A Closer Look at the Disney Entertainment TV Social Team | TikTok Culture Catalysts Dinner 2024
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00:00Everyone, we've rehearsed a dance. We're going to go viral on TikTok tonight. We have the
00:05next trend. We are demure. We're also kind of brats in a way. We're segwaying from summer
00:11to fall. So it's so great to have the Disney folks here because you guys represent like
00:18the whole gamut of Disney and the demos and just like the whole different collection of
00:25audience that comes to Disney from cradle to grave. And so it's so great to have you
00:30guys talk about it right now and how it all relates to social media and TikTok. Guys,
00:36these are our cultural catalysts from Disney. Yeah. First up, we've got Brittany Macy's,
00:44the VP of Social Media and Influencer Partnerships from Hulu. Next up, we've got Whitney McGowan,
00:54the Director of Social Media at Onyx Collective. Welcome, Whitney. We got Megan Watara, the
01:03VP of Social Media and Synergy at Freeform. Heading into your busy time of year with Halloween
01:11and Christmas, of course. We got Ben Blatt. He's the Vice President of Digital Marketing
01:17at ABC Entertainment. Ben. And Abby Ho, the VP of Social Media and Engagement Strategy
01:24at Disney Branded Television. You can clap for yourself. Clap for everyone. Why not?
01:31Well, guys, thank you so much for coming. You know, it's been an interesting time, obviously,
01:37in marketing and utilizing social media and just the level of creativity that we've seen
01:42just in the past year, like she was mentioning on TikTok. It's really it's been a revolution
01:48in utilizing social media and coming up with these great creative ideas. And for any of
01:53you to start off, how do you now see how important is it to sort of come with that
01:58original killer idea, leaning into sort of what is trending on TikTok and the other social
02:05media platforms? And how do you take that and ideate it into something?
02:10So, yeah, I think I think I can take that one. So at Onyx Collective, and then for those
02:16of you who don't know Onyx Collective, it is a premium content brand under Disney Entertainment
02:22Television. And we curate stories from people of color, creators of color and underrepresented
02:29voices. And one of the titles that we worked on this year was Reasonable Doubt. And one
02:34of the ideas. Oh, love that. OK. Finale is this week. Make sure you tune in. But one
02:43of the one of the things that we saw for our target audience was that there was a lot of
02:48discussion, obviously, with this election and just an ongoing discussion about black
02:53women needing more representation, protection, just like, basically, we want to see more
03:00content praising black women. And so that was a lot of the content that we were seeing.
03:05That was a lot of the signals that we were seeing from a trend perspective. And so as
03:10black women are our target audience for the title, we came up with this idea of creating
03:14a piece with season two's two stars, Morgan or I'm sorry, I would say Morgan Freeman,
03:22Morris Chestnut and McKinley Freeman. And essentially, they wrote or like read an open
03:31letter directly to black women saying just that they are appreciated, that we are appreciated,
03:39that we are protected. And and it was a really powerful piece. And it became one of the most
03:44viewed and engaged pieces of this season. And you can cast Morgan Freeman, too, if you
03:49want. I would love to. Yeah, I mean, it's a lot of great content that's coming out.
03:55How to Die Alone is another show that. Yeah, really. Yeah. Shout out. Love this. Yeah.
04:02So and that's talent that I'm sure is really open to trying things and coming to you and
04:08saying, hey, how can I trend on social and what's it like working with talent and getting
04:13their permission to do some fun and sometimes crazy stuff? Yeah, I actually I want to kick
04:19that one to Megan, because there was a lot of great work that she did with Wayne Brady
04:24and at Onyx Collective. We don't just uplift. We work a lot cross-functionally to uplift
04:31all of the great creators of color across D.T. Disney Entertainment Television. And
04:36so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just to chime in with what Whitney was saying, we we just finished
04:41a show called Wayne Brady and the Family Remix, and it was like a very multilevel entry point.
04:46So Wayne Brady known for many things, but also his presence on TikTok. We partnered
04:51with Whitney and the Onyx team for audience. And and also it may not sound like rocket
04:55science, but at Disney, we all tap into each other's resources. We don't reinvent the wheel.
