For the 70th anniversary of The Muppets' debut in 1955, Disney executed a 70 week-long celebration of 70 different Muppet characters. Each week, icons were spotlighted like Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, fan-favorites like Pepé the King Prawn and Joe the Legal, and extreme deep cuts like Angus McGonagle the Argyle Gargoyle.
The Muppets 70th anniversary campaign lived almost exclusively on social, allowing Disney to meet Muppet fans where they already are. Our goal was to celebrate the breadth of 70 years of Muppet history, highlighting not only specific characters and creative projects, but Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and the Muppet Performers who bring the characters to life.
The bulk of the campaign was executed through a mix of scene lifts, video edits, custom scripted character videos, historical still photos, exclusive behind-the-scenes images, and more. Every week, the spotlight was turned onto Muppet fans with fan art prompts for each featured character. 20-40 pieces closed out a character's celebratory week before kicking off the next. In total, over 300 artists were spotlighted, helping this celebration feel both for the fans and by the fans.
The Muppets 70th campaign was unique because it allowed an opportunity for The Muppets to celebrate themselves. As the only characters within The Walt Disney Company who are able to speak in-character and in the first-person on social media, The Muppets were able to celebrate alongside their fans. This was achieved via social exclusive character Q&A sessions, in-character social copy and commentary, and our "Muppets About Muppets" custom video series, where one Muppet would opine about that week's featured character.
This unique character positioning also allowed Disney to play with fan expectations for the campaign. Every week, fans speculated about who the next character would be, making lists of their predictions for the remaining slots. Expectations were especially played up when we decided to save the best (aka Miss Piggy) for our 70th and last character... but no one told Miss Piggy that! Throughout the campaign, she appeared in custom videos and made posts of her own bemoaning the fact that she had yet to be featured while "randos like Scooter and Fozzie Bear" got the spotlight before she did. This allowed the entire 70 week campaign to be closed out with a bang, making her featured week a grand celebration.
The results of The Muppets 70th anniversary campaign exceeded expectations from both an analytics standpoint and a fan reaction standpoint. Posts from the campaign window are now in The Muppets' top 10 most engaged with posts of all-time on Instagram. Mid-way through the campaign, we reached one million Instagram followers, which we celebrated with a custom video featuring Kermit the Frog.
Fan reactions were also spectacular throughout the campaign. Every week, the account was met with so much love for the featured characters, giving us a sense of which fan-favorite characters resonate the most. Disney was thrilled to give fans an exciting, exclusive way to show their love for The Muppets!
