When Muppets storm the web for a noble cause, who can resist?
Unless you’re utterly allergic to pink piglet divas and sensible frogs, you probably enjoyed The Muppet Show and its various iterations. Earlier last year, our friends from Disney (which acquired The Muppets in 2004) asked us to come up with an idea to kick off their new campaign: “Give a Day, Get a Disney Day.” The idea is simple and heart-warming: give a day of your time, volunteering with one of the hundreds of charities registered with Points of Light (http://www.pointsoflight.org/), and in exchange you’ll get a free day at Disney Land Resort or Walt Disney World.
We (in partnership with our sister company Vanksen USA) came up with a crazy concept (in line with our Muppet heroes), in which the Muppets personally ask you to help others – and possibly destroy a website or two along the way. We won’t ruin the surprise and tell you about the film before you watch it, but if you’re interested, check it out at www.disneyparksgive.com/customize.php.
This concept was just as crazy to produce, sending us from Disney Studios in California (that was the nice part), to our animation shop in NY – not to mention Europe and Japan, for technology bits and pieces. The result was a multi-layer interactive campaign that surprises viewers, even after viewing it a second, or third, time! (That’s a hint).
One interesting component is a video teaser we created exclusively for bloggers, where Kermit promotes your blog (http://www.disneyparksgive.com/spread-embed.php). We also came up with embeddable banners, personalized email, etc.
The campaign launched in early January, but its results continue to amaze us. While we can’t provide traffic details, it’s pretty obvious the Muppets rule the web: several hundred blogs have adopted the video, and the volunteer spirit is spreading fast. Rumor has it that Disney is well on its way to tackling the 1 million volunteers it aimed to enlist.
Stays tuned for more Muppets extravaganza as the story keeps unfolding – and yes, feel free to spread the spirit if you’re in the mood to do something good (http://www.disneyparksgive.com/spread-email.php)!
