Nathan Yung proposes a marketing plan for Pixar's upcoming animated film "Buddy Meets World". The film follows two dogs, Buddy and Loulou, who are separated at an NYC shelter and set out to find each other. The plan targets boys and girls aged 5-15 primarily and adults 25-40 secondarily. It includes a 30-day theatrical release on Thanksgiving followed by a Disney+ release. The extensive marketing program incorporates trailers, billboards, influencers, promotions on Disney properties, talk show appearances, and partnerships with companies like ASPCA, Purina, McDonald's and Target to build awareness and excitement for the film. The goal is to earn $310 million worldwide at the box office.

1. Nathan Yung
MKT 461
Buddy Meets World
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – Pixar’s upcoming animated film “Buddy Meets World” will
follow the NYC adventure of Buddy and Loulou, two dogs who met at the shelter but were
separated and are now in a pursuit of their love. The franchise will revolve around its primary
target audience of boys and girls aged 5 to 15 and the secondary target audience of men and
women aged 25 and 40. Some of the main marketing components Pixar will focus on is
generating awareness among audiences worldwide through billboards across major cities, cast
appearances on daytime and late night talk shows, and creating excitement through exclusive
outdoor showings for Disney+ subscribers. The critical aspect needed from Pixar’s CEO to be
greenlit is the distribution plans for the film. For this franchise, it is best to have a 30-day wide
theatrical release on Thanksgiving Day followed by an immediate release on Disney+ in January.
2. THE CONCEPT/PRODUCT – Buddy, a gentle terrier dog living in a NYC shelter falls in
love with Loulou, a poodle, however, when Loulou gets relocated to a new shelter, Buddy
escapes the shelter in pursuit of finding her, dealing with the series of challenges that comes with
being a stray dog in NYC – making both friends and enemies in effort to find his love.
3. THE POSITIONING – This PG-animated Pixar action-adventure features adorable animals
fighting for love and belonging, and their survival in the realistic world. The film aimed at a
primary target audience of boys and girls aged 5 to 15 and a secondary target audience of men
and women aged 25 and 40. This film is a sweet and hilarious action-packed film with
exhilarating scenes. Rated PG, the film mixes both age-appropriate physical humor (for younger
children) and wit/sarcastic humor (for older audiences). In regards to its marketability, the
voiceover will be done by Olivia Rodrigo and Tom Holland. Starring widely recognizable
actresses and actors generate attention and awareness from free publicity. As a 4-quadrant film,
Buddy Meets World has the great potential of reaching all four major demographic segments of
the moviegoing audience, both children and their parents.
4. MARKETING PROGRAM
● Marketing Objectives: Overall, our marketing program is focused on generating
awareness and attention among moviegoers worldwide; boosting excitement among the
primary target audience; fostering interest among the secondary target audience thus
maximizing the purchase. Specifically, by tapping into the power of digital advertising,
we want to reach over 10 million views on mainstream platforms in the first month. With
the combined effort of all marketing strategies, we aim to arrive at a worldwide box
office of $310M.
● Marketing Elements:
○ Communications/Promotions Plan:
1. Trailer Placement: In-theater trailer placement put on comparative films
to gain awareness from movie-goers of our target audience.
2. Network/Cable: Trailers and custom integration across Disney’s
properties. An emphasis placed on top performing children’s programs and

2. during nightly news/kid-friendly primetime shows. Example content
would include having the characters run across the screen during a show in
a low-stakes scene. We would target these properties specifically because
this is where our target audience is most engaged.
3. Billboards: Both traditional and mobile (buses, trains, etc.) billboards
posted across Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix,
Philadelphia, etc.. We would use billboards to gain awareness and build an
identity and hype around our film.
4. Digital Advertising: Google (Youtube, 3rd party sites, etc.), Meta
(Instagram, Facebook, etc.) and TikTok. We would target these platforms
specially because when online, this is where our target audience is most
engaged.
5. Influencer Partnerships: Influencer sponsorship videos with influencers
who have a younger following and healthy image. These influencers
would be main voice actors in the film (Doug the Pug and The Dogist).
6. Social Media Filters: “Which Buddy Meets World character am I?”
filters on Instagram and TikTok. We chose to incorporate filters because it
is something that younger audiences and especially children are engaged
with. It allows for people to have the chance to have fun with the concept
of Buddy Meets World as well as share it with their followers.
7. Daytime and Late Night Talk Shows: Both daytime talk shows - The
View, The Kelly Clarkson Show - and late night talk shows - Jimmy
Kimmel Live, Jimmy Fallon - will host episodes that feature both lead
actors Olivia Rodrigo and Tom Holland as special guests who will be
promoting the film. This will be done to engage with parents to get them
to have some sort of internal interest in the film.
8. Outdoor Showing: Free (lottery with Disney+ members) showing at an
outdoor theater in parks in major cities (ex. Central Park and Echo Park)
where audiences can watch the film and bring their dogs! This activation
was primarily chosen to act as a publicity event, hopefully garnering
attention from multiple news outlets that are outside of the Walt Disney
Company's properties.
○ Distribution Plan:
■ Encanto Model: The film will follow the distribution model of a previous
Pixar movie “Encanto.” Buddy Meets World will have a 30-day theatrical
release and it will be available for streaming on Disney+. The theatrical
release will allow for the movie premiere to be seen as a “big event”, will
allow for some ticket revenue, and will bring hype to the movie.
■ Release Date: Thanksgiving 2025. Thanksgiving weekend is a popular
time for people/families to head to the theaters as they have the time off
from work/school. Buddy Meets World is a family movie and will benefit
from the availiability.
○ Synergy Plan:
■ GMA: ABC’s Good Morning America news segment to introduce the
movie to the public and promote its anticipation.

