Disney’s marketing of “Frozen” may have frustrated animation fans, but it won over a far larger audience for this film

Jim Hill

10 years ago

In response to yesterday's " "Transcendence"
& "Rise of the Guardians" illustrate the fine art of how NOT to
promote a motion picture" story, FuseMP posted the following comment in
JHM's discussion boards:

I cannot remember the last good marketing campaign carried
out by Disney, you mentioned that Guardians
suffered from trailers that
concentrated on the wrong thing (in this case, the elves for comedy which felt
Minion-ish which they were), that is exactly the same mistake Disney made with
Frozen
where the trailer was Olaf Olaf Olaf rather than let the true movie
speak for itself which is what it finally did when they released the Let It Go
scene and the movie went from strength to strength from that point on. My first
comment about the Frozen trailer was that it seemed like it was advertising a
Dreamworks movie which is all about the gags than a Disney animated princess
musical classic.

Copyright Viacom International
Inc. All rights reserved. MTV and all related titles &
logos are trademarks
of Viacom International Inc.

Um … Forgive me for pulling a Kanye West to your Taylor
Swift ("I'm really happy for you, FuseMP, and I'm gonna let you finish
…"), but the last time I looked, Disney "Frozen" was the
highest grossing animated film of all time. According to Box Office Mojo, this
Walt Disney Animation Studios production's worldwide box office total currently
sits at $1,1292 billion. Not million. Billion. With a "B."

So when a movie sells that many tickets, it's really hard to argue that it was
poorly marketed. If anything, based solely on "Frozen" 's worldwide
grosses, one might argue that the Mouse House's marketing team put together a
highly successful campaign for this WDAS production.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x76DoACB8]

To get to your original point, FuseMP, was
"Frozen" 's original teaser trailer built around Olaf & Sven? Absolutely.
But that was a deliberate choice on Disney's part. When this
minute-and-36-seconds-long teaser bowed back on June 19, 2013 … Well, the Studio's PR team knew that it
would be another five months until "Frozen" held its world premiere
at the El Capitan Theatre on November
19, 2013. Which is why — rather than reveal too much too soon
about this Chris Buck / Jennifer Lee film — the Mouse's marketing staff opted instead
to give people just a taste of "Frozen." Putting together a teaser
trailer that would then play up the humor of this upcoming Walt Disney Pictures
release.

"So why did Disney build this teaser trailer around
Olaf & Sven, rather than Anna & Elsa?," you ask. To be blunt, that
was a deliberate choice. The marketing department worked closely with WDAS
staffers to craft a "Frozen" teaser trailer that would appeal to
males 18 – 24 years-of-age. Which are an audience segment that you just have to
win over if you're looking to insure that your motion picture will then become
a four quadrant box office success.

"So when did Anna & Elsa actually enter the
picture, advertising-wise?," you query. Well, the poster that first gave
would-be moviegoers a relatively close look at the sisters was released on
September 16th of last year while "Frozen" 's really-for-real trailer
didn't bow until September 26, 2013.
Which was roughly two months before this WDAS production went into wide release
on November 27th of that same year.

But you wanna know what I find interesting? Take a close
look at the official "Frozen" trailer. Or should I say a close
listen?

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQm5doF_Uc]

Do you see what I mean? Over the course of this two-minute-and-32-second
trailer, you don't hear a single note from any of the songs that Kristen &
Bobby Lopez wrote for Disney "Frozen." What you get is a
contemporary-sounding music track that plays under a collection of carefully
chosen scenes that then try & sell this WDAS film as an action-comedy.

Which — I know — may seem disingenuous to animation fans.
Especially now that Disney "Frozen" has become so well known for its
best-selling soundtrack or the fact that "Let It Go" became such a
sing-along sensation on YouTube and then went on to win the Academy Award for
Best Song.

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28L2VaILzH8]

But here's the thing: Back then, Disney's marketing
department was still trying to convince males 18-24 to buy tickets for
"Frozen." And it's tough enough to convince guys in this age group to
come see a feature-length cartoon (mostly because they're concerned about what
their contemporaries might say should it be discovered that this adult male
went to see "a kiddie movie"). But when this same demographic group
discovers that this animated film is supposedly to be a musical … That's a
deal breaker for many males 18 – 24.

In fact, to hear many marketing veterans at Disney Studios
talk, that's the main reason that "The Princess and the Frog
"
under-performed at the box office back in 2009. That film's title alone was
enough to make many adult males 18 – 24 steer clear of this WDAS production.
But once word got out that this John Musker / Ron Clements movie was also a
musical, guys avoided "Princess" like the plague.

Which is why — in the wake of "The Princess and the
Frog" 's disappointing ticket sales — the Mouse's marketing department
insisted that, from here on in, WDAS's princess-based productions have titles
that deliberately steer clear of any mention of these film's royalty &
fairytale-based elements. Which is why "Rapunzel Unbraided" was
rebranded as "Tangled
." And "Elsa and the Snow Queen"
eventually got retitled as "Frozen."

Now what's kind of interesting about these one word / seemingly generic titles
for Walt Disney Animation Studios' most recent princess-based productions is
that they're mostly for the North American market. Whereas overseas, the
Company is perfectly okay with calling a spade a spade. Which is why in France,
for example, "Tangled" is called "Raiponce" (i.e., the
French spelling of Rapunzel) and "Frozen" is called "La Reine
des Neiges" (which translates to "The Snow Queen").

