Final Project: Executive Summary

The Little Mermaid

Overview

The social media marketing plan for the release of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” live-action adaptation will use three social media platforms to promote the film during the three phases of a movie premiere: pre-event, during event and post-event. The strategy for this marketing plan is to create an emotional connection with the target audience through visual impact and superior storytelling. The goal is to appeal to a wide range of Disney fans and potential Disney fans. Because the film is a live-action adaptation of an animated movie, I want the social media campaign to maintain the magical spirit of the original “The Little Mermaid” but also bring about a new energy to pique people’s interest.

SMART Goals

• To increase engagement on Disney’s social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok) by a total of 15% from April 26 to June 26 of 2023.
• To increase box office sales with a total of 10% of ticket sales coming from the single social media link located in Disney’s bio on each platform.

Platforms

The platforms I will be using for “The Little Mermaid” campaign are Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. The reason I chose these three platforms is to cover as much of the target market as possible. The overall target market for the campaign is people ages five to 55.

For Instagram, the target audience is 18–34 year olds because they compose over 60% of the platform’s users with 31% in the 18–24 category and 31.2% in the 25–24 category (“Instagram Statistics for 2023…,” 2023). The majority of Instagram’s audience are Millennial or Gen Z users (McLachlan, 2022). For Facebook, the target audiences are parents of children who want to see the movie and people who grew up watching the original Little Mermaid film. The largest age group of Facebook users is between the ages of 25 and 35 years (“Facebook Statistics and Trends,” 2023). Over 70% of Facebook’s audience falls in the age range of 18–44 with over 19% in the 35–44 category. So, this is a good platform to target the older side of the target market. Kids aged 13–17 are the smallest demographic groups on Facebook. To account for this disadvantage, I plan on using TikTok because 67% of teenagers use it (Kiely, 2022). TikTok is an excellent platform to target the younger side of the campaign’s target audience because 25% of TikTok users in the United States are between the ages of 10 and 19 (Haworth, 2023) and 80% of TikTok users are between the ages 16–34 (Doyle, 2023).

I feel, with these three platforms, I can appeal to a wide range of the campaign’s target market and create content that plays to the strengths of each platform using audio, images, videos and/or interactive components. I like the diversity and variety that this combination of platforms offers me for social media marketing.

Voice

The voice of this social campaign will align with Disney’s brand and values. For all of the posts, the voice will be positive, friendly and encouraging. The goal is to be whimsical and magical. With the content, I plan to explore both sides of the Disney movie magic — dark and mysterious versus happy and loving. I want the content to be nostalgic for viewers but also show the newness of the film.

Hashtags

Below is the list of hashtags that can be used to promote the movie on social media.

• #TheLittleMermaid
• #TheLittleMermaid2023
• #May26
• #PartofYourWorld
• #UnderTheSea
• #Ariel
• #Adventure
• #InTheatersNow
• #Diversity
• #Representation
• #Reimagined
• #ComingSoon
• #ForYouPage

Influencer Relationships

As is a common strategy for Disney social media marketing, this campaign will use the film’s cast as its influencers to promote the movie. Halle Bailey, who plays the main character Ariel in “The Little Mermaid” live-action adaptation, will be a huge part of this strategy. She will bring her bright personality and passion for the story to Disney’s social media presence. Other famous cast members, such as Melissa McCarthy and Awkwafina will also act as influencers in this campaign by sharing news about the film with their followers.

Example Social Media Posts

Instagram (Pre-Event)

The iconic story that lives in our hearts, #reimagined. Join #Ariel as she explores the world beyond the sea in the new #TheLittleMermaid. #ComingSoon

Instagram (During Event)

Love is magical♥️ Follow your heart to theaters now to witness a forbidden love unfold. #TheLittleMermaid #InTheatersNow #Reimagined #PartofYourWorld

Facebook (During Event)

See Ursula in theaters now as #TheLittleMermaid dives into the dark side of magic🔮

Instagram (Post-Event)

Reflection🌊 What was your favorite part of the live-action #TheLittleMermaid movie? Tell us in the comments! #PartofYourWorld #UnderTheSea #Adventure

TikTok (Post-Event)

“I want the little girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching to know that they’re special.” — Halle Bailey. We want all of you to feel empowered💫 #ForYouPage #Diversity #Representation #TheLittleMermaid2023”

References

Chow, K. (2022, August 10). Halle Bailey addresses the pressures of being a Black Disney princess. AV Club. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.avclub.com/halle-bailey-addresses-disney-princess-diversity-1849397719

Doyle, B. (2023, March 21). TikTok statistics — Updated Mar 2023. Wallaroo. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://wallaroomedia.com/blog/social-media/tiktok-statistics/#:~:text=80%25%20are%20between%20the%20ages,the%20largest%20generation%20of%20all.

Haworth, J. (2023, January 13). TikTok user age, gender, & demographics (2023). Exploding Topics. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://explodingtopics.com/blog/tiktok-demographics

Kiely, T. (2022, December 30). 54 TikTok stats you need to know [2023]. Meltwater. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.meltwater.com/en/blog/tiktok-statistics

McLachlan, S. (2022, March 24). Instagram demographics in 2023: Most important user stats for marketers. Hootsuite. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-demographics/

Roberts, J. (2023, January 27). Where does Gen Z spend the majority of their time online?. Later. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://later.com/blog/gen-z-social-media-usage/#:~:text=According%20to%20Morning%20Consult's%20survey,t%20too%20far%20behind%20either.

Facebook statistics and trends. (2023, February 19). Data Reportal. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://datareportal.com/essential-facebook-stats#:~:text=426.8%20million%20users%20aged%2018,of%20Facebook's%20total%20ad%20audience

Instagram statistics for 2023 // Facts & figures. (2023, March 25). Social Media Perth. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.smperth.com/resources/instagram/instagram-statistics/#:~:text=Instagram%20User%20Demographics,are%2018%2D24%20years%20old.

The Little Mermaid. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5971474/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

*All photos and screenshots for the example social posts are from the source above