews with the cast on late night shows, with The New York Times, and red carpet premieres. The offscreen appearance of actors has become just as important as their on screen one—audiences want to see the actor ‘in character’ at all times. This interview with Claudia Jessie who plays Eloise Bridgerton showcases the actresses candor that is similar to her character’s, which many fans have commented on as well. I’d like to dive into some successful campaigns to outline what I believe to be innovative marketing in the entertainment space.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

To start, using Hunger Games: Catching Fire, the marketing team veered away from traditional marketing by utilizing transmedia storytelling. By re-creating the Panem world through social media as if the audience were apart of it, they encouraged active participation from fans to bring everyone into the story a year prior to the launch of the movie. The immersive experience they created attracted fans who had read the books as well as fans who were simply watching the movies. They started by launching a Tumblr account, showcasing “Capitol Couture,” similar to an online magazine. Facebook pages were formed for the different districts, Twitter focused on government control over us as citizens, and Instagram reposted fashion exhibited on the their Tumblr. As a result, this movie sold the most tickets of the franchise.

Barbie

One cannot discuss film marketing without mentioning Barbie. The movie became a well-earned sensation through innovative partnerships, emphasizing the color pink💖, of course the star-studded names attached. As Barbie™️ has expanded over the years to represent a array of job titles, unique partnerships were forged to accompany specific dolls. A fuchsia Xbox was made for STEM Barbie™️, a Balmain hoodie selling for $1,350 was made for Disposable Income Barbie™️, and not to mention the AirBnb Barbie’s™️ Malibu Dreamhouse, Ken’s Way. Overall, the movie garnered over 100 partnerships, an incredible feat for any brand, let alone a movie with a short timespan. The fashion of the movie also inspired ‘Barbiecore,’ a trend featuring pink SoCal aesthetic. The marketing campaign is estimated to have cost $150M, but it has clearly paid off as they generated $1.45B worldwide!

Glen Powell on *Hit Man* Billboard LA via Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times.

TV Campaigns

What I love most about TV is that you can immerse yourself into the world for more than two and half hours. Some series even span a few years. The longevity allows for marketing that goes beyond billboards and social media campaigns, it allows for experiential marketing as audiences grow with the show’s success.

Stranger Things

About to enter it’s fifth and final season, Stranger Things has amassed an impressive following. It has become the most popular English language original series in history and surpassed one billion viewers within the first four weeks of season four premiering. The series has become a cultural phenomenon, so much so that it created an immersive experience titled, ‘Stranger Things: The Experience in Brooklyn!’ bringing the Upside Down to New York City. The experience allows fans to explore multiple parts of the show including Hawkins Plaza and the ice cream shop in town. To take it a step further, Stranger Things partnered with Lyft to give certain customers an extra spooky ride 👻 to promote the show, ending with an Eggo waffle, of course 🧇. The team also set up large art installations around the world along with projections on famous buildings to promote the series. I’m definitely looking forward to their season five promotions—it’s definitely going to flip marketing on its head!

Squid Games

The interesting fact about Squid Games is that Netflix barely marketed the show. It was such a unique concept on its own that its word of mouth (WOM) quickly spread. Using social media, specifically TikTok to their advantage, the marketing team boosted the videos fans were creating about show. Multiple trends have erupted since, including videos of fans trying to recreate dalgona candy (specific to the show), highlighting the depth fans will go to immerse themselves into a show’s universe. The show was so popular, Netflix created a reality show version, ‘Squid Game: The Challenge,’ which had the largest cast and second largest cash prize in history of any reality show. The power of spinoffs is real, as seen by Game of Thrones, Bridgerton, and even reality dating shows combining for Perfect Match. When fans love a show, they want more!

Game of Thrones

Speaking of Game of Thrones, their marketing was extremely successful due to their attention to detail and focus on building a brand as the show ran for eight seasons. Part of building a brand is knowing what your audience cares about, so the show did just that. In 2015, they partnered with Coldplay for Red Nose Day, a charity focused on ending child poverty, and created a parody musical with the cast to showcase their social responsibility to their target audience of Millennials. Speaking of knowing their audience, they used self awareness to create recap videos such as this one with the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. On social media, they also didn’t need to start much of a conversation, but their #RoastJoffrey campaign and #ForTheThrone campaigns asked for audience participation in a fun and engaging way. There was tons of user-generated-content produced resulting in fan-made Etsy shops, YouTube videos, podcasts, and Reddit communities 🐉.

Game of Thrones focused on inclusivity and individuality throughout its campaigns, partnering with numerous unlikely brands. For its final season, they partnered with Bud Light for a Super Bowl commercial, expertly positioning themselves in one of the most highly watched television events of the year. They partnered with different clothing lines to launch ‘Rep The Realm’ fashion, Duolingo for fans to learn High Valyrian, and Oreos replicated the opening sequence with special branded cookies—approximately 2,750 Oreos used! These partnerships focus on immersion, inviting fans to wear and learn the brand, and enjoy delicious snacks while watching 🍺 🍪.

