The sequel to James Cameron’s “Avatar” hits theaters on Dec. 16—over a decade after the original won three Academy Awards and grossed over $2.8 billion at the worldwide box office, an all-time record. Despite the thirteen-year gap, the franchise’s return to theaters with “Avatar: The Way of Water” has been a splashy one, the culmination of immense fan hype and an expansive marketing campaign.

Asad Ayaz, president of marketing at Walt Disney Studios, said the goal of marketing what could become one of the highest grossing films of the year, or perhaps ever, was to “position this as the motion picture event of a generation—that was copy we actually used in advertising materials—and really set this up as something unique, something special. A spectacle.”

From the beginning, Disney, which won the rights to “Avatar” with its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019, has woven promotion for “The Way of Water” into its other IP. After premiering at CinemaCon, the first teaser played exclusively in theaters ahead of Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” The first teaser garnered 149 million views in the first 24 hours following its online release, as well as 193,000 social mentions, Disney reported. 

Similarly, the film’s second trailer was positioned in front of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The trailer launched a massive cross-portfolio push, according to Ayaz, spanning owned assets such as “Good Morning America,” Hulu, FX, National Geographic, ESPN and Disney Channel.

Ayaz said the importance of utilizing the entirety of Disney to promote the already popular film was to “launch this movie and showcase this spin-off as a cultural event.”

“When you work on a big movie—when we've done a ‘Star Wars’ campaign or an ‘Avengers’ campaign, and now an ‘ Avatar’ campaign—while there is a built-in fan base, you want this to feel important and like a pop culture event to the broadest audience possible,” said Ayaz, noting that young women, fanboys and sports fans interact with different arms of the company. 

Externally, Disney partnered with multiple brands and platforms to bring immersive experiences to fans. “The Way of Water” took over cities internationally with unique integrations that surrounded viewers in the aquatic landscape of the film. In New York City’s Times Square, Disney took over 40 screens simultaneously to display characters and visuals alongside the “Avatar” score in a 360-degree activation.

In Italy, “The Way of Water” took over the Venice Canals with blue lighting representative of the films bioluminescent waters while projects of film clips played on the walls of buildings. An aerial view revealed the illuminated canals formed the franchise’s A-shaped logo. Similarly immersive activations took place in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, Australia and Shanghai.

But some “Avatar” pushes brought the fantasy spectacle into fans’ homes. Amazon promoted “The Way of Water” via its first branded Alexa Echo theme. Users of the AI assistant could ask to activate the “Avatar” theme, which would allow them to use sounds from the films as alarms, imagery for backdrops and would follow requests with reminders to see the film in theaters this month. The theme’s promotional page, however, shows that some users were annoyed with the frequent reminders and their lack of knowledge of how to disable the feature. Other users responded favorably and that “people whine too much."

Snapchat also took users to Pandora, the fictional "Avatar" universe, with a custom AR filter. The filter utilized machine learning technologies to actively transform the participant’s mouth, eyes, head shape, hair and skin in real time.

In November, Mercedes debuted a custom TV spot in which a woman is teleported from a parking lot into Pandora, exploring the fantastical visuals of the lush world and its many wondrous inhabitants. The brand, which was a premiere sponsor for the film, also showcased an “Avatar”-themed concept vehicle at the 2020 edition of CES.

The Mercedes campaign’s tagline, “Earth is our Pandora,” connected the partnership to the auto brand’s sustainability efforts, which is a major theme of the film franchise and consistent across its other marketing partnerships.

Kellogg’s recently released a themed spot as well, along with a collection of themed packaging for Kellogg’s, Kashi and Morning Star brands to promote the film’s release. Each box contained a glow-in-the-dark “Avatar” tattoo, encouraging kids to collect all three unique designs.

Kashi’s participation also extended to Disney’s “Keep Our Oceans Amazing” campaign, launched last month in anticipation of the premiere of “The Way of Water.” Through the end of this year, visitors to the campaign’s website can create their own sea creature to swim in the Pandorean Ocean. For each aquatic creation, Disney will donate $5 to The Nature Conservancy’s efforts to protect 10 water-dwelling species and their habitats.

Ayaz said the Nature Conservancy campaign “was something that James Cameron and our filmmakers were very excited about.” He added that Cameron was very involved in the creation of the marketing for “The Way of Water,” providing feedback to Ayaz and his team to create what became “a very collaborative partnership on this film.”

Another brand supporting Disney’s environmental campaign is NYX Cosmetics. With activations in Ulta and on social media, the beauty brand launched a line of “Avatar” makeup, including eyeshadows, lipsticks, lip glosses, highlighters and a blue skin paint. NYX promoted resources for the “Keep Our Oceans Amazing” campaign on its social media and created challenges for followers to participate in to generate its own donation, up to $50,000.

Other brand partners for “The Way of Water” include Nestlé, Deutsche Telekom, Motorola and LG, according to Disney.

Over the next five years, more “Avatar” sequels are scheduled to release. Ayaz said the key to franchise marketing, which he’s well acquainted with at the Mouse House, is to “really focus on this specific film, on the story of this movie.”

“In terms of how we approach the film creatively, you are cognizant and respectful of the overall franchise it belongs to and the tone of that franchise and the creative quality of that franchise,” said Ayaz. “But an effective, strong, competent marketing campaign really focuses on the movie itself and the characters and story of the specific film.”