These Marketing Campaigns Are Simply Wicked

Ever since the teaser trailer at the Super Bowl, Wicked has appeared in brand collaboration, events, social media, and more. These strategies have been crafted to build awareness of the movie on a global scale. Many people have not seen or even heard of this musical prior to the marketing, which contributed to the success of the film. The storytelling of this movie throughout the marketing tactics have been so inspirational, many people simply purchased their tickets to experience its emotional journey. Although Wicked crafted modern strategies, they also used other common marketing tools.

Finding the target audience for a film like Wicked is essential to begin drafting the marketing campaign. Wicked the movie, based on the stage production, is inclined to have musical theatre enthusiasts as a prime target audience. Other target audiences, such as families, can be interested in movies that appeal to vulnerability and nonromantic love. Given the fact that Ariana Grande is a pop culture icon, the audience includes a vast majority of millennials and Gen Z because they recognize the name and want to show their support.

The Magic of Wicked Within the Marketing Mix

For those who may not be familiar with the marketing strategies, the marketing mix uses key elements, the four P’s, to market the product or service. We can use Wicked as an example to help break down what the P’s.  

·      Product: Although Wicked is not a tangible item, the product can also be something you experience. This is where storytelling is crucial when marketing a film. Wicked, the original musical, is a brand; thus, everything involved from the stage production should be (and is) in the film-from the characters, iconic colors of green and pink, emerald city, and most importantly, the plot and the songs.  

·      Price:  Ticket pricing is inclusive, if the tickets had been overpriced, it would have drastically impacted the success of the film.

·      Place: Following the footsteps of the Broadway production, the film adaption of Wicked was released internationally, and is now on streaming platforms

·      Promotion: There was a lot of promotion to this film, from brand collaboration like Starbucks and Legos for limited time merchandise to viral challenges on social media

A Wicked Analysis

SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) allows for a deeper understanding on factors that could impact a strategy.

·      Strengths: Wicked is an award-winning Broadway musical that is commonly known amongst musical theatre lovers – and as part of the musical theatre fan club, I can verify that it is a very loyal fan base. That being said, many people followed Wicked accounts on Instagram, X (Twitter), Facebook, TikTok, and other social platforms.

·      Weaknesses: If you have seen or read about Wicked, you would know it can be very symbolic in terms of politics, discrimination, persecution of animals, LGBTQ+ rights, and more in American society, these topics could cause controversy in the future.

·      Opportunities: Expanding into streaming platforms (although it is already done); in addition, and once the second part of the film is released, we could view footage of deleted scenes and more.

·      Threats: There are other musicals, especially now from Disney and their live action movies, could be potential competition.

Magical Marketing Concepts

Grasping the needs, wants, and demands from the audience is the key to into managing a successful marketing campaign.

·      Needs: The audience wants to capture the magic of the stage production into the film adaptation; in other words, use high quality experiences, the branding of the iconic colors, the emotional story, the plot and songs, the outfits, etc.

·      Wants: With approximately 400 products available, fans desire all the merchandise from brands Wicked has collaborated with, over 150 brands.

·      Demands: Many Wicked fans are willing to pay extra for exclusive experiences such as meeting the cast, collectable or limited-edition merchandise, and accessing behind the scenes content.

Delivering a Wicked Experience:

These marketing tasks go from crafting campaigns to long term growth as a series of steps that is required to build and maintain relationships with the audience. The following tasks helped build the brand we see today in regard to the Wicked film.

•       Developing market strategies and plans: Wicked targets theater lovers, families and loved ones, and more.

•       Capturing marketing insights: this could range from ticket sales, merchandise bought, social media engagement, songs played, and more.

•       Connecting with customers: VIP experiences, such as meeting the cast builds the relationship with their fans. There is also a lot of social media interaction from Ariana Grande, reposting fan comments about how much they love the movie.

•       Building strong brands: The iconic green and pink that represent the two main characters, Elphaba and Glinda are very consistent and always on brand.

•       Creating value: Universal emotions like acceptance, freedom, yearning are displayed in this film; thus, this vulnerability is used to broaden appeal for others.

•       Delivering value: In the movie theatres, there is now a sing a long version for those who cannot hold their excitement with every tune. Not only are the movies accessible internationally and on streaming platforms, but the cast is doing a press tour reaching various cities.

•       Communicating value: Digital Ads, collaboration with brands, billboards and posters, and more were used to build awareness and capture their target audience.

•       Creating successful long-term growth: This part is vital considering there will be a second part to the movie coming November this year. Merchandise, social media content, and more will have to play a role to keep its already existing fanbase.