CONTEXT AND SCENARIO

Over the years, with the rise of class C and the entry of 50 million Brazilians into the consumption chain, Disney became the dream trip destination for holidays. The parks located in Orlando, in Florida (USA), had already received thousands of visitors from Brazil – but there was still room to multiply the number of visitors, as well as increase the average spending of these tourists in the theme parks and hotels of Walt Disney World.

In charge of communication in Brazil, since 2014, of Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line, FSB undertook the challenge to propose and carry out a high-impact initiative that would reach a large and diverse audience of clients and make Disney an attraction among Brazilians for the entire family, not just children and teenagers. In terms of communication, there was also one particularity. Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line do not engage in traditional publicity, i.e., they do not buy media space for addressing institutional aspects.

OBJECTIVES

This challenging situation required a strategy that would extend beyond activities involving the press, social media and events. The strategy would need to transmit to the public the awe and enchantment of the theme parks in Orlando; present Walt Disney World and Disney Cruise Line as an “experience” and not only as an isolated tourist attraction or preference, based on the accounts of new figures.

To make the integrated communication efforts effective from a business point of view, it was determined that the project would be implemented between March and April 2016, the time when families start planning holidays, to be taken in September or the following year in January – which, according to surveys, are the peak months of Brazilians in the parks. The first step was mapping the media outlets. Based on this diagnosis, it was decided that the most efficient solution would be a major TV campaign, with TV Globo being the most appropriate station due to its affinity with the target audience and highest viewership of programs on the air. A partnership was made with the famous program “Estrelas”, hosted by Angélica, whose niche was exploring the daily lives of celebrities.

The unique aspect was making this partnership with TV Globo, which also included the GShow portal, an innovative mixture of promotional (commercial) and editorial (written news) activities. Structured support actions were also developed for online and print media and social networks. On all the channels, it would be necessary to further reinforce the client’s message: show the four main parks (Magic Kingdom Park, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom) as the perfect place for the whole family to have fun, emphasizing that the magic is there 24 hours a day and that staying in one of the over 26 hotels of the complex has numerous benefits and provides comfort. Disney Cruise Line, since it is not such a well-known or sought after experience, required another strategy. It was necessary to tap into the unique features of the cruise: entertainment options for all age groups; a stop on Disney’s private island in the Bahamas; and an extension of the magic of Walt Disney World on the high seas.

CHALLENGES

In all the projects related to the client and even in the day-to-day activities, language was an obstacle. Overcoming culture shock was a daily challenge in providing the service. The client was responsible for expenses related to digital broadcasting and production, which included travel, lodgings and transportation of the celebrities and those accompanying them, in addition to food, on land, for the entire team (catering) and famous guests. To optimize costs, FSB also reduced the size of its team leaving from Brazil. On the other hand, professionals were hired in Orlando for certain jobs, such as cameramen, technical assistants and a make-up artist and costume designer.

In January 2016, with filming drawing near, the work became intense. In addition to overseeing the legal aspects of the contract, FSB was also responsible to define content in partnership with the GShow team, align the strategy of press initiatives, and prepare the briefing for the film team in the USA. The whole trip – cruise, parks and hotels – was monitored by the FSB team. With the project on the air, FSB reviewed and approved all the content posted on the GShow.

RESULTS

The Disney content was broadcast on Saturday March 12, 19 and 26, 2016 and April 2, 2016. There were 2 hours, 12 minutes and 19 seconds of exposure. On the GShow, there were 50 hours on the air. In this period, stories about the filming of the program were shown – 84 publications in different formats (text, photo galleries and videos).

On the special Disney page on GShow, there were 710,941 visits, 631,684 unique visits, 897,616 page views and 101,878 video plays, with a mean time of 2 minutes and 42 seconds on each page. These results were achieved through a structured campaign, which had over 200 million impressions and 245,827 clicks with an average CTR1 (click-through rate) of 0.12%.

On the social networking websites, the campaign received coverage during three periods:

1. February 22 to March 3: during the period of the filming, spontaneous posts from the celebrities who participated in the program generated thousands of reactions on social networking websites (breakdown below) and coverage of this content by the trade media in its reporting on celebrities.
2. On Saturday March 12, 19 and 26 and April 2: during the period of broadcasting the programs, the invited celebrities and the host Angélica posted content on their personal profiles on social networking websites.
3. During these two periods, the coverage on social media sites was:
4. Instagram: over 3 million likes, 700 posts from celebrities, fan clubs and the general public, and 18,000 comments. #EstrelasnaDisney tagged 1,185 images.
5. Facebook: more than 2.6 million likes, 100 posts, 15,400 shares and 31,600 comments.
6. Twitter: over 50 tweets from celebrities, 5,300 comments and more than 1,000 retweets. Just between March 26 and 28, the estimated number of tweets about the program was 1,500. There were 4.5 million impressions, reaching 3.8 million people (Twitter Analytics).
7. Another major source of coverage was through the content done for the Disney World Brazil page, on Facebook. There were three videos, scripted and edited by the FSB team. Together, they reached a total of 9.1 million people.

Dissemination of the campaign in the press resulted in 34 pages in trade magazines covering celebrities, with two front covers.

The Disney/”Stars” project generated a financial return for the client that was 15 times greater than the investment made.