Show Launch, Marketing and Merch for Netflix Animation
The Challenge
Twelve Forever was a show created for a pilot program for Cartoon Network that had garnered millions of views on YouTube and become a viral sensation. Our work in launching the show was not only to bring awareness of this quirky tween coming of age story to wider audiences, but to serve as a flagship for the newly launching Netflix animation studios and their growing and diversifying development slate.
The Audience
Twelve Forever’s audience ranged from elementary students to cartoon buffs in their mid-thirties with common interests of creativity, inclusivity, morality, and authenticity. Personal identity and being true to one’s nature were thematic to the show even from the pilot stage, and we saw these are draws from early tests and audience reactions.
The Approach
Because of the audience’s alignment with and hunger for authenticity and creativity, we created a variety of low cost and giveaway promotional merch and urged fans to share their joy and enthusiasm for the show on their social platforms and to share their shots with us. We firmly believed that the fans were the heart of this show, having demanded its existence from the pilot days, so we felt strongly they would once again be the strongest means of marketing the series.
Results
Twelve Forever was shared by diehard fans and newfound enthusiasts the world over and debuted in the top ten in multiple territories, garnering ample critical acclaim, and was green lit by Netflix for a second season, a relative rarity at that point in the streamer’s development pipeline.