3. ■ Music: Olivia Rodrigo plays the lead female dog. We will utilize her
singing abilities, Gen Z appeal, and billboard chart topping history to
create song(s) for the soundtrack. The song will be used in trailers, her
own unique music video, manufactured to become a viral TikTok song,
and will be promoted on to radio stations. This will utilize Disney’s
internal synergies through their own distribution and record label. This
song would put the film on the audience radar early on.
■ Publishing: Through Disney Publishing, children’s books about Buddy
Meets World will be created for distribution. The animation and innocent
storyline will provide a natural extension into the children's books
category which can especially provide extra revenue after the movie’s
premiere. The children’s books also add an element of connection to the
characters post-release, making a great gift for the holiday season.
■ Funko Pops (figurines): An external synergy. License the rights to Funko
Pops who has a loyal customer base. The characters of Buddy and LouLou
will be featured as Funko Pop figures both in stores and on the Funko
website. These figurines are popular with both children and adults,
aligning with our targets and reaching towards “the kid” in all the parents.
■ Dancing with the Stars: Dog Week, where the stars - instead of their
partners - dance with their dogs! Dancing with the Stars is a family
friendly show that targets all audiences, perfect alignment with our film
when considering our targets.
○ Alliance Partners Plan:
■ ASPCA: Partnered commercials which promote both the film and raise
awareness of the issue of stray dogs needing adoption. We chose the
ASPCA as an alliance partner because they have strong brand recognition
and messaging that directly aligns with the plot of our film.
■ Purina: Special packaging on Purina products that promote the movie and
a percentage of the proceeds goes to supporting stray dogs (ASPCA).
Purina commercials would also show the exclusive packaging and
mention the fact that in collaboration with Buddy Meets World with every
purchase of Purina products, all the proceeds will go directly to support
the ASPCA. Purina’s brand will be integrated into the film as being the
brand of food that is fed to all the dogs throughout the film.
■ McDonald’s Happy Meal: We will collaborate with Mcdonald's to
feature Buddy Meets World toys in Mcdonald's Happy Meals. Different
characters from the film will be featured as fun figures that talk just as the
characters in the film do. McDonald’s Happy Meal toys are great because
the main buyers of Happy Meals are children, which is exactly the
audience that we are aiming to target.
■ Build-a-Bear: The film will collaborate with Build-a-Bear to feature
Buddy Meets World stuffed animals. Children can create their own Buddy
or LouLou stuffed animals and make them have the voices of the
characters as well. Build-a-Bear’s customers' age range largely overlaps
with the target audience of our film and will help boost awareness.

4. ■ Target: Buddy Meets World will partner with Target to distribute apparel
within the Youth section of the store. Apparel will be available for toddlers
up to 14 youth sizes. Buddy Meets World apparel will be available in all
Target stores across the United States and on their website for purchase.
Similar to the figurines, our apparel will be another way for audiences of
all ages to connect.
○ Financials:
■ $310M Worldwide Estimated Box Office: This figure comes from the
comparison with the movie “Bolt”. Bolt has a similar positioning to our
own (animated PG film about a dog away from home), is of the same
animation style and studio (Walt Disney Company), and targets similar
quadrants as well (children and their parents).
● Among this, $170.5M (55%) is estimated to come from domestic
markets and $139.5M (45%) is estimated to come from
international markets.
■ $39M Marketing Budget: To get a worldwide marketing budget, we used
the estimated $310M worldwide box office (based on the comparative
film, Bolt), deducted production costs ($180M, based on Bolt), and then
estimated with an eye towards profit using only 30% of estimated revenue
($310M - $180M = $130M x .30 = $39M).
■ Revenue Streams: The different streams will include box office revenue
and money from merchandise including licensed toys sold from our
alliance and promotional partners. We estimate that the majority of
revenue will come from our merchandise such as toys and apparel.
5. RESEARCH
● Environment & consumer scan: The former success of animated classics such as Bolt,
101 Dalmatians, and Zootopia have well demonstrated the popularity of enduring animal
characters. Featuring certain breeds in the movie and the storyline centered around
animals’ interactions with humans, this duo combination has been proven to become a
hot commodity.
● Concept test: In order to confirm the potential, a concept board will be implemented at
an earlier stage. The concept board includes a synopsis and some visual representations
of important scenes. The qualitative research is conducted by showing the concept board
to the focus groups composed of boys and girls aged 5 to 15 alongside guiding questions
to identify their wanted emotional hooks. Additionally, we would use questionnaires to
ask kids and young adults to rate 1 to 10 on their preferred storyline elements as our
quantitative research.
● Product & marketing development: We will have film screenings to identify the film's
appeal before a wide theatrical release. From this step, we will identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the film and commercials. We then can make adjustments to each to
increase the appeal in post-production and trailer editing.
● Tracking: We will conduct tracking surveys to quantify awareness, intent to see, and
actual viewership. We track to see if Buddy Meets World to show on tracking 3 weeks
prior to release. If not, we will adjust the marketing plan and commercial placements.

5. ● Introduction: After the first weekend’s domestic box office performance, we use the
“multiple” to determine the projected total domestic box office. If our CinemaScore is
less than a “B+”, we will analyze and determine what can be improved in the marketing
elements in order to increase ticket sales domestically and internationally.
Communications/Promotion Plan Frames:
Sample Movie Poster: Ad Units:

6. Synergy Visuals:
Funko Pops: Children’s Book:
Alliance Visuals:
ASPCA: Purina: Build-a-Bear:
Mcdonald’s Happy Meal: Target Apparel: