With the fifth installment of the Shrek franchise on the horizon, our mission was to establish an official social presence across Instagram, TikTok, X, and Threads after years of the brand living almost exclusively on Facebook.
Shrek had never lost cultural relevance. Fans kept the franchise alive through memes, remixes, and internet lore, often shaping its identity without official participation. Our challenge was to enter a fandom that already felt ownership of the brand and earn credibility without disrupting the culture that made Shrek an enduring icon.
Our strategy was to bring Far Far Away into today by viewing modern pop culture through a distinctly Shrek lens. We identified beloved but often overlooked characters and deep-cut moments that signaled authenticity to longtime fans while remaining accessible to new audiences. Platform-native content paired classic clips with trending sounds, reactive formats, and culturally relevant humor to modernize the franchise without sacrificing its irreverent spirit.
Equally important was tone. Shrek has always thrived just outside the boundaries of traditional brand safety, so we embraced the weird, slightly unhinged energy audiences expect. Through proactive posting, reactive community management, fan engagement, and trend participation, we transformed dormant IP into a living social ecosystem.
The result was a multi-platform presence that did more than launch channels. It positioned Shrek as a contemporary cultural voice while strengthening connection across generations of fans.
Launching Shrek across Instagram, TikTok, X, and Threads required more than reacting to trends. It meant transforming a nostalgic film franchise into a modern, participatory entertainment brand built for platform-native culture.
We treated community as a creative engine. Reactive engagement fueled growth, but it was only one pillar of the strategy. We participated in trending formats, parodied pop culture through a fairytale lens, revived nostalgia with archival and never-before-seen content, and leaned into the slightly chaotic humor fans already associate with Shrek.
When Sabrina Carpenter announced Short n’ Sweet, we parodied the rollout with a Shrek album cover starring Gingy. When Kendrick Lamar’s “Mustard!” ad-lib from “tv off” became a viral meme, we translated the moment into a roaring Shrek visual captioned “MUSTARRRRRRRRRD!” During the release of Wicked, we reframed the viral “toss toss” moment through Prince Charming’s flowing hair. Each activation demonstrated how Shrek could insert itself into culture without feeling forced.
Beyond reactive moments, we rewarded fan fluency. We spotlighted Shrek-inspired nail art and fan creations, elevated obscure characters casual viewers might miss, resurfaced beloved DVD extras, and shared archival concept art to give older films new life. By highlighting deep cuts and niche references, we signaled that these accounts were built by people who understood the fandom, not marketers chasing trends.
Platform-native behavior was central to execution. On X, minimalist text-only posts and quote reposts drove viral engagement by mimicking how fans already talk about Shrek. On TikTok, we paired classic scenes with trending sounds to modernize iconic moments. On Instagram and Threads, we balanced memes, nostalgia drops, and cultural commentary to create a cohesive but platform-specific presence.
The result was a vibrant, participatory community that helped evolve Shrek from nostalgic property into a modern social entertainer, one that feels as relevant in today’s feeds as it did in theaters 24 years ago.
In 2025, Shrek’s expanded social presence delivered measurable cultural and business impact across platforms.
We drove over 2 million new followers, generated more than 50 million engagements, and surpassed 500 million video views across Instagram, TikTok, X, and Threads.
Maintaining a steady cadence of 2–3 posts per week, supported by daily community management, allowed us to consistently show up in the voice fans recognize and love. This disciplined but culturally agile approach helped us exceed follower growth goals across all channels while sustaining high engagement rates.
Our nostalgia strategy, resurfacing iconic scenes, DVD extras, and archival moments, proved that there truly is a Shrek scene for everything. By pairing these throwbacks with trending formats and current events, we transformed legacy content into high-performing, modern social entertainment.
We also established a distinct visual identity for this new era of the brand. The look and feel is intentionally lo-fi, internet-native, and platform-flexible, easily adapting to text-forward posts on X, trending audio on TikTok, and meme culture on Instagram and Threads.
Beyond owned channels, the presence earned widespread attention. Coverage and cultural amplification came from outlets including Today and Complex, alongside organic engagement from brands and celebrities who joined the conversation.
Most importantly, Shrek no longer feels like a nostalgic property that occasionally trends. It now operates as an always-on, culturally fluent social entertainer, one that moves at the speed of the internet while staying unmistakably true to Far Far Away.