Anyway … To back up what I'm saying in today's story,
FuseMP, I need to tell you about what happened on late September of last year.
On September 25th, Nancy & I were among the very first folks to get to see
Disney "Frozen." We drove down to NYC for the day and then got to see
a nearly completed version of this movie (And when I say "nearly
completed," I think that the only thing that was left to do on this WDAS
production at that point was its final sound mix) in Disney's 5th Avenue
screening room. As I recall, there were just 7 – 10 people in the room with us,
with one of those persons being the NYC-based agent who represented both Idina
Menzel & Kristen Bell.

Now two days after this screening, I'm out in Burbank
for "Frozen" 's Long Lead media event. And at that time, the members
of the press were only shown 20 minutes of finished footage from this film.

"So what exactly were these reporters shown?," you ask. Well, they
did get to see two songs from "Frozen" — "Let It Go" and
Olaf's comic number, "In Summer." But the rest of the footage that we
were shown that morning in the WDAS screening room were action or comedy
scenes. Elsa accidentally revealing her icy magic at her coronation after-party
and then fleeing across the fjord. Anna & Kristoff meeting cute at
Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna. Anna & Kristoff rappelling off a
steep cliff in an effort to escape from that fearsome snow monster,
Marshmallow.

About two hours later, I found myself sitting down with
Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee, the directors of "Frozen." Who —
given that I was the only reporter in the building who had actually seen the
whole movie at that point — were as anxious to talk with me about what I thought
of their finished film as I was to talk with them about the way Disney appeared
to be marketing "Frozen" at that point in time.

Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck
introduce Anna from Disney "Frozen" to the press.
Copyright Disney Enterprises,
Inc. All rights reserved

Here's a direct transcript of that moment from my interview with Chris &
Jennifer:

JIM: The first act of "Frozen" is so strong and so charming.

JENNIFER: Oh, thank you!

JIM: But to watch the footage that they showed us today, you'd think that
"Frozen" is this epic loaded with action. But you missed all of the
sweet stuff with the younger versions of Anna & Elsa, the songs "Do
You Want to Build a Snowman" and "For the First Time in Forever"
…

JENNIFER: That's true. That's true …

CHRIS: I think why the Studio chose to show that footage today instead of the
other stuff is because people have come to expect — after years & years of
seeing Disney animated features — that the movies we make here are going to be
charming. People now take that aspect of a Disney animated feature for granted.
And I think — by stressing the action portion of "Frozen" — that
Disney is trying to surprise people a little bit here. Make them realize that
"Frozen" is more than just charm & songs.

JENNIFER: Look, audiences have preconceived notions about
these sort of motion pictures. And the marketing team here at Disney, they're
very bright. They seem to know what they're doing. So I trust them. But that
said, it has been kind of frustrating that there haven't been any ads out there
yet that show the full scope of this film. I mean, it wasn't until the trailer
than went out in front of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
" that
they even got the sister story out there. But then again, maybe I'm too close
to the movie. And Disney's whole goal with its marketing campaign for
"Frozen" is to not exclude anyone. Make sure that this movie seems
appealing to all possible audience member …

Which — in the end — is just what Walt Disney Studios' marketing
team did with "Frozen." They rolled out the marketing campaign for
this WDAS production in such a way that — when this Walt Disney Pictures
release went wide in theaters on November 27th (i.e., the Wednesday that kicks
off 2103's long Thanksgiving Day Weekend) — all four quadrants showed up to
support this film.

More to the point, if you compare the $104 million that
"The Princess and the Frog" earned domestically to the $200.8 million
that "Tangled" earned domestically to the $399.9 million that
"Frozen" has earned domestically to date … It's clear that the lessons
that Disney's marketing department staffers learned from "Frog" were
successfully applied to all future WDAS releases.

So getting back to where we got started earlier today,
FuseMP, it's okay for you to say that you didn't like that "Frozen"
teaser trailer when it first debuted in theaters & online back in June of
2013. And you're perfectly within your rights to say that you personally would
have preferred that this teaser featured Anna & Elsa rather than Olaf &
Sven. But to then make the jump from "I didn't personally like the
'Frozen' teaser trailer" to saying that " … I cannot remember the
last good marketing campaign carried out by Disney" when we're talking
about the highest grossing animated film of all time … That's just nonsense,
FuseMP. The number of tickets that this movie has sold to date totally negates
your claim.

I mean, even you have to acknowledge that — with a $1,1292
billion worldwide box office total (and given that "Frozen" is still
going strong in all sorts of international territories, that number is sure to
climb in the coming weeks & months) — the Mouse's marketing team ultimately
did a brilliant job when it came to selling "Frozen."

Which makes one wonder what Disney now has up their sleeve
when it comes to "Big Hero 6." Because other than this postcard which
was handed out at last year's D23 EXPO …

… this
proof-of-concept footage ….

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSV3laJplpU]

… which shows what the world of San Fransoyko will look
like as well as this concept painting showing a blimp and its passengers …

… there's been next to nothing else out there about
"Big Hero 6." Up until this point, I mean. Though I hear — just as
Disney did with "Frozen" — that there may be a teaser trailer
hitting theaters sometime in June. Which — I'm betting — will frustrate
Disney animation fans like FuseMP. Mostly because, following the
"Frozen" formula, this
"Big Hero 6" teaser trailer will be long on tease and short on substance.

Your thoughts?