04:59So Whitney had a huge presence at something like Essence Fest, for example. So Wayne took
05:04over, did collective collaborations and takeovers across our dual social handles. And when I
05:11mentioned the dual entry points, you know, Wayne Brady might be an older audience, but
05:15he had the the show was about the family's presence and they had a huge presence on the
05:19platform for what it's worth. So we were able to capitalize on his his child, who is very
05:24Gen Z centric and being able to tap into current trends. And the whole campaign, quite frankly,
05:29was built on TikTok. And they were they were just an example of talent that got it on the
05:34platform. And people say that all the time, but it really helps to have that support and
05:38have that organic, you know, viewership on their own handles.
05:42Right, right. When they already have a following, that clearly helps. And then at that point,
05:47do you sort of have to lean into their ideas a little bit more because they they do know
05:52what their audience wants?
05:53Yeah, I think it's like, you know, it's obviously give and take. But we were happy to look into
05:58their ideas and partner with them. And I think we all talk about it collectively, like what
06:02is the right decision to figure out what talent wants to do versus what is right for a certain
06:07IP or property. And usually it's somewhere in the middle. I think that I hope I'm not
06:13speaking for just myself, but the team. But it's usually successful when it's a collaborative
06:17partnership versus anything forced or promotional. And so that usually does entail getting
06:22talent's buy in and talent's ideas and steering them in the proper direction.
06:27Yeah. And I think I can add to that on the Disney branded television side. So some of the
06:31brands that I represent and on our team are Disney Channel, Disney Junior, as well as
06:36the Disney television animation channels. And a lot of the properties we work with are
06:41kids and family centric properties. And part of what we do is we always have the lens of
06:46what makes sense for the audience that's following us, what types of trends make sense
06:50for the people that, you know, engage with our brands. And we always the better and
06:57clearer you are with what your point of view is as a brand and what your point of view
07:00is as a title or as a talent, you'll know which trends to adapt to and you'll know which
07:06trends are the right ones to to join that conversation in an earned way.
07:09Right. You can't just force yourself into that trend.
07:12Brittany. Yes.
07:14Let's talk about some Mormon wives.
07:19And their secret.
07:21Actually, I think Abby's team is dressing up as the Mormon wives for Halloween.
07:26Yeah, we have our Stanley Cups and like the whole sweatsuit thing.
07:31Yeah. Photos or it didn't happen.
07:33So keep us informed.
07:35But yeah, talk about I mean, this is obviously a group that was was born out of TikTok
07:42and social media. So take it from there.
07:45Yeah, I think this show is one where as we saw episodes come in, we got more and more
07:50excited about the opportunity here.
07:52And I think what's so great is they are so versed in TikTok themselves.
07:57That's obviously how they got established.
07:59So I think being able to leverage not only what they know works for the channels, but
08:04then also be able to use them as the backbone of our campaign is huge.
08:07I think for us, we saw great success leading up to the launch.
08:11We launched the first I think it was like five minutes of the first episode the day
08:16before and we got over 30 million views on that TikTok alone.
08:20And I mean, I'd like to hope that that drove people back into the show to binge it on
08:25Hulu. But yeah, I think, you know, leaning into them has been key.
08:30Not only were they, you know, helping us create content, but they also were kind of in
08:34the comments, egging on all the conversation and controversy, which I think really
08:39helped rise the tides there.
08:41Yeah. How does that work?
08:42Because that's great.
08:43Right. Until maybe it's not great.
08:45So how do you sort of work with talent on that?
08:48I mean, I would like to say it was great the whole time for us.
08:52We didn't step into anything.
08:53I mean, I know we have our Corp Comms team here, too, but I would like to think it was
08:59really like it all helped the whole campaign.
09:02Let Corp Comms handle it, you know.
09:04Yeah, yeah.
09:05I just got to be there for the flashy stuff.
09:07Exactly. The fun, the pretty stuff.
09:09But so so overall, I mean, what was your experience like in working with them and what
09:14were your expectations and sitting down with them and what were your surprises?
09:18What didn't you expect?
09:20Yeah, I think a surprising thing for me was just how much like that lo-fi content works.
09:26And I think for us, it's great that we have followers on our TikTok handle for Secret
09:31Lives of Mormon Wives, but it's even better that leaning into the algorithm that is
09:35TikTok, you can go beyond just a followership.
09:38You can find those audiences if you create really good content that moves on the
09:43platform and can really break through.
09:45And so I think that's something we saw and was really successful for us.
