Movie Marketing Madness: The Peanuts Movie

It’s likely – almost certainly, in fact – inaccurate to say “everyone loves The Peanuts.” But that’s kind of how it seems at times. An entire generation – the one I’m a part of – grew up with the beloved TV specials every holiday. And many people in that generation as well as the one prior had the adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy and the rest of the gang in their daily newspaper comics section. We grew up with these characters who never aged, never had problems beyond struggles with talking to the cute girl in class and who therefore reminded us of a simpler, more innocent time both in our own lives and society in general. When creator Charles M. Schulz passed away in 2000 the strip outlived him by a single day and in many markets went into what amount to reruns, with no new strips being produced (a stipulation of Schulz’s will) between then and basically until newspapers stopped doing comics sections.

While new strips haven’t been produced in 15 years there have been a handful of original TV specials created. And now Charlie Brown and all the rest of the characters are coming to the big screen for the first time in The Peanuts Movie. The story, thankfully, does not seem to differ from the simple approach of the comic strips and shows, revolving around two major plots: Charlie Brown is desperate to make a good first impression when The Little Red Haired Girl first moves into his neighborhood and Snoopy is locked in his eternal battle with the Red Baron. With a simple premise and beloved characters guiding this universe’s first foray into theatrical releases let’s take a look at how it’s being sold.

The Posters

As befitting a movie aimed at kids, there were a lot – a LOT – of posters released.

The first teaser was simple and set the visual tone for the rest of the poster campaign. It just shows Snoopy sleeping on top of his doghouse (of course) with Woodstock asleep on his stomach. The bright yellow background, in this case containing a sunrise (or sunset, depending on your philosophical outlook on life), is all there is behind him. The top of the poster tells you to “Dream big” and the bottom promises this movie is coming in November.

After that a series of character posters were released that presented each of the familiar faces we’ve (at least most of us) grown up with. Each one shows the character’s face, their name and two or three adjectives about him or her. The bright yellow background is on display here as well and so the posters really pop with some sense of vibrancy and fun.

A second set of character posters would feature fuller character designs but drop the names and identifiers, opting more to show off the character’s attitude than to explain it. So Snoopy is shown in full Joe Cool mode, Lucy is scowling and so on. This set has “Go nuts” copy as its unifying theme.

The theatrical poster took the “theatrical” quite literally and shows the whole gang seated in a movie theater, Charlie Brown front-row-center and waving at the camera as everyone else sits or is otherwise arranged behind him. It’s the kind of thing that can come off as too clever – it’s both selling the movie and acknowledging that it’s the first time these characters have come to the movies – but it’s so adorable and earnest it works despite the threat of being overly cloy.

The Trailers

The first teaser was released over a year and a half ago and doesn’t show much of anything from the movie, intent on simply making sure everyone knows there is a movie coming out and showing off the look and feel of the characters. So the camera starts off like it’s presenting some huge space epic as the camera pans down, only to reveal Charlie Brown’s unique head. Shortly after we see him, Snoopy pops up and starts doing his thing and while Charlie looks exasperated at first, Snoopy makes with the puppy dog eyes and eventually the hug, showing that all we really want out of life is a hug from a friend.

I’ll admit the teaser at first had me skeptical about the world of the Peanuts translating to 3D animation, but after a couple viewings the softie in me eventually won out and it gave me a severe case of the feels, which is what I’m assuming happened to most of the audience. Regardless of that, this did its job of raising awareness that in 19 months a new movie was coming out, so mission accomplished.

Next up was was they called the “Holiday Trailer” because it was released around Thanksgiving of last year. This one starts out with Woodstock and his bird pals decorating Snoopy’s doghouse – and Snoopy himself – for Christmas with lights and wreaths and such. When Snoopy wakes up he takes off after the Red Baron. Eventually, though he crashes and falls off the doghouse, revealing the sequence to be fantasy (something I don’t think the shows or comics ever did) and it finally ends with Charlie Brown trying to find his seat in the theater.

It comes off as a little fragmented and is probably my least favorite part of the campaign. It feels rushed and like it’s trying too hard to be topical, particularly with the “holiday” element. I get why the team did it – Peanuts and Christmas are pretty firmly linked – but it just never gels as a whole.

A couple months after that another teaser was released that again focuses on Snoopy’s battles against the Red Baron. The footage is almost exactly what we saw in the “Holiday” trailer, but the setting for it is slightly different in that it’s now just generic winter and not the holidays specifically.

The first full trailer is less about amusement and more about setting up the story, which is good considering how much the trailers so far had relied just on emotion. We start out seeing that a new kid is moving in and the whole gang has turned out to see what the story is. While Charlie Brown thinks this will his chance at a fresh start that’s of course not to be. He’s determined to be a winner, though, and that provides the basis for the rest of the trailer as he tries to turn his life around. We then get good introductions to the rest of the cast before finally meeting the new kid, who of course is the Little Red Haired Girl.

This trailer gives us a really good look at the style and feel for the movie and shows that yes, it’s going to be the same sort of attitude as the original incarnations without trying to get overly hip or adopting a look that’s overly-stylized. It’s all about trying to be a better person but also about accepting who you are.

The second official trailer hits many of the same notes and is different mostly around the edges. it works in mostly the same way

The final trailer, released just about a week before the movie hit theaters, strikes many of the same notes as other spots but starts off hitting the nostalgia button a bit more hard than previous versions. So before it gets into movie clips, starting with Snoopy chasing the Red Baron across the sky, it reminds us why we love these characters and shows simple line drawings like you’d see in the daily newspaper strip along with a scene or two from the classic TV specials.

