Miss Piggy promotes The Muppets by talking to fans on Facebook Messenger
Disney is tapping into the personality of The Muppets' most outgoing character to drive the conversation about the new ABC series featuring the popular characters by allowing fans to message Miss Piggy on Facebook Messenger.
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Facebook Messenger users will be able to converse with The Muppets star while Miss Piggy is in hair and makeup preparing for the day?s show. The show?s plot line lends itself to this unique marketing push, as it is a mock-reality show following a late night television series, which creates an opportunity to bring fans into its content.
"People love the Muppets because they identify with the various characters," said Debbie McClellan, vice president at The Muppets Studio. "Everyone knows a funny guy like Fozzie Bear, a crazy guy like The Great Gonzo and a diva like Miss Piggy.
"This campaign takes that connection to the next level," she said. "Now, for the first time anywhere, fans can truly interact with these characters, in real time, one-on-one.
"This is not a big online chatroom where you hope your question will be answered; this is a chance to connect with your favorite personality and ask them almost anything. Miss Piggy, of course, wanted to go first because, according to her research, she is everybody?s favorite."
Miss Piggy messages
Facebook Messenger users will be able to view the content from Miss Piggy?s Facebook page and also converse with her on certain days of the week from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. The program is a technology solution from Imperson, which generates responses personalized to a conversation with the specific user.
The campaign is an extension of the series, an effort to continue to entertain and engage followers beyond the scripted show.
The conversations are true to Miss Piggy?s character on the show and focus on her love of fame and conceited personality.
While The Muppets have remained an icon in pop culture as a children?s brand, the new series on ABC targets an older demographic, playing on nostalgia since fans of the original show have grown. The series has gained notoriety with its primetime content, and is hoping to raise even more awareness through its mobile messaging campaign.
The campaign started on Dec. 7 and will be running while the show is on the air.
Mobile messaging matchups
Similarly, Universal Studios hoped to drive sales for the 30th-anniversary edition of the Back to the Future film through an interactive Facebook messaging campaign in which users can converse with the Doc Brown character from the franchise (see more).
Also, the same film studio engaged more than 100,000 consumers and drove awareness for recent horror film Unfriended by enabling users of the Facebook Messenger application to communicate with one of the movie?s characters (see more).
"We wanted this to be on a limited basis, because it is an exclusive opportunity," Ms. McClellan said. "As for why Monday, Wednesday and Friday, well, you don?t just drop in on a diva.
"We had to work around Miss Piggy?s extremely busy schedule, not just her work on The Muppets and Up Late with Miss Piggy," she said. "But also her beauty naps, photo ops and spa treatments."
Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer