Inside Disney’s inclusive marketing efforts for ‘The Little Mermaid’

The brand partnership strategy for Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” live-action remake—the largest for any of its live-action features to date, valued at $80 million per the company—included major brands one might expect from a big budget princess flick, such as McDonald’s and Mattel. But Disney’s overall strategy was for its marketing to “be inviting to Black audiences and inclusive for everybody,” said Lylle Breier, the studio’s senior VP of global marketing partnerships, promotions, synergy and special events. This was especially important since “The Little Mermaid” remake is the first time Disney cast a Black actress to play Ariel. When Disney announced Halle Bailey would star in the role, reactions ranged from celebration and excitement to racist rhetoric and calls for boycotts. See all of Ad Age's 2023 Leading Women here Disney struck numerous partnerships with Black-owned and -founded companies and embraced creative that celebrates diversity. This included tie-ins with natural hair care and inclusive skin care brands, Carol’s Daughter and Black Girl Sunscreen. But it was important, Breier said, that Disney didn’t just slap a logo on a product. The same team that markets the film itself oversaw each piece of creative from brand partners, Breier said, adding that each brand and Disney’s sales and executions teams are involved in each step of the creation process. “We didn’t just want plain old regular advertising campaigns—put a clip of the movie up and our logo and call it a day,” she said. “We wanted partners that would really, really collaborate with us.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lisa Price (@iamlisaprice) Inclusive marketing Carol’s Daughter, a natural hair care brand founded by Lisa Price and acquired by L’Oreal in 2014, is one of the brands that partnered with “The Little Mermaid” for a line of movie-themed products, including shampoos, conditioners and a leave-in cream—all in packaging illustrated with cartoon depictions of Bailey’s Ariel. The partnership also included custom creative. “To watch the faces of children when they see a mermaid that looks like them is just breathtaking,” said Price in one of the ads that featured interviews with her and Bailey. “One of the great things about Carol's Daughter is that we’ve found everybody can use Carol's Daughter products,” said Breier. “Of course, it was very important to reach out to Black-owned businesses; it was also important to have as broad a campaign as we could possibly have because we think this movie is literally for everyone.” A Disney partnership with Ulta also reflected the mission of “The Little Mermaid,” including its own custom line of cosmetics and two licensed skin care brands. According to Disney, it was the first time Ulta licensed two brands for a single partner campaign. Related: Ulta's Karla Davis pushes for diversity in beauty One brand included in Ulta’s themed package and front-of-store displays for the film is Black Girl Sunscreen. The Black-owned skin care business that specializes in sun protection for Black skin, created a lotion line in mermaid packaging. The second brand, the eco-friendly beauty brand Pacifica, created a custom-packaged line of skin treatments and masks. The combined line from Ulta featured a custom spot highlighting the evolving diversity of the beauty industry. The ad encourages consumers to “embrace every curl and wave, every shade, line and curve” as an inclusive cast of men and women don bold shades of eyeshadow and lipgloss. Beyond diverse-owned brands, Disney also made inclusion a central element of its partnerships with other brands. Mattel designed dolls for the characters in “The Little Mermaid,” including two variations of Ariel and six additional dolls of diverse skin tones representing her sisters. For the Ariel doll, Mattel manufactured specialty hair to reflect Bailey’s mix of locs and wavy natural hair from the film, a first for the brand. The line’s presale sold out within 24 hours after a video on Bailey’s Instagram—which has more than 450,000 likes—revealed the Ariel doll. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Halle Bailey (@hallebailey) Disney also partnered with McDonald’s for a line of Happy Meal toys and packaging. A spot for the partnership follows a young group of surfers with the Black Girls Surf junior team. “It’s important for girls to dream big—they can do whatever they put their minds to,” surfer Maizy Gordon says in the spot. “The difference between me and Ariel—she’s a better swimmer, but I’m a better surfer.” Immersive marketing A key to standing out among the summer movie schedule is immersive marketing, Breier said. “The Little Mermaid” represented “everything fun about the summer—the more ‘Under the Sea’ and ‘Part of Your World’ and sand and surf that we can be the better.” As part of “The Little Mermaid” marketing campaign, Disney also partnered with brands such as Pandora, Booking.com and HSN to get audiences ready to dive into the film. In addition to a themed jewelry line, Pandora created custom sand art installations in Miami, Las Vegas and at Disney parks. Booking.com created an “Under the Sea”-themed home as part of a getaway sweepstakes with rooms modeled after scenes from the film, as well as a private screening. And HSN created a hub of special content on its owned streamer featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes content, as well as an augmented reality treasure hunt in the Regal app to find Ariel’s whosits and whatsits in one’s own home, linked to a page to buy tickets to the film. “The Little Mermaid”—which reeled in $95.58 million in its opening weekend last week, the sixth highest-grossing Memorial Day weekend release according to box office tracker The Numbers—also marketed in 11 international locations, including the U.K., Mexico and Japan. International marketing represented $10 million in mass media and $9 million in targeted media, according to Disney.

Inside Disney’s inclusive marketing efforts for ‘The Little Mermaid’

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