How Disney+’s Super Bowl ad kicked off its streaming bundle campaign

While most brands pull out every bell and whistle for their Super Bowl ads, Disney+ seemed to have taken the opposite approach this year with its paired-back sequence of famous lines from the streamer’s catalog of well-known Disney franchises. The ad was phase one of a campaign that has built up in the weeks since, culminating in the launch of Hulu on Disney+. “The Super Bowl spot was something that only Disney+ could do—the iconic lines and the nostalgia, but it really gave awareness to our catalog,” said Samantha Rosenberg, head of marketing for Disney+. “It was the highest-viewed ad for a streaming service; we had 138 million global views in the first 24 hours.” Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The Super Bowl spot was followed by similar out-of-home ads across 13 markets, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York, as well as social media posts across Disney+ and its sibling brands’ owned channels, such as Pixar, Star Wars and the Disney Parks. The ads spanned 1,600 OOH units featuring 28 notable lines from Disney films, such as “once upon a dream” from “Sleeping Beauty” and “look for the bare necessities” from “The Jungle Book.” More: Watch all of this year’s Super Bowl commercials Earlier this month, the ads began to become more detailed. Princess Aurora and a crew of woodland creatures were pictured walking across the “once upon a dream” sign and Mowgli and Baloo began swinging from the “bare necessities” version. Today, the campaign took a more unexpected turn as the streamer seeks to expand its brand identity with consumers: that Hulu content such as “American Horror Story,” “The Bear” and “Only Murders in the Building” can live under the Disney name alongside its princesses. Creative integrations and signage will also be featured in Disney parks. After months in beta testing to ensure the stability of parental controls, Hulu has now launched as an additional tab on the Disney+ homepage, bringing much of its adult-oriented library to the platform. While both apps will continue to exist independently, those who subscribe to both through the Disney streaming bundle will be able to watch Hulu content without leaving the Disney+ app, which originally had strict rules about its library of family-friendly content (the 2020 release of Broadway musical “Hamilton” on the platform even had expletives censored in order to make the cut). Disney has spent much of its life establishing its name as a kids and family content curator, said Rosenberg. The acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, LucasFilm and 20th [Century Studios] over the past two decades “really expanded and broadened what Disney is. You expect the stories to be great and decide what’s appropriate for you and your family.” The ads range from the punny—Peter Griffin from “Family Guy” bursting out of the final word in “ohana means family” from “Lilo and Stitch”—to more shocking—“bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” having the final syllable highlighted in red alongside an image from “American Horror Story” of a spider emerging from a woman’s mouth and the phrase “Hulu on Disney+” sporting a blood splatter. More ad news: Hulu celebrates ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ nostalgia Rosenberg said the Hulu on Disney+ launch campaign has two objectives: to educate consumers about the Disney bundle—whether new to the bundle or a current subscriber unaware of the integration—and to ease consumers into the expanded cast of characters associated with the platform. That’s why the long tease campaign was critical: to re-establish the visuals of Disney classics with consumers before the surprise of new associations, which Rosenberg hopes will in tandem embed the Hulu characters into the Disney iconography. In addition to the OOH and social ads, two TV spots will explain the new app integration. One shows the Hulu tab on the Disney+ homepage and includes informational messaging about the Disney bundle and accessing the integrated app. The other takes a more emotive approach, using the forces of nostalgia and fan favorite characters to further express the idea. An updated look for the app also helps blend the Disney+ and Hulu identities. While Disney+ previously sported a shade of navy, it now features a turquoise shade that elicits the neon green associated with Hulu. The new colors and updated logo animation for Disney+ are also meant to emanate the color palette of Disney’s iconic castle animation. The logo redesign was done with agency Loyal Kaspar. Rounding out the campaign are in-person activations that will appear in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and San Diego today and tomorrow to serve unexpected pizza pairings to passersby. One pizza melds the worlds of “Cinderella” and “American Horror Story” with sea salt, mozzarella and roasted pumpkin sauce creating a white half of the pie and peppers, mozzarella and squid ink barbecue sauce turning the other half black. Similarly unexpected pairings include “Family Guy” with “Lilo and Stitch,” “Abbott Elementary” with “Toy Story” and “Bob’s Burgers” with “The Little Mermaid.” Overall, the campaign seeks to shift how consumers interact with Disney+, Rosenberg said, by “leaning into our library and the ways that people enjoy our stories and characters depending on where they are in life—if they’re a parent or a child or don't have any kids.”

How Disney+’s Super Bowl ad kicked off its streaming bundle campaign

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