Timing of Campaign: June 17-18, 2017 – Father’s Day Weekend.

The Goal

Disney Consumer Products Canada wanted to fan the flames of fan passion to build excitement around the new generation of Star Wars films and help drive merchandise sales, especially around Father’s Day.

Target

Star Wars fans of all ages.

The Insight and Strategy

One of the most iconic lines in cinematic history is when Darth Vader says, “I am your father.” It profoundly affected a generation whose childhood memories were shaped by their connection with Star Wars. The joy of discovering a galaxy far away has been passed down over generations through play and through those four unforgettable words by fans ever since.

To dominate Father’s Day social streams with a very limited budget, No Fixed Address developed a strategy to tap into this very Star Wars indoctrination behaviour, as well as leverage existing digital behaviour of @tagging by encouraging fans to share #IamYourFather and send a shout-out to their dads with @TheirDad, @TheirSon/Daughter, etc.

The Plan

For Father’s Day, the agency took this iconic line of dialogue and created an homage to Star Wars dads across the galaxy. The team connected with a fan base that spanned generations by creating branded video content that let them express their Father’s Day love. They used real dads, real kids, real play and real emotion.

The challenge was to hit an intergenerational target that had widely varied media habits since there’s no one place to intercept an eight-year-old and a 43-year-old. But immediately identifiable content in video format transcends age and digital proclivities, so the content would instantly appeal to the original generation of Star Wars fans, and the digital placement would instantly resonate with younger fans.

The team released the video in a systematic way that leveraged the native platform behaviours of Facebook and Instagram. They started by going against the grain and released their video only 48 hours before Father’s Day, pushing it through owned platforms and handles and hitting the core fans first. Then through a small-performance media buy, the videos were placed in feeds of a wider base. By this time, people were already engaging in @tagging behaviour and organically sharing with those they love.

Technology and Tools

A social insights tool let the agency determine the best time to release the program and choreograph the digital ecosystem over a 48-hour period. The media was chosen strategically to get the video in front of the most fans in the shortest amount of time. They needed to get people sharing – and fast. So the video was launched Saturday morning to seed and and set the stage going into Sunday.

User Experience

The video was released across all Star Wars and Disney platforms. Facebook, with its huge fan base, high adoption rate and ease of tagging and sharing, was ideal for the small-performance digital media budget. Instagram was perfect because tagging is a simple, ingrained user behaviour (@Dad). Twitter was an ideal platform for Star Wars influencers and fans alike to share and tag.

Supporting Channels

To surround the digital experience, the team supported the program with owned Star Wars and Disney social platforms, paid digital Facebook media and amplification by influential parenting bloggers who promoted the video when it went live on Saturday morning.

The Results

-10.7 million views across all Star Wars and Disney platforms in 48 hours
-Most successful video content post with social engagement levels (272,647 likes; 4,170 comments; 245,493 retweets/shares in 48 hours) on par with Star Wars trailers
-More than 500 million organic impressions generated over Father’s Day weekend
-#IAmYourFather used more than 10,000 times over the Father’s Day weekend
-8% lift in Star Wars merchandise sales during Father’s Day compared to previous year