One film that’s been on everybody’s mind recently is the new movie adaptation of Wicked. The movie stars, Ariana Grande as Glinda (aka the Good Witch), Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (aka the Wicked Witch of the West), Jonathan Bailey (your favorite Bridgerton Bachelor) playing Prince Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Oz, and finally Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible.
The marketing for this film has been off the charts, and it’s hard to go anywhere without seeing a single sign of the film with its numerous brand collaborations and TikTok interview parodies. Here are some of my standouts from Wicked’s marketing campaign.
R.E.M. Beauty X WICKED
Starting strong we have a collaboration with Grande’s makeup brand R.E.M. Beauty. With the release of the film, she also decided to release limited edition makeup palettes and merchandise that accurately reflect the colors and traits of the main characters of the film. She does this by packaging the products in both pink and green along with the shades she decides to include in palettes.
Stanley X WICKED
Next up, we have the Stanley x Wicked Collaboration, which is exclusively being sold at Target. This limited-time collaboration includes two exclusive Stanleys, one pink, and one green to represent Glinda and Elphaba. This collaboration has especially been successful, with these Stanleys being sold out in most, if not all, the Targets that were selling them.
Bloomingdale’s X Wicked
Arguably, one of the biggest collaborations that the Wicked film has had, Bloomingdale’s Wicked collaboration has Wicked-inspired products in almost every area whether that be apparel, jewelry, glassware, and travel luggage. In addition to the variety in their products, there have also been some incredible window displays Bloomingdale’s has put up while also promoting the film.
ALDO X Wicked
The final collaboration that stood out to me is the Aldo x Wicked collaboration. After the Bloomingdale’s x Wicked collaboration, this one is definitely on a larger scale as well. With this collaboration, Aldo made various pieces in the iconic pink and green colors often associated with the movies, but each piece has its unique elements to represent the two main characters better. An example is how Glinda is represented by pink heels with bows while Elphaba is represented by black Heels with gold witch hats on the strap.
In addition to these iconic brand collaborations, another way Wicked has stood out in its marketing is through the many interviews Grande and Erivo have been a part of. With these interviews, many viewers could better understand who Grande and Erivo were as people and the process of becoming Glinda and Elphaba. Because of this, the curiosity about what the film would be like definitely grew, especially with how big Grande and Erivo’s fandoms are. As a product of these interviews also comes the parodies and memes that people make out of them since, in many of the interviews, Grande and Erivo almost always get emotional at some point. Personally, my TikTok For You page has recently been filled with these interview parodies only making me more curious about the film and why the two main actresses react like that in every single interview.
One of the final ways the marketing for Wicked has stuck out to me is through the seamless integration of the film into TV commercials. This can be seen in various TV commercials for Android, Lexus, and Google Pixel brands.
Overall, the marketing campaign for Wicked has been stellar with the various brand collaborations, the many interviews the main cast has done, and the seamless integration of the film into TV commercials. I believe that the marketing for this film has stood out, especially because of one thing. That one thing is that the Wicked team truly knows their audience. They know what their interests are, the media they consume, their age range, and what they look for when it comes to merchandise and products related to the film. All of this knowledge has led to one of the most iconic marketing campaigns for any film that will be the blueprint for decades to come.