Yahoo Lifestyle Inside NBCUniversal’s ‘Wicked’ Marketing Plan to Launch the Hit Film on Peacock — and Tout Its Streaming Movie Library
Popular! “Wicked” is already popular, having grossed nearly $740 million in worldwide box office. But as the film based on the hit Broadway musical premieres on Peacock this weekend, NBCUniversal’s marketing team has organized a corporate-wide campaign to make sure this “Wicked” window is as pop-you-lar as its theatrical run.
The arrival of “Wicked” on Peacock on Friday, March 21, is the culmination of what NBCU has dubbed “Wicked Week” to generate awareness of its availability on the streamer. On Peacock, that has included a “Wicked-fied” version of its logo (in Elphaba green and Glinda pink, naturally), as well as character profile avatars and “affinity rails” that places “Wicked” inside specially tailored genres like “Unusually & Exceedingly Peculiar” (featuring titles like “Ted,” “The Holdovers” and “Community”) and “Magical & Mystical Worlds” (which includes “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Twilight” and “Shrek”).
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Also, a “mystery tile stunt” on Peacock last week featured images of Elphaba and Glinda holding hands, strategically placed between tiles for other TV shows and films.
Peacock has now launched a “Wicked” hub that features a new sing-along version of the movie and other never-before-seen bonus content. Content living there includes the NBC special “Defying Gravity,” an hour-long “making of” special, deleted/extended scenes and other offerings.
“We’re able to create and eventize it just like we do with something like the Olympics,” said Jenny Storms, the chief marketing officer for NBCUniversal Television & Streaming. “Then further to that is, it’s how do you bring it to life across the rest of NBCUniversal and Comcast. That’s the real harnessing of the power that we have, whether it’s a stunt that just ran in ‘The Voice,’ promo inventory that we have across all of our networks and digital channels, social stunts and roadblocks, and out of home that we might have at our Universal Orlando and Hollywood resorts.”
Since taking her new job in January, Storms has already overseen the massive marketing campaign that surrounded the “Saturday Night Live” 50th celebration and all the ancillary fare that came along with it. Now, with “Wicked,” her team is also using the film to promote Peacock’s Pay One movie output deal with Universal. Under that pact, which kicked off in 2022, Peacock secured exclusive rights to the first four months of that window — giving it first crack at the Pay One runs of Uni, Blumhouse, Focus, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation franchises like “Jurassic World,” “Fast & Furious” and “Despicable Me,” in addition to this year’s “Wicked,” “Conclave,” “The Wild Robot” and “Nosferatu” — and the final four months of what is generally an 18-month window. During the middle 10 months, NBCU can license those films to additional streaming and cable outlets.
“Because the organization revolutionized the TV window, by carving up the traditional 18-month Pay One window, Peacock has now this opportunity to take the premier window in a way where it allows us to be more symphonic between box office, home entertainment and then to Peacock for streaming,” Storms said. “It’s opened up a real opportunity to change the strategy of how we do this — partner so much more closely with [Universal Pictures CMO] Michael Moses and his team, from the very beginnings of when a film is coming to life and then going in theater… NBC Universal is creating this very bespoke marketing campaign that’s not only launching the film for Peacock, but at the same time, it’s forging this indelible association in the audience’s minds around how we will treat these big film opportunities.”
Storms said beyond reaching “Wicked” fans, the goal with marketing this feature is to promote Peacock’s overall stable of films. “When you come in, you’re going to realize, ‘oh, wait a minute, they have Bridget Jones and the newest movie. They have Harry Potter. They have “Jurassic World Dominion.”’ So you might come in as a broader entertainment fan and realize, oh, wow, there’s so much more here, and get engaged in a different direction.”
Peacock also plans to utilize its upcoming live events like Wrestlemania, the Kentucky Derby and US Open — as well as its new NBA deal and next year’s Olympics and Super Bowl — to market original fare like “The Valley,” “Poker Face” and “Love Island.”
Storms said the streamer will also utilize “Wicked” in particular to tout Season 2 of “Poker Face,” which returns May 8 with an episode featuring “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo. “We have this incredible opportunity where our Peacock original ‘Poker Face’ is coming back for Season 2 on May 8, and ‘Wicked’ is still on the platform during that time,” Storms said. “And it just so happens that Cynthia Erivo plays in a starring role in the first episode of ‘Poker Face.’ So when you’re coming in for Wicked, we’re going to serve certain fans an opportunity to see there is this ‘Poker Face’ Cynthia Erivo episode that is also available.”
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