High School Musical - taylor herring - public relations - media, music & entertainment brands

Case Study: High School Musical
Client: Walt Disney Television

“Anticipation for the screening has been built with near-military precision - as music videos, public appearances and internet trailers fuel fans' fervour.”
BBC Online

Our Brief
• We have worked alongside the Disney Channel in-house team on the High School Musical brand since early 2006 – handling promotion and PR activity and two European premiers Our Remit.

• To create positive media interest and excitement in the films prior to the premiere and cast arrival and in the run up to transmission Place positioning pieces in key opinion forming press to kick start the campaign To create mainstream press and broadcast coverage and generate buzz, directing people to all formats of High School Musical.

• Handling press junkets and press conferences for all cast members To co-ordinate and handle the artist time while in London with continual liaison with the American studio, agents and publicists.

• To coordinate all press, both domestic and international for the Premieres – in Leicester Square (2006) and the O2 Arena (2007) Running the red carpet and booking celebrities Creation of VIP screenings and regional events In store activity and Oxford Street signings Online and viral promotion.

Coverage
• Mass national coverage including a full page article in Sunday Times Culture four weeks prior to the premiere positioning the film, the cover of The Times T2 with a double page spread inside.

• An eight hour press junket with six cast members and 15 separate national newspaper and magazine interviews throughout the day.

• The lead story on BBC’s Newsround with a following seven minute branded feature.

• Origination and presentation of a Guinness World Record which resulted in global press coverage.

• Overwhelming attendance of the West End Premiere with 15 TV crews, 17 radio crews and 24 photographers on the red carpet.

Results
Since it first aired in January 2006, Disney’s made-for-TV movie High School Musical has broken records left, right and centre. A global smash hit, it has been remade as a staged concert, as a full theatre musical, and High School Musical on Ice starts touring the US at the end of this month. Musically, it has produced a Billboard no. 1 album, and at one point most of the songs in iTunes’ Top 10 downloads were all from the musical. The movie itself, which has seen frequent repeats on UK screens, has also spawned singalong and dancealong versions which continue to be huge draws to the Disney Channel on both sides of the Atlantic.

Disney Channel UK's premiere of High School Musical 2 became its best rated show ever. The premiere pulled in 1.2 million individuals with an 8.4% audience share across multichannel homes. Over its two-hour slot its audience peaked at 1.3 million. An average of 750,000 kids - an audience share of 38.4% - tuned in for the premiere, giving the channel the biggest audience among kids on Friday, beating EastEnders and Coronation Street. High School Musical 2 pushed Disney Channel UK's audience day share to 19.8%, its best ever among kids across multichannel homes. The channel's four showings for the movie saw a collective 1.74 million viewers tuning in, with overnight figures reporting that 1 million were kids aged 4-15.

The DVD broke sales records when 1.2 million copies were sold in its first six days making it the fastest-selling television movie of all time.

What The Client Said
“I just wanted to thank you and the team for an amazing result on High School Musical… I think you got the best result we could possibly hope for. And coverage still coming in I'm glad to see!”
Siobhan Kenny, Vice President - Communications
Walt Disney Television EMEA

back to case studies menu