09:49Well, Abby, let's talk about when you have a piece of IP that is super popular that has
09:54a massive fan base like Percy Jackson.
09:57And when you're delivered that IP, there's so many opportunities, so many things that
10:02you can do. But also maybe there's parameters because it is IP that has sort of guard
10:06rails. So how do you attack something like that?
10:10That is a great question.
10:11When you're gifted something from Rick Riordan, who produced a series of novels, Percy
10:17Jackson, you're already kind of part of that community, right?
10:21At the end of the day, like this is an established fandom.
10:24There are people who have fallen in love with the books for years and you really have to
10:28do right by them.
10:29You have to honour that community and understand that fandom and really think and act
10:34like a fan. So I think the first step ultimately is what do they love about this
10:40property? How do you engage and how do you show up in that community and earn your space
10:43in that community? And for this campaign, right off the bat, we actually started, you
10:49know, our first beat of our campaign was we had a small street team at San Diego Comic
10:54Con dressed up as Camp Half-Blood, you know, counsellors.
10:57We quickly followed that up with a really great date announcement that was launched on
11:02Percy Jackson's birthday, which is a key fandom moment for the community to really earn
11:06our space, to be like, this is why we're here.
11:09We know this show, we know this brand and, you know, like you can trust us with this
11:13beloved property.
11:15And from there, we really kind of continued to deliver the goods.
11:18You know, we had a really active community engagement strategy week to week when we
11:22launched the show.
11:24We had a really deep BTS campaign which showcased a lot of the making of the series in
11:31a really fun, organic, social way, which actually, thank you to TikTok for helping us
11:35really push that narrative forward.
11:38We had like over a hundred pieces of BTS throughout the season.
11:42We even launched a watch party during the premiere week.
11:46There was just like an endless array of tactics to make sure that we always were on and
11:51delivering that conversation for the community.
11:55And I guess like at the end of the day, like the real learning is that we have to really
12:02put it through a fan lens and continue to, yeah, really engage them in that way, but
12:09also not narrowing it only to fans, you know, you have to be broad too.
12:12I think to echo, like that's one thing and I'm probably the newest on the group here,
12:17but we all have such deep fandoms within our properties, like big, small, but really
12:22longstanding franchises and seasons, even on the Freeform side that there's just this
12:27like social audience that is really amazing when you put it all together.
12:31You know, Ben can talk about the Golden Bachelor and that franchise, but it's just it's
12:35it's incredible when you see the ways that you can cross promote and the fandom,
12:39especially on TikTok for all these different legacy properties and new alike.
12:44I was also just going to say for like our library to like on Hulu, people are always
12:49discovering like Modern Family that comes back around.
12:52We work closely with Ben's team because they run the handles for Modern Family.
12:56We can then publish stuff, you know, cross promote across all of our brands, which I
13:02think is really important.
13:03So synergy for us is key.
13:05We are obviously always tapping into talent that appears on other projects.
13:09How can we utilize these fan bases that we've fostered and really kind of bring people
13:14more into the fold there as well?
13:16Yeah, I was going to say, you know, we were just talking about it's, you know, the
13:19Halloween movies, the Christmas movies.
13:22I mean, that's a huge part of what Freeform does at the end of the year.
13:25And that's sort of evergreen content that pops up every year.
13:28It is. And it's I mean, we were joking about the Demure trend when we came up here.
13:32But, you know, we did something Demure and Moana because we do air that property.
13:36And I think we saw like, you know, five million views in a matter of hours, literally.
13:41So it skewed our averages.
13:42And there you go. I'm going to be down next quarter when I have to report to leadership.
13:44But so it's you know, it's just it's a really great problem to have.
13:49So, Ben, that's really interesting that these legacy handles you're still managing like
13:53Modern Family, which has been off the air for quite a few years.
13:56But that's still an ABC property.
13:59And so you're able to kind of keep it alive, keep it going, which is fascinating, too.
14:04And especially there's there's so much interest in nostalgia.
14:08Is there opportunity and sort of looking back at some of your back catalog as well and
14:13resurfacing it? We're talking about, by the way, that Natasha Benefield song.
14:16I feel so old that you're talking about it.
14:18Call that an oldie now.
14:20But it is true.
14:21You can kind of go back to and look at your catalog and maybe resurface some things that
14:25could be the next big Tick-Tock trend.
