Based on Disney-Hyperion’s best-selling book series by award-winning author Rick Riordan, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" is a Disney+ Original series that tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who's just coming to terms with his newfound divine powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. With help from his friends Grover and Annabeth, Percy must embark on an adventure of a lifetime to find it and restore order to Olympus.
To further engage fans and viewers as the show aired, Disney Branded Television created short behind-the-scenes social posts for TikTok and Instagram called "Demigod Diaries," giving fans a look at how some of the show's coolest and most exciting scenes were created. The short videos aimed to give fans new ways to engage with the show and to bring them closer to its charismatic young cast, who provide commentary in each Diary video about their experiences making "Percy Jackson."
The social posts also looked to leverage the excitement of the community around "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and reward them for being engaged on social media by providing them with additional content they couldn't get anywhere else.
Disney Branded Television created easily digestible and highly shareable behind-the-scenes content with the "Demigod Diaries." Instead of making lengthy or technical documentary looks at how the show was made, the posts instead kept the focus on the young, excited, and charismatic "Percy Jackson" cast. Each of the Diary posts provides a clear view of how the show's most exciting stunts and moments were created but with an emphasis on the experiences the actors had in making them.
The bite-sized videos quickly give a sense of the scene and stick with the actors as they perform their stunts, with footage showing fans how those stunts were created. But the videos avoid getting technical and instead allow the cast to talk about the difficulties they faced, the preparation they went through to create the scenes, and how much they liked and enjoyed them. The result is a quick, shareable combination of fascinating information about how "Percy Jackson" was made, mixed with insight from the actors, and a wealth of fun and funny moments as the cast joke with each other and share their genuine excitement for their work.
All of the "Demigod Diaries" give fans a closer look at the creation of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," but their best aspects are how much they show the personalities of the cast and their relationships with one another. Disney Branded Television’s approach makes these videos exciting to watch and informative about how the show was made while getting all the best and most fun aspects of a behind-the-scenes feature across in two minutes.
Disney Branded Television’s approach to the "Demigod Diaries" videos was highly successful in creating shareable, fascinating social content that engaged fans. Together, the five videos have racked up about 5.4 million views on TikTok, with most garnering hundreds of thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.
The videos were also successful on Instagram, where each has more than a million views and hundreds of thousands of likes. In addition, Disney Branded Television was able to use clips from the videos for additional posts highlighting funny moments and creating memes, allowing the campaign to further engage fans and drive additional conversation.
Overall, with just five short behind-the-scenes videos, Disney Branded Television was able to earn a huge amount of fan engagement through views, likes, and comments across multiple platforms. The videos provided fans with the reward of extra content about the show and brought them closer to the cast, further enhancing the community around "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" and building excitement for the series.
The social videos helped "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" to a record-breaking premiere on Disney+ and Hulu, with 13.3 million viewers over its first six days.
