Fan Love

Your brand is nothing without your fanbase, and you must do all you can to let them know how much you love ‘em. If a fan takes time out of their day to draw their favorite character from their favorite show, posts it to their Social accounts, and then tag you in it, you had best let them know they’re being appreciated for it. And when you aren’t showcasing their work, you can also give them activities to keep them engaging with your brand in new and different ways.

Fan Art Showcases

I created the successful #satARTday campaign, where Disney XD featured a selection of fan-created artwork across all its Social handles. Whether it’s a single image, a slideshow carousel on Instagram, or even going BIG and dropping 30+ images into a 60-second video, the fans return our appreciation for being tagged and receiving the “Disney Seal of Approval” (from a guy sitting in the second-tallest building in Burbank). This was carried over onto the Disney TVA pages, and still does wonders for strengthening the connection between the brand and its most passionate fans.

Storyboard Challenges

Originally an idea from one of our Show Teams, these Storyboard Challenges provide fans with the rare opportunity to participate creatively in stories based on their favorite series. A Storyboard Artist from the show designs a multi-panel comic-strip type layout, leaving specific text and image fields blank. These are then posted for fans to screengrab, fill out with their own genius ideas, upload using our hashtag, and then get shared a few days later in our showcases. It’s like a Mad Lib taken to the Disneyeth degree!

Cosplay

If you climb one level above Fan Art, you’ll find yourself in the world of Cosplay. While much the attention is centered around events like Comic-Con, it’s really a year-round lifestyle for the most passionate and industrious fans. On top of showcasing the Cosplayers at conventions (in which I walk the floor seeking them out, Depiction Releases in hand), I make sure to reward their loyalty on a regular basis, to help grow their own audiences and spread the Disney love!

Fan Reactions

Going into a “Star vs. The Forces of Evil” Q&A in Los Angeles, I learned that the producers planned on giving the audience a sneak peek at the updated Main Title/Theme Song for the new season. Knowing from experience that the fans would lose their s**t, I set up a camera facing them and captured their real-time response to seeing the clip. The reaction video was posted shortly after the release of the Main Title itself, and even received a “dab of approval” from a Hekapoo cosplayer!

Cosplayer-Made Cake Pops

I met two enthusiastic “Star vs. The Forces of Evil” fans at San Diego Comic-Con a few years back, and would go on to see them at numerous events related to the series (always in amazing cosplay). Realizing they were passionate fans - who also lived in the LA area - I reached out to see if they’d be interested in shooting some “DIY” videos in our studio. They jumped on the idea, and that was before I even threw in that we’d give them sneak peeks at upcoming character/prop designs to enhance their cosplay. By the way, you don’t even know what that means to the cosplayer community… This allowed them to be “first to market” with their next rounds of show-accurate costumes, which is fandom gold. And because they are well-known in the fan community, we received a lot of positive feedback for featuring “some of their own.” We’ve gone on to hire them for multiple projects, furthering the connection with our fans. Best of all, the Cake Pops were delicious!

Caption This!

Besides being amazing artists, fans are also hilarious writers. A simple way of showcasing this is via “Caption This” CTAs. It’s one thing to let the comments pile up and go ignored, but highlighting the best and funniest via a follow-up post about creates another fan-brand connection. This means combing through as many as 1,500 comments and whittling it down to 10, and creating 10 images sharing their captions. I’ve seen the featured fans respond that it’s made their day and caused them to scream in the middle of class… and that’s a win.