She’s Back and Crueler than Ever: An Executive Summary of Cruella’s Social Media Strategy
Disney’s newest film, Cruella, takes place in the 1970s and follows a young grifter named Estella. Estella longs to be a fashion designer and ends up impressing Baroness von Hellman, a well-known fashion legend. Their relationship takes them on an adventure that causes Estella to begin to embrace her wicked side and turn into the villain we all know and love, Cruella DeVil (Disney Movies). Cruella is rated PG-13 for some violence and thematic elements. This is the first film out of all the 101 Dalmatians film realm that has this type of rating, meaning that it is aiming for a much different audience. This film will be the second live action remake with this type of rating, following behind Mulan.
Social Media SMART goals for the campaign:
1) Pre-Event — We want to increase the general knowledge of the film while continuing to increase Disney+ subscriptions by 20% in the 101 days leading up to the release of Disney’s Cruella.
2) Event — In the Event stage, our goal is to increase the Premiere Access purchases of Disney’s Cruella by 20% by the first two weeks after Disney’s Cruella initial premiere and increase ticket sales to be 20 million in the first two weeks after its release.
3) Post-Event — Increase premier plus access downloads by 15% and Blu Ray and DVD by 300,000 following the two months after the event stage.
Platforms We Will be Using:
The platforms we will be using throughout this campaign are Instagram and TikTok.
Target Market for Each Platform & Why
The target market for both Instagram TikTok would be young adults and millennials. Throughout this campaign we want to make sure we are targeting people that are interested in fashion, Disney, films, and animals.
Voices for the Campaign
In terms of a brand voice, my team would like the platform to have a very Cruella-eque voice to it. In more straightforward terms, the voice would be rebellious and savvy/fashionable. We want it to feel like there is confidence coming out of each post, which is exactly how Cruella would act.
Hashtags
There are quite a few hashtags that would be used throughout this campaign. The ones that would be consistently used on all posts would be #Cruella; #CruellaFilm; #Disney+.
For the first campaign the hashtag #ShowYourSpots and #CruellaApproved would be added to the rest of the hashtags listed in the first paragraph of this section.
For the second campaign the hashtag #FurryFashionista would be added to the rest of the hashtags listed in the first paragraph of this section.
For the third campaign, the hashtag #DalmatiansinDisneyland would be added to the rest of the hashtags listed in the first paragraph of this section.
Partnerships
One of the main influencers we would utilize throughout our campaign is Emma Stone. As she is the lead in the film, she would be a great face for our team’s influencer marketing plan. We would also like to utilize some influencers from the Disney fanbase including John Stamos and his wife Caitlin, Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, etc.
Pre-Event
We want to see people’s best Dalmatian looks — think Cow day at Chick Fil-A but with a fashionable twist. When participating in this event all people must utilize the hashtag #ShowYourSpots. The five people who get the most comments on both TikTok and Instagram will receive a Cruella/ Disney+ gift box to utilize when the movie premieres.
During Event:
Our main social strategy for this part of the campaign would be the spotted carpet. We want to piggyback off that #ShowYourSpots campaign and keep that aesthetic rolling. The catch for this one is we want to see everyone’s pets on the red carpet. Cruella is the embodiment of two things, fashion and dogs. The #FurryFashionista with the most Instagram likes will get a special code to have premier access to the next film that Disney+ releases.
Post-Event
In this campaign, we want to utilize the animal actors from this film. When we think about this part of the campaign, we are really pulling from an idea that Disney+ already utilized for a previous movie. When Lady and the Tramp was released on Disney+ over a year ago, the marketing team really utilized their dog actors. They brought them to the red carpet and brought them to a day at Disneyland. As Disneyland preps to re-open, we will bring our Dalmatian actors to Disneyland to spend the day and make a few TikToks. As mentioned above, people are really drawn to their animals so we believe that #DalmatiansinDisney will bring a lot of traction for our social media.
