A Decade of Evolution

Client: Disney

+ Brand Development & Art Direction
+ Content Strategy & Creation
+ Social Media Management
+ Digital & Social Media Marketing Campaigns

Challenge

Over the course of 7 years, AreaLabs' challenge was, "How do you take the world's most beloved franchises and connect them to mothers and gift givers around the world in an ever-changing social media landscape?"

Approach

Our approach focused on flexibly synchronizing our creative efforts with Disney's shifting target audience, the platforms that gained prominence, the most effective communication techniques for each audience on those platforms, and even our team.

Results

Prior to the launch of instagram, we successfully managed Disney’s social media presence focused on Baby products, engaging parents, Mom’s & gift givers, garnering millions of impressions.

Solutions

Initially, Disney's target audiences predominantly engaged on Facebook and Twitter. However, over time, Instagram experienced a surge in popularity, largely fueled by Millennials.

“Thank you so much for the beautiful work!...the concept came to life…absolutely stunning!”

— Tanya Ropella, Disney Global Franchise & Marketing

From Insight to Influence

Our strategy focused on three key areas: discovery, alignment, and management. Discovery involved understanding the current trends, auditing platforms, and reviewing competitors. Alignment included aligning with goals, developing an editorial calendar, and balancing marketing support. Management encompassed content scheduling, community engagement, influencer collaboration, and ongoing optimization.

We aimed to create compelling content based on strategy and insights.

On Trend Quarterly Campaigns

Tech savvy moms turn to platforms like Instagram to curate their style inspiration, so we reinvented Disney Baby’s product photography and optimized it for social media. Rather than featuring catalog-style, character-heavy photos, we instead developed the kind of on-trend, aspirational, social-first photos that moms want in their feeds.

Winning with Moms Through a Unique & Surprising Campaign

By featuring moments with babies that were a little less than magical, we aimed to give moms a good little laugh. Using a clever, slightly sarcastic - though always friendly - tone, we turned a series of quotes into graphic memes, tagged with #SaidNoMomEver.

The result was an authentic, relatable voice that spoke mom-to-mom. The graphics were designed to work across all social media platforms, for the month of May in conjunction with Mother’s Day. The campaign exceeded expectations, achieving high social impressions and a 624% increase in engagement compared to the previous year.

Migrating Audiences

Disney's audiences initially found their primary engagement on Facebook and Twitter. However, as time passed, the rise of Instagram was primarily driven by Millennials, resulting in Gen X and Baby Boomers being left as the predominant users of Facebook, while the future of Twitter remained uncertain.

Capturing authentic moments with real families

The Instagram platform is evolving with Stories, Reels, Live, and Shopping, and so is the new-mom demographic. Millennial moms are still considered tech-savvy online shoppers because they adopted technology as it evolved during their childhoods. However, as Gen-Z moms become parents, they will be true digital natives, born into technology, living online innately.