14:28Yeah. And honestly, you have so much material to work from.
14:30I mean, we have a modern family.
14:31It's about 10 seasons or Black-ish.
14:33We have eight seasons of this amazing show this week, actually, on Tick-Tock.
14:36We're going to release a full episode of Black-ish kind of cut up in different segments
14:41from the Halloween episode with the goal of kind of getting discovery of people that may
14:45maybe they heard about it.
14:46Maybe they aren't sure if they know exactly what it is.
14:48But that discovery will drive viewership.
14:51We've seen that with so many of these different titles, whether it's The Office or
14:54different things with Modern Family, where people are discovering it for the first time.
14:57And we have the goods.
14:58We have all of this material that we know people will engage with.
15:01And the end goal is they'll watch it on Hulu.
15:03They'll watch it on our platforms.
15:05And it's just a big discovery mechanism, which we love.
15:07Oh, that's really interesting.
15:09So there's that. There's the classic stuff.
15:10But then, of course, Golden Bachelor was mentioned and there's all the current stuff,
15:14too. Now with the broadcast network in particular.
15:18That's obviously an older audience.
15:19But a lot of people are catching up on those shows on Hulu, younger people as well.
15:23So how do you attack that?
15:24And maybe audiences that aren't as proficient on social media, maybe you can find them
15:30and grab them. What is your relationship with those audiences like?
15:34I mean, the best opportunity that we have is to hit both audience kind of equally, but
15:38different. So we know that the Golden Bachelor audience is going to watch on Hulu.
15:41They're going to watch on ABC.
15:43So social media, we can hit them in different environments.
15:46Facebook obviously skews a little bit older and certain environments skew a little bit
15:49older so we can reach them there.
15:51But I think for us, I mean, with the Golden Bachelor and Golden Bachelorette in
15:54particular, you're reaching people that the relatability is timeless.
15:58You're hitting people that are in their 60s, their 70s.
16:00We worked with a bunch of grandfluencers that allowed us to kind of hit people where
16:04that's really a term.
16:05Grandfluencers. I'm sorry, I just had to say it again.
16:07We made it up. It's a real term.
16:09Hashtag grandfluencers.
16:10Although my son told me that we don't do hashtags anymore.
16:14They're still there. They'll always be there.
16:16OK, but you're hitting people where the relatability of someone at 65 looking for
16:20love really resonates with a 25 year old.
16:22So you're able to kind of get the spectrum of maybe somebody that will only watch on
16:26Hulu that will never pay for pay TV is going to see that content and watch it on
16:30Hulu. But somebody else that's 45 will also see it and have the same reaction.
16:33So I think we're trying to make sure that we can reach the broadest audience and have
16:37them have the takeaway of whatever it might be.
16:39But we kind of have the opportunity to hit more people than we otherwise would if it
16:43was only linear TV.
16:44I'm wondering, what are you guys finding that people really gravitate to in terms of
16:49just the content on social media, on TikTok?
16:51Are there certain things that elements that stand out, you know, musical numbers,
16:57performances? What sort of do people kind of or is it just show by show?
17:01Like, I feel like that's like an impossible question to answer because it varies so
17:06much. But I do think that one of the things that I've really found with TikTok over
17:12the last couple of years and how it's really changed the trajectory of my career and
17:17like how I approach titles and launches is because of this idea of just less is more.
17:24Like you can you can just cut one clip and put the right context over it and that will
17:30go viral. You can have one section of a marketing shoot that is just clipped and
17:36everyone goes crazy. So I think there's that.
17:38But what I really wanted to talk about was influencers.
17:42And I think it's it's interesting how much they have changed the landscape.
17:48And I really attribute that to TikTok and just the ability of how they have really
17:56created a space where the content is more lo-fi.
17:59It's so therefore we're looking for more BTS.
18:02The content is more like real.
18:04So we're looking for more moments where talent can come and talk directly on camera.
18:08So I think there's just like, I mean, I think it's still an impossible question, but I
18:12think there's some really great trends out there showing the signals.
18:15Talk about your outreach to influencers and how does that work?
18:18And, you know, what are you finding now?
18:21Yeah, I was just going to say, even like we know how important word of mouth marketing
18:25is. And I think outside of your friends and family, the next trusted person is really
18:30those creators and influencers you follow.
