"Monster High The Movie" is Nickelodeon’s live action adaptation of Mattel’s long running, highly successful line of fashion dolls. As a pre-existing franchise with a fervently devoted fan base, we faced the challenge of serving two masters: to deliver the faithful alumni fans what they know and love and to introduce it to a new generation, reinvigorating this franchise through our Nickelodeon lens. In doing so, we launched the film in two places, on-air on Nickelodeon and streaming on Paramount Plus. We achieved a dual phase marketing approach driving awareness and traditional linear viewership with girls aged 6-11 on Nickelodeon and focused on tween girls 12+ and co-viewing with older alumni fans on Paramount Plus. In doing so, we opened the social aperture and leveraged the combined reach, multiple POV’s, and platforms of Nickelodeon, Mattel, and Paramount Plus social which totaled to over 65 million followers. Along with our core audience, we opened the doors for every ghoul to join us at Monster High.
In a property that uses monsters to parallel themes of diversity and acceptance, we translated “Monster High The Movie” on social through three key pillars: exploring the fantastical and “secret” lives of teenage monsters, inclusivity through the celebration of individuality, and the original pop songs. Along the way, we curated a phased “Skull’s in Session” strategy to captivate the attention around the movie’s biggest beats, while establishing a creative synergy between @Nickelodeon, @Mattel, and @ParamountPlus.
Our campaign began in April with the Awareness Phase. We teased a snippet of a song with the official logo during the Kids’ Choice Awards, Nickelodeon’s biggest ratings moment. As with any live action adaptation, the first questions that arose were about the look of the characters. We released their looks in 3 statement pieces. First, a sizzle that teased tight shots of the main characters’ outfits and voices. Second, the official key art. Finally, a continuous Instagram carousel showcasing the 10 main characters from our adaptation. These posters were seen across social, not only from our 3 distinct brand accounts, but also by the talent and featured in our VidCon booth just days later. Familiar with the IP or not, people were going to be aware of the film either anticipating the party or exploring a way in.
Our “Awareness” Phase then followed, driven by the trailer and our “Meet The Character” vignettes. Here, fans saw their favorite dolls translated IRL. The core of each vignette was guided by our three pillar strategy communicating secrets, inclusivity, and music. While the protective Monster High alumni made their early feelings known about our iteration, we used this targeted feedback to fuel our biggest pivots. We intentionally pivoted and tweaked to meet the fan demand where we could, establishing the core attributes of the franchise were alive and well - more attitude with one character, more background story with another, etc. These strategic read and react pivots were instrumental in winning over the alumni fanbase and introducing new audiences to the scope of each character.
Our “Hard Drive” phase marched us into the film's premiere and revolved around the movie’s music. We released two singles leading up to the release, with each track receiving three creative treatments: the scene lift from the movie, a bespoke piece centered on talent to promote the single on their TikTok and Instagram Story, and a karaoke style lyric video. These creatives were driven by the music’s official release on streaming platforms, where we heavily leaned into Twitter. We branded these music releases to be #BooMusicFriday, tapping into Spotify’s synonymous trend with support from our trio of brand ecosystems and talent.
While social media can be just as toxic as it is addicting, we utilized critical feedback to power our pivots and intentionally revive this beloved franchise in our refreshed Nickelodeon style. Our breadcrumb approach, driven by the power of three social accounts marked Monster High’s reinvigorated presence on social and proved ghoul things come to those who wait.
Our “Monster High The Movie” campaign yielded fang-tastic results in engagement, views, and in meeting our goals of reintroducing the franchise to both alumni and through our Nickelodeon lens and driving awareness to every monstar on the monsternet:
In its first day, the Monster High Character Teaser earned 1.6M cross-platform views and 174.6k cross-platform engagements across Nickelodeon and ParamountPlus. The @Nickelodeon x @MonsterHigh collab on IG Reels has now eclipsed 5M.
The Trailer earned 1.2M cross-platform views and 116K cross-platform engagements across Nickelodeon and ParamountPlus in its first day. This was all in organic views (2.1M was the paid total). Nickelodeon’s Instagram post alone was the most engaged at 97K total engagements
The Character Reveal Carousel earned 221k engagements in its first day, beating Nickelodeon's Year to Date Instagram engagement average by 1491%.
The “Three Of Us” Instagram reel on @Nickelodeon earned 293.8k views and 24.6k engagements. This is 655% more views and 823% more engagements than other Reels year to date.
During release weekend:
Nickelodeon’s posts earned 76% positive sentiment on the days of & following the premiere. This was a massive turnaround from the initial movie sentiment, where social spots regularly between 18% to 28% positive.
Owned Posts over release weekend earned 465.3k views and 84.4k engagements (Source: Conviva, 10/6/22 - 10/09/22).
