Disney Uses Nostalgia to Draw Millennials with €˜Adventures in Babysitting’ Remake
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Disney Uses Nostalgia to Draw Millennials with ‘Adventures in Babysitting’ Remake 06.24.2016 With the launch of its 100th original movie Adventures in Babysitting, Disney Channel is turning to social media to reach a millennial audience that enjoyed the 1987 comedy. The remake goes hand in hand with Disney's airing of its original movies over the course of four weeks, beginning with the first one Under Wraps from 1977, and including 51 movies over Memorial Day weekend followed by another 48 throughout a June marathon. "There is a very clear and direct connection with the millennial audience, and there's this nostalgia connection with the kids who grew up with us many years ago," Richard Loomis, SVP and CMO, Disney Channels Worldwide, told Adweek. Adventures in Babysitting seeks that same connection. "Millennials love this movie, and this is their chance to connect this movie and Disney Channel with a new generation, and hopefully their family, friends and kids," he said. The original Adventures in Babysitting starred Elisabeth Shue as a teen babysitter who takes the kids she's watching on an adventure around Chicago. Disney's remake features Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson as two babysitters who engage in a similar storyline. Loomis and his team created 27 different promos for the Adventures in Babysitting remake, which were deployed Wednesday across social media channels as a #ThrowBackThursday. Disney is also using YouTube preroll ads with content from both the new and old films to reach '80s and '90s-loving millennials. During the premiere on Friday, the network hosted a livestream on YouTube featuring stars from the film, along with extended content posted across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine. Disney began its campaign by deploying promoted Facebook posts aimed at starting conversations with millennials when AMC rebroadcast the original Adventures in Babysitting about a month ago. "Social is critical," Loomis said of Disney's marketing strategy. Disney is also tapping into the existing audience on sister network Freeform, which has run promos on air and on social media, launched a 10-minute sneak peak on its app, and is creating themed promos highlighting babysitting moments from hit family comedies including Modern Family, black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat. "Nobody does millennials better than Freeform," Loomis said. "Both in terms of linear and social, they have been great partners with us." RELATED: ABC Family Believes Freeform Will Broaden Millennial Brand And the network ran trailers in more than 4,600 theaters during the previews for Disney-owned film Finding Dory to capture millennial viewers who loved Finding Nemo. Loomis and his team also launched geo-targeted activations on Snapchat in select theaters. Disney is not the first network to use a nostalgic strategy to reach the 18-34-year-old demographic. Netflix used a similar tactic with its Fuller House reboot of Full House, along with its debut of the The Ranch which reunites That '70s Show's Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson. Both series are aimed at family-friendly millennial audiences, and are meant to evoke fond childhood memories of sitting on the couch with mom and dad for lighthearted laughs - and wanting to share that experience with kids of their own. Disney is also not a stranger to millennial-focused reboots after launching the Boy Meets World revival Girl Meets World in 2014, but the marketing strategy used two years ago no longer fits. As Disney experiments with ways to capture this sought-after audience, the network finds inself in new territory. "Things are changing incredibly quickly." Loomis said. "So I wouldn't say there's any blueprint in terms of what we did in the past." RELATED: Winter TCA 2016: Netflix Rides the Wave of Nostalgia With "Fuller House" Netflix Believes Family-Friendly Shows Will Fill Void READ MORE: Adweek [Image via Adweek].