Welcome to Wonderland: Behind Disney’s Magical Mixed Reality Birthday Celebration
In 1923, Walt and Roy Disney first opened the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. What followed has been a hundred years of silly symphonies, madcap mascots, family favourite films and thrilling theme parks.
Unsurprisingly, the House of Mouse has a big year of celebration planned. Under the banner of 100 Years of Wonder, the Disney company is looking to commemorate the magical spell it’s woven across generations and around the world.
In the EMEA region, the team has been planning an innovative, touring activation called ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’. It’s set to pop up in London in May, Berlin in June and Paris in July and it brings a flavour of the innovative experiences Disney is renowned for in its theme parks to the heart of the European cities.
‘Wonder of Friendship’ is a multisensory, augmented reality experience that uses Snapchat’s tech to bring beloved characters to life. It crosses four fantastical worlds, including ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘The Lion King’, ‘Mickey & Friends’, and ‘Lilo & Stitch’. It has been designed specifically for groups of friends to share and make new memories and the team is targeting young adults in particular, a group that’s had access to such experiences in their formative years restricted due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Here Sarah Fox, VP Marketing, Disney consumer products games and publishing EMEA, reveals the strategic thinking behind Wonder of Friendship, and discusses the importance of physical in-person experiences and reveals why timeless characters and creative technology make such a winning combination.
LBB> Celebrating a 100-year anniversary has to be a big one for a company like Disney – how long has the company been planning this, and how long has the marketing team been planning its own activations?
Sarah> Disney 100 Years of Wonder is the largest company-wide event in our history. 2023 is set to be our biggest and best year yet as we celebrate the iconic characters, stories and products that have captured the imaginations of Disney fans for generations. It’s also important to us to express our gratitude to the storytellers, creators and fans who have played a part in creating 100 years of Disney magic.
So much work goes into launching a global campaign of this scale. In EMEA, for example, ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ has been more than two years in the planning. And, of course, many of the exciting product collaborations we’ll see throughout 2023 are the result of long-standing relationships with brands who share our love of storytelling. For example, LEGO® Disney first launched 24 years ago!
LBB> The celebrations are themed around 100 Years of Wonder – so why 'wonder' and how has this concept of 'wonder' provided a creative and strategic launchpad for the team?
Sarah> D100 is all about celebrating the journey we’ve been on together with families, fans and our cast members across generations, and continuing to offer new products and experiences to surprise and delight. We know the sense of wonder our stories and characters evoke, whether it’s a child’s first time watching Frozen, meeting Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse at one of our Parks or putting on their favourite superhero costume and entering the Marvel universe. So, it made perfect sense to channel that feeling into all our campaign activations, celebrate it and say thank you to all who have supported us over the last ten decades.
LBB> What was the starting point for Wonder of Friendship: The Experience? At what point did you realise you wanted to do something experiential and 'in the real world'?
Sarah> From ‘The Lion King’ through to ‘Toy Story’, and of course ‘Mickey & Friends’, Disney stories are built around enduring friendships and shared experiences. It’s something we have always celebrated, including in 2021 with our ‘Power of Friendship’ campaign where we partnered with photographer and cultural curator, Misan Harriman, on a powerful photo series celebrating friendships and raising awareness for Disney’s non-profit partner, MediCinema UK. When the time came to plan a special event for our 100th year, we couldn’t think of a better theme.
The timing for an in-person, experience-led event felt pertinent too. The last few years have been a real challenge for many, and we know the power of our friendships got us all through so much of it! Several studies have shown that post-lockdown people were keen to try new experiences, especially those that provide them with a sense of escapism.
The importance of physical engagement applies in marketing too. In-person activations cannot be bypassed, and people don’t just want to see and feel products – they want brands to earn their attention and engagement through curated experiences.
So, from May to July across Europe, we’ll be reflecting on this, getting friends together and marking 100 years of Disney friendships in a completely new way. We can’t wait to see the reaction as people experience it together!
LBB> The experience taps into nostalgia and creates a place for visitors to reminisce about childhood favourites and form new memories – why is nostalgia so rich for Disney?
Sarah> We know nostalgia has a powerful emotional and social impact, particularly when based on shared experiences with the people we care most about.
Disney is in a unique and privileged position to be part of experiences that are shared time and again across generations, whether that’s passing down a well-worn Mickey Mouse toy or introducing children to family favourite films. ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ is just one way that we can say thank you to fans and share more of Disney with them. It will give friends and families another chance to connect in a meaningful way and create new memories together, as they explore timeless Disney characters and stories that they grew up with in a fun and dynamic environment.
LBB> The experience is specifically aimed at young adults (though no doubt all ages will enjoy it!) but why is this demographic in particular so crucial?