Theater Campaigns

For a theatrical production 🎭 to entice large audiences, a few things need to happen. A good review and a few well-known artists affiliated with the production. Marketing budgets are often limited, especially in the beginning of a production’s life. The trailers we see for productions—in taxi cabs 🚕 for example—have reigned on Broadway for decades including Wicked, The Lion King, and Phantom of the Opera (RIP). For a new production to make a splash in a commercialized space whose home is overwhelmingly Times Square, it takes innovation and a lot of luck. Below, I’ll be looking at three productions that may have begun as the underdog, but quickly rose to great heights—much of which can be attributed to the production’s marketing.

Hadestown

When I saw Hadestown several years ago, I was blown away by the etherial voices on a simplistic stage. What began in 2006 became a 13-year journey to Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre where the show recouped in eight months and continues to perform to sold out audiences. The production used tradition methods including social media ads on Instagram and Facebook, display ads on websites and banners in newspapers, taxi tops, digital screens, and sticker advertising using quotes from notable publications. Once they received a Tony Win🏆, they used that to their advantage creating advertisements to highlight their success as well as a radio spotlight.

A Strange Loop

While A Strange Loop wasn’t my favorite musical, I found their marketing to push boundaries in a way Broadway rarely does. Using Millennial humor and targeting a queer audience, their Instagram and Twitter feeds displayed innuendos, pop culture references, and a celebration of inclusivity. The production won a Pulitzer Prize before opening on Broadway, won a Tony, and received $955,590 in the box office during its final week alone. The creator began writing the story when he was 23 and when the show opened, he was 41—theater really loves a hero’s journey and the perseverance of those involved.

JOB

If you haven’t seen JOB yet, run, don’t walk. This 80-minute production will be sure to have you at the edge of your seat and you will constantly find yourself thinking about it for months to come. I can’t remember a lot of shows that have had such a lasting impact. While the two-actors have recognizable names, JOB started in off-off Broadway theaters downtown and quickly took New York City by storm, now moving to Broadway for a limited run this summer. The show’s content quickly spread via world of mouth and there hasn’t been a single friend I’ve met who hasn’t heard about it. As I had seen the production, I received an email from the playwright himself, I actually met Max at an apprentice program when I was 16 and he was scary talented then, which created a sense of community. Recently, I’ve seen their innovative marketing on Instagram where they cleverly play off the title of the production using e-mail, calendar events, excel sheets, and google docs to create reels. It’s exciting to see a new production quickly amass success and push boundaries via social media to reach their audience.

What Can Broadway Learn?

Whew! Now that we’ve delved into every area of entertainment, it’s clear that Broadway is still catching up when it comes to marketing. The few productions I mentioned are definitely starting to catch on, pushing the boundaries of what has been typically done before. However, when looking at film/TV, some of the biggest drivers of success are in partnerships, experiential marketing, and TikTok.

A Strange Loop partnered with many organizations to support the queer community🏳️‍🌈, however, there wasn’t much awareness around this fact. Partnering with queer owned brands based in NYC such as The Phluid Project, Big Gay Ice Cream, Babeland, and even The Stonewall Inn for exclusive products and events could have allowed the production to expand their reach. Additionally, JOB could take their immersive ‘job-related’👩🏽‍💻 marketing one step further to add display ads on job sites such as Built In NYC or even on LinkedIn. Emphasizing partnerships with therapy-related companies and mental health brands such as Headspace, Calm, Talkspace, MNDFL as well as organizations such as NAMI-NYC and The Trevor Project could also have a positive impact to reach larger audiences relating to their subject matter.

For experiential marketing, Hadestown would be an excellent production to test this with. Since the production is about Greek Mythology🏺and going to the underworld, creating an immersive experience with these themes would create a ton of buzz for new and old fans alike. Another idea is to create a Speakeasy in the ‘underworld’ with all the drinks relating to Greek gods, taking a page out of Sleep No More’s book. Lastly, projecting onto buildings or popular spaces in NYC for one or two nights would be an exciting way to grab people’s attention. Perhaps even offering a unique QR code for one night only on these projections with a slight discount or group rate.

TikTok is definitely the social media platform to be on right now. Hadestown has successfully amassed 275K followers, which has a lot to do with their ability to integrate celelbrities into their productions. A Strange Loop was on TikTok, but did not receive the same level of eyes at just 43.6K followers. Incorporating trends, partnerships, and humor would’ve allowed them to expand their audience on the platform. As for JOB, the production has received 8.7M posts, despite not having their own TikTok! It’s clear their success was partly due to the amount of people discussing this production on the platform. Imagine if they had their own TikTok, taking their creative marketing a step further to delight through videos? The possibilities are endless.

Conclusion

I love the entertainment world so much, which is why it’s difficulty for me to just write one or two things. As is probably evident from this post, I could go on and on and on… creating a strange loop of my own 😉. To close out, it’s clear that film/TV often have a larger budget to work with, but there are tons of creative ways theatrical productions can enter the conversation including social media, experiential marketing, and partnerships. It really all is about partnerships these days!

What are your thoughts? Do you have other ideas as to how theater can ‘win’ at marketing and gain more attention? Comment below!

Liana ✨ 🦋 🪩

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams - Eleanor Roosevelt

Entertainment Marketing: What Broadway can Learn from TV/Film