4 marketing takeaways from ‘The Peanuts Movie’

The creative team behind the movie’s communications efforts hit a homerun with peanutizeme.com. Learn why it’s been successful.

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“The Peanuts Movie” hit theaters Nov. 6. I don’t have small children and I won’t go see this movie in the theaters.

I don’t read parenting websites and even though I’ve always loved Charlie Brown, I had no idea they were making this movie. I’m not exactly the target demographic.

So how did I find out and why does it matter? The Peanutizeme.com tool allows you to, as Charles Schulz once said, “put a bit of yourself” into the characters.

The creative team behind the movie marketing has created a tool that allows you to create your own Peanuts character. The spread of the tool and its creations across my social media streams was lightning fast. That said, there are always lessons for marketers, so stop having a good time and let’s get learning.

Lesson 1: Nostalgia always matters

Would we be talking about or seeing this tool if it were for the movie “Pixels?” Part of the reason this tool spread so fast and works so well is we all know Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. Most people don’t even know the little red haired girl’s name—it’s Heather; you’re welcome—but we grew up with these characters and we understand them.

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