Sarah> After three years of restricted socialising, it’s no surprise that younger generations are hyper-aware of the value of friends and interpersonal relationships. Our recent study of British millennials also showed that six in 10 are visiting experiences to create memories with their friends, and almost nine in 10 believe it's important to be able to reminisce about shared past experiences when it comes to forming friendships.
The increasingly influential gen z demographic – who yield around $150 billion (£113 billion) of spending power and accounting for 40% of global consumers - are also looking for brands to engage with them in innovative and personalised ways and help them express their authentic selves. We believe that ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ will allow younger audiences to make new memories and engage with Disney characters and stories they have grown up with in an entirely new way.
LBB> The experience combines the physical with digital and is a great example of augmented/mixed reality – why was this the best approach?
Sarah> We know there is huge value in hosting in-person experiences and bringing people together, and today a huge part of that is being able to share the experience with an extended network of friends. That means providing a robust digital experience so that the event itself is a true hybrid.
While at the experience, visitors can bring Disney stories to life by using Snapchat's augmented reality technology to scan QR codes located in each exhibition room. Guests will have access to attend various retail pop-ups including an experience powered by Creator Studio, where they can create an exciting and original piece of clothing using augmented reality technology.
This experience follows our highly successful ‘Wonder of Friendship’ digital campaign earlier this year, which tapped into trends across social media platforms, again celebrating friendship. In collaboration with TikTok and Snapchat we created a hashtag content challenge and quiz linked to ‘Mickey & Friends’, as well as bespoke filters and commercial ads. The results smashed our expectations, reaching more than half of the total young adult audience in our core markets.
LBB> This isn't a theme park experience of course, but how did Disney's vast knowledge base of how to create magical experiences in the theme park space come into play?
Sarah> All our consumer touchpoints – whether that’s retail, parks or events like ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ – are a manifestation of our brand, and the joy and wonder that is Disney. Each and every one is powered by our cast members and storytellers, and the magic is maintained by the fans who continue to embrace Disney.
‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ will reflect the way our fans have taken Disney into their hearts and everyday lives, by taking them further inside the Disney stories they love and allowing them to playfully explore their own friendships in an immersive, multi-sensory way.
Sarah M Fox
LBB> Who are you working with internally and externally to bring this to life?
Sarah> We have a significant integrated marketing plan for this campaign, leveraging Disney’s owned social channels and partner platforms, including retailers. We will be running a robust earned media programme across EMEA, which will include a media preview event in London. We worked with creative agency Haygarth to produce the ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’.
We have also leveraged our existing relationship with H&M to offer their members two weeks’ early access to purchase tickets via See Tickets for London and Paris. General release tickets for London, Paris and Berlin will be available on February 9th 2023, also through See Tickets.
LBB> After a couple of years of tech companies trying to tempt brands into the metaverse, we are seeing a bit of a shift away from that towards mixed/augmented/extended reality is more accessible and social. What's your view as a marketer?
Sarah> In 2023, we believe experience-led events with a digital twist will become even more important to help consumers reconnect with brands in an authentic and engaging way, as well as driving interest in new products.
We’re very conscious of how our younger fans in particular like to engage with Disney content, but also that they missed out on a lot of in-person interactions during covid. Fusing live experiences and digital technology for ‘Wonder of Friendship: The Experience’ helps us to bring some of our most beloved classic stories and characters to life, while delivering magical experiences for Disney fans.
LBB> How does this experience tie into the wider plans to celebrate the 100 years anniversary in EMEA? What might we be able to look forward to from Disney's marketing in the year ahead?
Sarah> This coming year, we’ll celebrate storytellers, talent and cast members who have brought generations the wonder of Disney, and fans who have brought Disney into their lives. We’re really excited to showcase new experiences, products, special events, films, programming, livestreams, exhibits, and more across our beloved brands.
Continuing our efforts to bring more experiences to fans, we will be touring Europe with the Hollywood Sound Orchestra for ‘Disney100: The Concert’, bringing to life Disney 100 Years of Wonder with a concert series of seminal music moments from our history. We will also delve into our archives to showcase some extraordinary pieces of history, including rarely seen original artworks, costumes, props and other memorabilia for ‘Disney100: The Exhibition’.
Last but not least, we will continue to launch innovative and playful new merchandise collections with our unparalleled list of global licensees. shopDisney will also continue to commemorate Disney100, building on the launch of our Platinum Collection and Eras Collection.
While honouring the company’s past and present, we will set the stage for the next 100 years and share our gratitude with the fans and families who have welcomed Disney into their hearts. Disney magic is made together, and we can’t wait to bring it to life for our fans here in the UK and beyond!
