In last year’s upfront event, Disney delivered on its promise of featuring more talent onstage than ever, with the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and more making marketers marvel. And despite a writers strike keeping many celebs far from upfront stages this year, the company still managed to showcase several big names, including Serena Williams, Kim Kardashian and Marvel head Kevin Feige.
Thus far, the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike has made its presence known in nearly every upfront week presentation, with Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix confirming that they’re going sans talent for their events, as celebrities are wary of crossing picket lines. And with WGA protesters marching outside Disney’s presentation at the North Javits Center in New York—a more expansive venue than last year’s Basketball City—Disney’s ad sales chief Rita Ferro acknowledged the obstacles the event faced in her opening remarks.
“Preparing for this presentation, as you all know, is one of my favorite times of the year, even in years like this, full of difficult challenges,” Ferro said, seemingly acknowledging the strike. But the ad sales president added that “Disney is prepared to meet every challenge.”
For the company, one of the most notable challenges was the strike-related absence of Jimmy Kimmel, its perennial upfront roast master, who’s been so dedicated to the event in the past that he even performed via Zoom after testing positive for Covid-19 the day of Disney’s 2022 presentation.
Making big names a ‘Reality’
Without much of its entertainment talent to focus on, sports took up a large portion of the presentation before the company transitioned into news and reality.
Recent Adweek cover subject Serena Williams appeared to announce ESPN’s In the Arena: Serena Williams, a docuseries featuring exclusive looks at the athlete’s career, and Pat McAfee revealing he’s joining ESPN. The company showcased the NBA on ESPN by bringing out Donovan Mitchell from the Cavs to recall his 71 point performance from the season, and Breanna Stewart and Angel Reese appeared on stage, promoting women’s basketball and urging marketers to increase the current stats of only around 5% of sports media marketing going into women’s sports.