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Entertainment Marketing: Movies, TV, Music and Gaming Star Wars Marketing

How brands wished Star Wars fans a happy May the 4th

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By John McCarthy | Opinion Editor

May 4, 2017 | 13 min read

It is May the 4th again, a date synonymous with the Star Wars franchise on the merely coincidental fact it sounds like May the Force (be with you) – a cornerstone quote upon which the series is anchored upon.

Star Wars May the Fourth

May the Fourth

As a result, the Disney marketing powerhouse has cranked into full gear to offer the series – and its sponsors – full exposure in the run up to the launch of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in mid-December by celebrating a completely fabricated day.

With The Force Awakens and Rogue One already proving that the series has a powerful draw to brands, today the brands incited nostalgia and underlined select initiatives.

The Star Wars website actually credits Margaret Thatcher's UK election victory in 1979, the Conservative Party took out a half page ad in the London Evening News with a message reading "May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations".

Here’s how brands celebrated it on Twitter.

NHL

PlayStation

Jameson Whiskey

Discover Ireland

Reebok

Volkswagen

Wicked

Lego

Nascar

Rolls-Royce

MLBPAA

Nokia

PGA

Manchester City

Mercedes-Benz

Cisco

Lenovo

Logitech

Walt Disney World

Transport Canada

Morph

Nasa

John Legere, T Mobile CEO

Disney

Toyota Racing

The takeaways: Sports teams and franchises appear to have larger social budgets, above is only a handful of the many examples in which athletes wield Star Wars memorabilia. There were also more gifs than ever before.

Check out last year's comparison – if you can handle any more Star Wars creative.

Entertainment Marketing: Movies, TV, Music and Gaming Star Wars Marketing

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