Disney Epic Mickey 2 - PR Case Study

Standing out from the crowd is hard at the best of times, but the festive season sees the competition get fiercer than ever, even for a brand like Disney. Launching their new video game Epic Mickey 2 to an already saturated market was a challenge we were ready to rise to. Celebrating the forgotten characters of Disney, this game had the potential to appeal to both older and younger generations. So how do you capture the imagination of a consumer market? Our campaign sought to bring the Disney magic to life through a once in a lifetime event.

Taking ownership of a coveted space at Westfield Stratford, we planned an event designed to cut through the noise of our competition. Referencing the theme of Epic Mickey 2, which focussed on forgotten Disney characters, we sourced never before seen illustrations from the Disney Archives in LA and flew them to London to create a pop-up gallery. We brought in an official Disney illustrator to draw the iconic characters, game stations for attendees to have a first play of the game as well as a virtual graffiti wall to complete the two-day event which was hosted by TV presenters Dick and Dom, ensuring entertainment for adults and children alike.

Now it was time to spread the word. Along with securing coverage of the gallery in popular publications such as Time Out, the Evening Standard and BBC London, we also hosted an online competition to attend the event as a VIP to build awareness and excitement ahead of the opening and distributed invites to celebrities, national, broadcast and children’s media.

Our campaign proved that you are never too old to relive your childhood, with over 2,000 attendees, many of which were young families of young and older Disney fans. With coverage in national publications including The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, BBC Online, METRO and Evening Standard as well as broadcast features on London Tonight and LBC radio, the buzz around the event was palpable. This was complemented by an exclusive feature secured with The Sunday Times Magazine, following an exclusive trip arranged by us to LA to see the Disney Archives for themselves and meet the team who painstakingly preserve the priceless sketches and worked to create the visuals for the video game. This resulted in a 5-page feature on the launch of Epic Mickey 2 – the first of its kind in this publication for a video game launch. Most importantly, Epic Mickey 2 was one of the top selling video games in the run up to Christmas.