Online and Social

The official website opens with a pop-up player showing the second official trailer. After you watch that again and close the player there are two big sections to explore.

First is the “Wah Wah Machine,” which takes any text you say or type and turns it into the “wah wah” speak of the adults in the Peanuts universe. You can share your creations on Twitter or Facebook or save the MP3 of the audio.

Then there’s the “Peanutize Me” feature, which is basically a character creator. So you can choose what kind of character you want to make and customize his or her hair, clothes and more to make it fully your own and then either download the finished product or share it on Twitter or Facebook.

Moving on to the menu bar at the top of the page, the “Characters” section has pictures and brief descriptions of each of the characters. “Videos” has all the trailers as well as a couple holiday-specific videos that were created for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. “Posters” has most, but not all, of the posters that you can download, specifically missing the second set of character posters. “Photos” has a number of stills that can be downloaded. There’s a brief synopsis and a list of the voice cast in the “About” section.

There are sections also for “Showtimes,” which has resources on buying tickets, “Partners” for the movie’s promotional partner companies and “Retail,” which shows off the companies that are selling Peanuts-related merchandise.

The movie’s Facebook page has lots of videos and images, most of which promote on-domain activities kids can do and so on as well as shout-outs and posts promoting the film’s marketing partners. The Google+ page is roughly the same, which isn’t surprising. Unusually, the Twitter profile is pretty much the same as well without the usual mix of fan/partner/critic Retweeting going on. Finally, most of the images we’ve already seen on Facebook and elsewhere are also on Instagram.

Advertising and Social

There was a lot of TV advertising done, most of which focused on the same kind of beats and moments that were seen in the the trailers. Everything here wants to create a sense of warm nostalgia and safety about the movie, like it’s the kind of thing you’d be able to drop your kids off at and not worry about a thing.

A friendship for the ages. #PeanutsMovie is ready for a new generation. In theaters Friday! https://t.co/d6SMmw5vi7 https://t.co/ws4xE1bl5L

— The Peanuts Movie (@PeanutsMovie) November 2, 2015

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In addition to that, as the official site shows, there were a lot of promotional partners on board, including:

• Horizon Organic: Co-branded packaging and marketing materials, including video ads
• Nestle Crunch: Sweepstakes offering a trip to Blue Sky’s New York headquarter
• Target: Co-branded TV spots that featured the film’s characters holding voice auditions and offering their opinions on those who were trying out.
• UNICEF: Campaign encouraging kids (and their parents) to get involved and help kids in need of food, school supplies and more
• All: Offered a coupon for a movie ticket after you buy $10 or more of All laundry detergent
• McDonald’s: Included movie-themed toys in their Happy Meals
• MetLife: Ran promotions for the movie, which isn’t surprising since the company has used Peanuts characters in their advertising for…decades, I think
• Little Debbie: Co-branded packaging and movie-themed merchandise for sale online
• Red Baron: Co-branded packaging (I’ll admit I chuckled when I saw this in stores)
• Tyson: Co-branded packaging that offered movie ticket coupons on select purchases
• Scotch-Brite: Co-branded packaging, particularly on products like pet hair removers
• The movie made headlines for an ad buy on MovieTickets.com which put huge video ads in the background of the site just like those skinned takeovers that are usually done with static images – most often the film’s key art – but this time with auto-playing video.

It also hit the news and got some publicity bounce by being the first advertiser to buy Snapchat’s new Sponsored Lens product. Users could select the Fox-sponsored filter and see a Peanuts character overlaid on their selfie.

There were lots more ads run online and within mobile apps. I saw ads for the movie quite a few times when I opened the Weather Channel app, for instance.

Media and Publicity

There were plenty of interviews like this one with director Steve Martino (Indiewire, 9/21/15) where he talked about the responsibility of tackling such beloved characters, differentiating the movie from the classic TV specials as well as just the technical work required to retain the look and feel of the characters and their world while still updating it for 2015.

Attendees of a special event at the Charles M. Schulz Museum were given an advance look at the movie which featured a Q&A with the director and other creatives. The setting also nicely conveyed the message that the Schulz family had put its stamp of approval on the film.

There was a bit of a news spike when Meghan Trainor debuted her music video for a song from the movie featuring characters from the film.

(Ed Note: I know there was a lot more, but as I’ve stated before, I’m still largely in catch-up mode here and so don’t have a full collection of stories that span that entirety of the campaign.)

Overall

Like I said before, I was initially skeptical about this campaign. When the movie was announced and through the announcement trailer and other early components I was in full “how dare they” mode. But eventually it won me over because the central theme of the marketing is to make people feel comfortable and assure them that this was in the same spirit and tone of the original material. At least in the campaign there are no “hip” jokes or moments that are meant to play to adults more than kids or anything else that you usually find in animated movies these days. This looks to be a truly all-ages movie.

While the last month of box-office has been disappointing for Hollywood, with movie after movie getting trounced by The Martian this may break the cycle and provide decent counter-programming to this weekend’s Spectre, hopefully creating a nice one-two punch. Since the campaign is designed to appeal to all ages – presenting a cool look for kids and a safe alternative to parents – I do feel this campaign should lead to a successful debut for the movie. At least I hope so since this campaign has a lot going for it.