I am sure you heard the news:
that Disney bought Lucasfilms for $4 billion dollars back in October 2012.
Well, I was watching one of my family’s favorite shows last night: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – Holiday Special.
Ty and the team went to Texas to help a family called the Zdroj family.
They are the family of a volunteer firefighter who lost her house to a wildfire while saving other peoples’ houses.
As usual, it was a great episode.
But as I was watching, I noticed some content marketing going on.
In particular, content marketing to promote Lucasfilms and Star Wars.
(Remember, Disney owns ABC and now owns Lucasfilms.)
How Did ABC Use Content Marketing To Promote Lucasfilms and Star Wars?
1. They decorated the Zdroj family’s twin boys’ rooms with a Star Wars theme.
2. They had Storm Troopers and Darth Vader there on the site of the new home helping protect a “secret room” they were building.
3. The Storm Troopers and Darth Vader presented the family in New York city with a special additional trip. Guess where the destination was? To Lucasfilms!
4. After they flew the family out to the San Francisco Bay Area, they showed the family around Lucasfilms and showed them some of their technology.
5. They gave the family a special gift from the studio (which at the end of the show was revealed to be a “frozen Han Solo” figurine.)
6. They had R2D2 there at the house before the final “home reveal” happened.
7. They revealed the “secret room” for the boys and it was Star Wars themed. It was designed like the inside of a spaceship and had escape pods and everything!
In a previous post, I mentioned how on Extreme Makeover I noticed that they seemed to send the families away to two common “get away” destinations, while they work on their homes.
And the two common locations? Disneyland or Disney World.
I have never, ever seen them send anyone to Lucasfilms as a “get away” destination.
That is until Disney bought Lucasfilms.
Coincidence? Nope.
Content marketing.
The Key Lesson You Can Learn
Instead of just straight-out promoting Star Wars in an old school, traditional way, Disney created entertaining and emotionally-charged content and mixed in content connected to Lucasfilms and Star Wars.
Now go and do the same.
P.S. Guess what DVD they advertised on one of the final commercials just before the show ended?
“The Secret Life of Timothy Green.” And guess what company produced the film? Yep. Disney.
Image from High Definition Screensavers
Related articles
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- How George Lucas Keeps Star Wars Popular By Using Content Marketing (recessionsolution.com)
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I’m a business strategist, consultant, content creation specialist, and speaker. I’ve been studying effective marketing and business methods (both online and offline) since 1999.
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