Can you believe it has been nearly 20 years since the original Mean Girls movie was released?
Fans of the movie hoping to take a trip down memory lane and revisit the film may have got more than they bargained for with the release of a new version of Mean Girls this year (January 2024).
Many fans rushed out to see the movie, but the majority seemed to have the same comment- “Wait…it’s a musical?!”
So, was this ambiguity planned by the marketing team? And what other marketing tricks did they have up their sleeve? Keep reading to find out!
Mean Girls Musical
‘People tend to treat musicals differently’.
This is what Marc Weinstock, Paramount’s president of global marketing and distribution, said in a recent interview with Variety when asked if he intentionally avoided advertising the movie as a musical (the new release is an adaptation of the original movie, and the Broadway musical, which is also coming to London this summer).
He noted the recent releases of Wonka and The Color Purple, which are also musicals, not being overly explicit about this fact in their trailers.
By adopting this approach, the hope was that the film would appeal to a larger audience, with Weinstock calling it instead a ‘broad comedy with music’.
This decision has caused a lot of confused, frustrated and humorous conversations to play out amongst fans on social media, with some sharing the confusion they felt in the cinema when characters started bursting into song.
Some fans also took offence at the original tagline for the film- ‘This is not your mother’s Mean Girls’. As Weinstock states in his interview, ‘People took it literally. “What do you mean? I’m not a mom!” We moved away from that and toward “A new twist from Tina Fey.”’
If you want to check out the original trailer to see where all the confusion started check it out below:
Adding Social Media into the Movie
One important difference in this remake is the role that social media now plays in teenagers’ lives. A difference that the directors Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. were not shy in highlighting in the movie musical.
According to their interview with Rolling Stones, the duo prepared for the movie by talking with Gen Z theatre kids in Canada to learn about the latest lingo and social media obsessions.
This then inspired the film’s use of TikTok and smartphones which were weaved into the story to reflect the present day.
Jayne said, ‘None of us wanted to overdo the phone, but I think it’s really important to speak the language of teens now.’
This also resulted in cameos from influencers like Chris Olsen, Alan Chikin Chow, Nia Sioux, and The Merrell Twins.
Product Placement
Another part of the film that fans did not like was its heavy use of product placement. In particular, the recurring use of e.l.f cosmetics.
According to the New York Post, viewers took to TikTok to express their frustration with one user commenting ‘Had that long elf ad before the movie and then the movie itself was another long elf ad.’
Another added, ‘My name is regina george and I am a massive (brand) deal (for elf).’
Their frustrations show that more care is needed by brands who make deals to feature their products in films. This is because if the balance isn’t right of how often they are featured and the actual film story itself, fans will notice, and it could backfire on both the film and the brands featured.
But on the other hand, it has got everyone talking about the products all over TikTok so they might have been going for the old saying, ‘any press is good press’. I guess it remains to be seen whether the positives outweigh the negatives on this campaign.
Marketing Initiatives
Finally, there were a few unique ways that the marketing team used to get people ready for the film release.
Last year on the iconic October 3rd date, Paramount released the original film on TikTok in 23 separate clips. At the time, it may have seemed like a nice ode to the original but looking back many believe it was a way to introduce Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha to the film to prep them for the movie musical.
Nods to the original film was also used in the marketing strategy for the new remake. As Weinstock states in his Variety interview, ‘We used odes to it, like a bus ad that says, “Look both ways, Regina!” It’s a funny line for those who know, and those who don’t know want to investigate it.’
Check it out here:
Finally, fans of the original film did get to see how some of their favourite characters were doing in a Walmart commercial that aired last year for Black Friday.
It worked as a mini nod to the Mean Girls universe and helped to get Mean Girls back into the thoughts and hearts of many ahead of the new film release.
This was a great example of nostalgia marketing (which Escapade has explained in more detail in a recent blog post).
If you want to find out what happened to some of the main characters, check out the commercial below:
Summary
I think with any remake or extension of a film universe there will always be mixed reviews. Especially when you put a musical twist on things (although the majority of Escapade do LOVE a musical!).
However, this case example is a really interesting study to see the different routes a marketing team will go down to try and reach a broader audience.
If you want to check out more movie marketing campaigns, check out Escapade’s blog on the Barbie Movie: 5 Consumer PR Strategies that Have Won Fans’ Hearts!
In need of a consumer PR agency? Click through to our Contact page, we would love to hear from you!
Sources
https://variety.com/2024/film/features/mean-girls-movie-musical-marketing-strategy-1235867996/
Blog Cover Photo: 9dreamstudio/istockphoto.com
