Disney XD uses out-of-the-box thinking to promote out-of-this-world TV movie

Jim Hill

15 years ago

It happened this past July. After another long day at Comic-Con, my daughter and I had just exited the San Diego Convention Center. We were trudging across those trolley tracks in the usual crush of conventioneers when Alice suddenly stopped and pointed at something off to the side. “Do you see that, Dad?,” she exclaimed. “Isn’t that cool?”

I briefly glanced over at what my daughter was pointing at. Through the crowd, I saw yellow caution tape blocking off a small section of sidewalk in the Gaslamp Quarter. There were obvious signs of construction just on the other side of that tape. I turned back to Alice and said “What’s so cool about a water main breaking?”

Photo by Nancy Stadler

With much theatricality, my daughter rolled her eyes and then said “Look again, Dad. Closer this time.”

So I looked back and then realized what I had originally thought was a freshly dug hole in the concrete was actually a photo-realistic street painting. One that had been evidently done by acclaimed artist Kurt Wenner.

Photo by Nancy Stadler

What’s more, even that yellow caution tape was not what it seemed to be. Please note the writing on this tape: DisneyXD.com/Skyrunners.

Photo by Nancy Stadler

As Alice and I marveled at the detail work on this street painting, a would-be Men in Black suddenly appeared at my elbow. “I’m Special Agent Slater from the NSSC,” this stern figure intoned. “I’m leading the field investigation here. Were you in the vicinity at the time of the incident?”

“ ‘Incident’ ?,” I replied. “What incident? What supposedly happened here?”

“I’m sorry. I’m not at liberty to divulge that information to civilians,” Special Agent Slater stated.

Alice then leaned over the yellow caution tape to get a closer look at this amazing street painting. Special Agent Slater quickly moved over to her. “I’m sorry, ma’m. But you’re going to have to step back,” he continued. “But only authorized personnel are allowed to enter the crash site.”

“ ‘Crash site !?,” I chortled. “Are you saying that this hole in the ground was caused by … “

Special Agent Slater suddenly wheeled on me. “That’s classified information, Mister! On a strictly need-to-know basis. And you two don’t really need to know what went on here earlier today. Allegedly.”

As Alice and I laughed at this neat bit of street theater, Special Agent Slater finished up by whipping out a faux business card. “Thanks for your time today. Should you notice
anything out of the ordinary during your stay in San Diego, feel free to contact our field office.”

This is how The Walt Disney Company initially got the word out about “Skyrunners,” Disney XD’s first original TV movie (which — FYI — debuts next Friday on that channel at 5 p.m. ET/PT). Kurt Wenner’s street painting as well as Special Agent Slater’s street theater were just the grass roots portion of a five month-long promotional campaign that Disney officials hoped would have a real story arc.

“We knew that we had to do something really special here,” explained Richard Loomis, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Creative at Disney Channel Worldwide. “We wanted to capture people’s attention. Make sure that Disney XD viewers knew that something special was on its way.”

Which is why – on the heels on that San Diego street painting – this series of viral videos began popping up on YouTube in August. Each of these 30 second spots featured idealized Disney XD viewers – a tween-age boy at football practice or a girl guitar player in a garage band for example – who’d just experienced something out-of-this-world.

Now each of these clips ended with a voiceover that said “For the latest developments, please go to DisneyXD.com/Skyrunners.” And when viewers actually typed in this web address, they suddenly found themselves face-to-face with the organization that supposedly employed Special Agent Slater; the NSSC or National Space Security Command. Which – in the world of “Skyrunners” — is this super-secret arm of the government whose motto is “Protecting Earth By Exploring Space.”

Of course, in order to learn more about the NSSC, you had to go poking around this Disney XD website. Figure out ways to raise your security clearance in order to gain access to encrypted videos & files that were stored at this site. And if you did that … Over time, you were eventually allowed to view a series of press conferences led by Agent Armstrong (Conrad Coates from ABC Family’s “Kyle XY”). Which – just like with that street painting and those 30 second viral videos on YouTube – provided more clues about what was really going on here, gave you more of “Skyrunner” ‘s backstory.

Mind you, in addition to this story-driven promotion for Disney XD’s first original TV movie, Loomis & his team did use some more tried-and-true methods to help get the word out about “Skyrunners.” Among them was releasing a music video from the pop alternate rock band Capra. Which just happens to be fronted by “Skyrunners” star Kelly Blatz. They also made the first part of this original TV movie available for downloading for free over at iTunes.

But more often than not, Richard and his staff at Marketing and Creative genuinely tried to be creative when it came to the marketing & promotion of “Skyrunners.” Which explains the app that Disney XD had Google develop. Which allows you to crash land a virtual UFO right in front of your house.

Of course, what’s kind of ironic about all this is that – even as Loomis and his team were putting all of this time & energy into developing and then executing this innovative & interactive promotional campaign for Disney XD’s first original TV movie – they were also looking at what lies beyond “Skyrunners.” Which is why — when this new TV movie debuts on Disney XD on November 27^th at 5 p.m. ET/PT — “Skyrunners” will be paired with a full episode preview of this channel’s next series, “I’m in the Band.” Which doesn’t officially debut on Disney
XD ‘til January 2010.

“When you work in Marketing, it’s never about one thing,” Richard explained. “You always have to take the macro view. Look for opportunities to get people to sample the next project that you’re getting ready to launch.”

And — at first glance — “Skyrunners” does seem like an odd choice when it comes to being paired with “I’m in the Band.” But then again, given that many of the characters featured in this soon-to-debut Disney XD sitcom actually look like they stepped out of a UFO … Maybe Loomis and his team at Disney Channel Worldwide, Marketing and Creative really are on to something here.

(L to R) Stephen Full, Greg
Baker, Logan Miller and Steven Valentine from Disney XD’s soon-to-debut series,
“I’m in the Band.” Photo by Jaimie Trueblood. Copyright 2009 Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved

So what do you folks think? Will all of these out-of-the-box
marketing choices really help pull in an audience for “Skyrunners,” Disney XD’s
out-of-this-world original TV movie?

Your thoughts?

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