Objectives

In May 2022, Oscar nominated “Turning Red”— a fun and heartwarming coming of age story about a Chinese-Canadian girl in the early 2000s — released on all major digital platforms, 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, and DVD. The PR campaign’s main objective was to drive U.S. digital and physical sales, highlighting the film as a must own. In addition, the campaign needed to generate awareness and positive buzz among Asian and Asian American communities and stimulate Asian American audiences to engage in a story that, while universal, represents a usually invisible Asian teenage character and story of an Asian family. The target audience for this campaign was Asian and Asian Americans, families with kids ages seven through twelve, animation fans, and movie collectors.

Strategy and Execution

With Asians and the Asian American audience in mind, the agency’s insights discovery peeled back the story’s core, the theme of self-acceptance, the search of identity, family values, and legacy. The coming-of-age story is a shared experience deeply rooted in the Asian community and the film mixes it with the typical drama of growing up and juggling life, family, and cultures. 

This campaign leaned into the multigenerational and multicultural themes that were both relatable and appealed to all audiences. 

• Lean into the cultural moment that rallies and brings together the target audience: Activated the publicity campaign in May, a month that commemorates the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage. 
• Showcase the main character’s relatable relationship with her family, specifically leaning into food as a universal theme of togetherness to resonate with the target audience: Amplified through additional partnerships beyond media outlets; including: 

• Partnering with AAPI-owned small businesses in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Coinciding with National Small Business Week (May 1-7) and Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, these partnerships aimed to recognize the historical, cultural, and economic significance of Asian American small businesses. The partnerships not only connected directly with the target audience on-the-ground level, but they also signaled the studio’s support of the Asian and Asian American communities, bringing attention to and celebrating the businesses’ legacies.  
• Leveraging social media influencers with Asian cultural backgrounds to resonate with the film's themes. 

• The campaign conveyed clear and concise call to action messaging about ownership availability with direct paths to purchase in each tactic. A campaign to rally the community from the community. 

Honoring the themes of family traditions and relationships highlighted in Turning Red, three small businesses offered unique menu items and exclusive online activations for a limited time.  

• The famous family-owned shop, California Donuts, located in Los Angeles, CA, offered adorable red panda Mei donuts —a perfect East meets West treat.  
• The multigenerational, family-owned restaurant, R&G Lounge, located in San Francisco, CA, curated a specialized banquet menu inspired by the delectable dishes seen in the film, serving as a reminder of meals at home.  
• The legendary Nom Wah Tea Parlor in New York joined in on the fun by paying homage to Mr. Lee’s fabulous dumplings with a unique cooking video touting the importance of family meals, emphasizing the familial passing down of recipes and cooking.  

The campaign also partnered with GYFTING, a Asian owned gifting company curated gift boxes to create social media influencer unboxing opportunities featuring Turning Red DVD, and products from diverse and inclusive brands + enriched with a unique digital experience. The custom gift included items from Asian-owned businesses Fly By Jing, Yoobi, and non-profit organization Heart of Dinner, among others. 

Additionally, the Company partnered with prominent social media influencers from Asian backgrounds to celebrate their cultural heritage and family legacy. Asian chef influencers Made With Lau, Fly By Jing, and Tiff Cooks, created dishes inspired by the film and cultural heritage. 

Results

Quantitatively, the campaign achieved an estimated total of 25.3M media impressions and 141.6K social engagements. The small business partnerships resulted in over 8.1M potential media and social impressions including press pick-up from the announcement, talent who shared their boxes of donuts on Instagram, social media posts from the restaurants, and influencers who picked up donuts. Influencer activations reached an estimated 9M impressions. Additionally, three exclusive content pieces debuted with NextShark, LA Weekly Asia, and Nerds of Color. Once the exclusives debuted, they were sent wide, resulting in multiple additional placements in AAPI media. In total, the campaign garnered 330 media placements with 213 hits among AAPI media.

Qualitatively, the collaboration with AAPI businesses and influencers garnered organic social engagement and community interest, sparked conversations organically among those in the AAPI community to reflect upon their childhood memories and family legacy. This helped create an emotional bonding experience for the target and intended audiences of the campaign. Below are a few anecdotes:

• "Such an awesome story and legacy you and your family have built! My friends and I stopped by for the red panda donuts last week! They were awesome! Thank you for sharing your creativity with us all!"
• "Thank you for sharing yours and your family’s story with us I love that Turning Red represents so many of us and our upbringing!!”

In conclusion, this heartfelt campaign successfully engaged the multigenerational target audiences and multicultural Asian communities by leveraging unique and culturally authentic tactics.

Media