GOOD GOD ABOVE, Wicked is everywhere. 💚🩷

For months, it’s been a full-frontal media assault to promote the movie remake of the musical that premiered more than 20 years ago, based on the book that came out nearly 30 years ago — that honestly probably needed a quarter of the coverage it did to get people excited and into theaters to see it.

Maybe I’ve been especially tuned into it because I’m a) Chronically Online and 2) a Person Who Likes Musical Theatre

Everywhere I turn… 

Here a tie-in.
There a tie-in.
Everywhere a tie. in.

☕️ Ever wake up in the morning? Starbucks has branded cups, gift cards, and an absolutely vile drink called “Elphaba’s Brew” with cold brew, peppermint syrup, matcha cold foam, and green sprinkles. (I tried it so you don’t have to.)

🤔 Part of the blue-plate special club? There was a Jeopardy! category for you. (I got all but one right.)

🪮 Hair on your head? Conair has :checks notes: both green and pink hair dryers.
And more headbands than you can shake a stick at. (I would look stupid in all of them.)

🧦 Have feet? Bombas has Wicked socks.
I shit you not. (And…#wouldbuy. Dammit.)

LEGO. Funko Pop. OPI. Crocs. Lexus. Target. Vera Bradley. Build-a-Bear. Stanley. (But also, of course Stanley.)

(Reading this and feeling called to drink? Well, stir yourself up an Ozmopolitan from Absolut Vodka.)

FOUR HUNDRED BRAND PARTNERSHIPS, y’all. And that’s not even touching the media appearances.

So…

🎵 What is this feeling, so sudden and new? 🎵 

Loathing! Un-a-dul-terated loathing!

Apparently this strategy has a name: culture jacking. (Barbie did it too!)

And apparently Universal spent a gravity-defying $150 million on it. Consider it jacked, guys.

Two reasons I’m not mad:

1️⃣ Marketing is an exercise in repetition. 

Brands aren’t Command Strips. You need to be persistently in people’s business (with relevance and value) to become sticky.

The marketing “rule of seven” reportedly emerged in the 1930s, when Hollywood studios realized they needed to promote their films to people at least seven times to get them to theaters. 

Now multiply that by 2024… Yet another argument for having a rock-solid, super-consistent message.

 2️⃣ People see different stuff.

The days of a couple of TV networks and a limited number of brands making the things we need are over. (Clearly.)

We are bingeing. Niched. Pigeonholed. Hive minded. Cornered like screaming possums by algorithms desperate to rope us into fandoms and allegiances and keep us glued 24 hours a day. 

But the haircare girlies may not be tuned into LEGO.

Crocs people might never become Bombas people.

Folks who don’t love musicals but are super into hot sauce (?) might have seen Ariana Grande on Hot Ones and decided they were impressed enough by her Lorde-level spice tolerance enough to see the movie.

The landscape of awareness is staggeringly vast, so…there are bases to be covered, right?

My thought for you today is this: If you think you’re making people crazy sharing your consistent message across multiple platforms, or that it’s overkill to send regular emails to your list, or that folks will get sick of you if you put yourself out there…

And more than that… You’re not. It’s not. And they won’t. 

If you have a product or service or message you think will resonate with your dream customers, share it all over this Shiz. 

And if you still worry it’s too much…
Well, at least you’re not Wicked.