18:33And so I think to that point, like that is such an opportunity for us.
18:36And so we've scaled quite a bit on especially I think all of us have.
18:41I think every campaign almost has an influencer lens attached to it, working closely
18:46with those creators to make sure we're able to like authentically show up to Whitney's
18:50point, lo-fi content really breaking through.
18:53And we know that that works for them.
18:55And getting those messages out this we had seen quite a bit on TikTok of those people
19:00that tell you like what to watch that's new on Hulu.
19:03And so we were like, how do we work with them to really actually highlight some of that
19:07library? And so the new content coming, whether it's on Onyx or ABC across all of our
19:13platform partners and then also our Hulu originals.
19:16And so we were able to work with like an ongoing every month.
19:19We would seed out, OK, these are our priority titles that we really want to make sure
19:22people know are coming to Hulu and working with these trusted voices.
19:26And that's been key for us.
19:28This is the point where I mentioned that Variety has a thriving TikTok account, by the
19:31way, that has millions of subscribers.
19:34So do check it out.
19:36All right. Back to the panel.
19:38So, yeah. So where are you guys finding?
19:41Yeah, yeah, I think one of my the trend, I totally agree with everything Whitney and
19:45Brittany just said.
19:47I think from another trend that I've been noticing is that ultimately like big picture
19:51content is marketing.
19:53And at the end of the day, and I think it doesn't matter how you shoot it.
19:56It doesn't matter how you deliver it.
19:57At the end of the day, you have to be entertaining and you have to have a reason to get
20:01the audience to care.
20:03So and I think what that means is that it looks different for every campaign when you do
20:06that. Right. Like what is the moment that makes you stop your thumb?
20:10Right. Like that's really what you're thinking about for everything you create.
20:13And then within that, once you're getting them to stop their thumb, like why do they
20:17stay? Right. And I think about those two things as the formula for every piece of creative
20:22that comes forward. And that could be a person talking.
20:25That could be, you know, Moon Girl, you know, popping into your screen.
20:29It could also be, you know, a dance challenge, you know, like you were talking about.
20:34It can be whatever it is that makes you stop.
20:37And it has to be done in the right context, the right distribution that feels earned.
20:42So what I mean by that is like you can't just post a demure trend if your channel didn't
20:47make sense for you to post that.
20:48Right. Like so Disney Channel, we posted the demure trend and we used a character from
20:52the Descendants franchise, which makes sense for that fandom.
20:56And it has to feel aligned, you know.
20:59Right. It can't feel desperate or like a big corporate entity trying.
21:03You can't try. Yeah.
21:05Yeah. And, you know, I always find I find it amusing that the lo-fi trend, because you
21:11all like, you know, you went to big schools.
21:13You learned a lot in the marketing business.
21:15And this is kind of antithetical to everything you learned.
21:18Right. In terms of production and what you were supposed to do.
21:21I argue with that sometimes, like I truly believe and you'll hear me say this.
21:25It's like I don't always believe that, you know, lo-fi, like there's a lot of strategy
21:30work and a lot of thought in terms of the creative process.
21:35So even if you are capturing it with your phone, the strategy, the context, the you
21:39know, what they're saying in the video, how they're saying it, how they're doing that
21:42dance just is that those are the details.
21:46Those are the nuances.
21:47So maybe you're compromising on the vehicle you're filming it on, but the creative
21:54itself still has a lot of thought and strategy.
21:57I feel like lo-fi is just like the way of describing it.
22:00Right. But like it isn't like every meme.
22:03Right. Exactly.
22:04It's not low effort, like every meme we we think about forever and we like we go through
22:10rounds and rounds of approvals.
22:11And even when we're just looking at unit photography and we just like trying to figure
22:15out what is it about this, like what the audience is saying, that this is translating
22:20so that we can make sure that we're jumping into that conversation.
22:23So I do think that it's important that we do make that distinction, that it may it may
22:30be titled lo-fi, but it does take a lot.
22:32You guys are working hard.
22:33You guys are doing a lot.
22:35It's not easy to do what you're doing.
22:37Absolutely. So congratulations to all of you.
22:41I mean, you all have such great success stories to talk about this year, which was why it
22:44was great to have you up here and to celebrate you as the catalyst of creativity.
22:50So thank you very much.
22:51The people of Disney.