3 Ways Moana 2 Marketing Led to a Big Splash at the Box Office

Moana 2 has already hit $600 million at the global box office, and no one knows how far it’ll go. But before the film was breaking revenue records and joining Inside Out 2 to add to Disney/Pixar’s 2024 box office wins, Disney’s marketing was setting it up to make a big splash.

The project started as a TV series; however, after the original Moana surprisingly became the most-streamed movie in the U.S. in 2023, executives reconsidered and decided to turn Moana 2 into a movie. According to Martha Morrison, Walt Disney Studios’ executive vice president of marketing, the team did “a lot of cheering” when it heard late last year that the Moana follow-up was heading to theaters.

“That meeting was filled with a lot of excitement and a lot of feeling like we want to make sure that we’re doing right by this project,” Morrison said. “So let’s get started right now.”

Morrison noted that the marketing department works with production early for animation projects. For instance, Jackson George, senior vp of creative advertising at Disney Entertainment, is in concept pitch meetings and thinking about formulating trailers throughout the process. So, although the move from a TV show to a movie changed the story of the film, the conversations are generally the same, talking about things such as key art, promos, and images.

The difference comes in the timing. Today’s TV show and streaming marketing is more immediate, with audiences wanting to stream something quickly. However, movie marketing needs to roll out several months in advance.

“It’s really dependent on getting in front of the right audiences,” Morrison said. “And to get in front of the right theatrical audiences, you have to start the campaigns a lot earlier.”

With the film setting a high mark for the Thanksgiving box office at $225 million—freezing Frozen II’s previous mark of $125 million in its tracks—Morrison explained how the movie reached the right audiences and made waves.

Approaching marketing from a fan perspective

According to Morrison, several of the members of the Moana 2 marketing team—herself included—worked on marketing the original Moana. Given the team’s history with the film and the global popularity of the franchise, the executive explained that the campaign was focused on “harnessing the fan energy” within the building.

With that in mind, the marketing team clued in on elements that would get themselves and fans excited about coming back to the franchise, including the title character, Auli’i Cravalho’s Moana, teaming up with Dwayne Johnson’s Maui once again. In fact, their reunion was the finale of the first-look teaser for the Moana sequel, which Disney dropped at the end of May.

The teaser quickly set a record for the biggest animated trailer launch in Disney history, receiving 178 million views in 24 hours.

“Anytime you have a trailer that overperforms from a views standpoint, it feels great,” Morrison said. “Trailers are so important in that it’s still probably the No. 1 reason why people say they go to see a movie.”

Beyond the performance, Morrison said the audience’s reaction and sentiment are even “more important,” showcasing what elements the company should focus on or reaffirming the marketing’s direction.

“It’s exciting to have a trailer that breaks records, and we’ve been lucky to have a few of them. But it’s also really exciting to see the reaction to that trailer,” Morrison said. “It gives you a sense of, ‘Where am I going next in terms of how people are receiving and what we’ve already put out? Where am I going next to make sure that we keep that excitement and the momentum going?’”

Going beyond traditional advertising

According to iSpot research via Deadline, U.S. TV spend for Moana 2 reached $20.5 million. And although that’s a significant investment, it falls short of the TV expenses for Gladiator II and Wicked ($34 million and $26 million, respectively). The budgeting shows how Disney looked beyond traditional formats for marketing Moana to a 2024 audience.

“It is important for us to make sure that we have a really robust broadcast program, but that we’re also extending in ways that creatively are creating attention,” Morrison said.

Morrison credited Evelyn Livermore, vp, integrated marketing and synergy, for leading the way on several of Moana 2’s big collaborations and integrations, including a custom weeklong sponsorship during the Paris Summer Olympic Games, taking advantage of the 23.5 billion streaming minutes NBCUniversal racked up during the summer games. The integration included broadcast spots, toolkit overlays, lower thirds, and customized creative that connected Moana 2 to Olympic highlights. As a first, the company noted that the sponsorship extended into the NBCU digital platforms, including social and Peacock.

“Being part of the Olympics is wonderful, but having it extended so that we’re having these great takeovers and integrated toolkit moments means that people are probably stopping and paying more attention,” Morrison said.

In addition to the Olympics creative, the campaign also included Moana-themed set takeovers across various live programming such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The View, Live With Kelly & Mark, and ESPN SportsCenter.

Moana 2 also received a themed performance during Dancing With the Stars’ Disney Night that featured new song “We’re Back” from the film; the movie had a Holiday Wars Moana-themed episode/integration; and there were various custom spots and creative, including a popular promo featuring Dwayne Johnson and former National Football League star Troy Polamalu.

Being part of a cultural conversation

Unlike the marketing for the original Moana, which introduces the characters for the first time, Morrison said promoting a sequel brought a new strategy and a global opportunity that differed from market to market.

“The biggest thing—and talking to the teams as we were putting our campaigns together—was making sure that we felt like we were in the cultural zeitgeist,” Morrison said.

Among the highlights, the film illuminated images on Capri’s cliffs in Italy in early November and created a hero video during a one-night-only event that was amplified on social media; for Australia, Disney had a Macquarie Centre takeover in October and continued a Melbourne Central bespoke mural shared with Disney’s Mufasa; and in the U.K., there was a drone show on the River Thames ahead of the film’s release.

Throughout the campaign, the marketing focused on honoring the Polynesian culture showcased in the film, and that led to another first for the company: hosting the global premiere and press junket at the Aulani resort in Hawaii that included a fully immersive photo and press line at the Lanikuhonua Cultural Institute.

For Morrison, the ask to move to premiere to Hawaii was a big swing, and it showed how the company and the talent were fully behind the plan to connect with the fans.

“When not only our company said, ‘Yeah, we could do that. Let’s do it,’ but also Dwayne, Auli’i, and the talent,” Morrison said. “That was probably our biggest moment, where we said, ‘Hey, can we do this?’ And when we got a, ‘Yes.’”