The marketing process for Toy Story 3 involved various methods including posters, trailers, an online presence, cross-promotions, and media/publicity efforts. Posters introduced returning characters and new ones. Trailers provided hints about the storyline while growing anticipation. The official website contained character information, games, and clips. Cross-promotions included partnerships with stores and brands. Media appearances and campus screenings of cliffhanger clips helped generate buzz.

1. The Marketing Process

2. 1. POSTERSPixar and Disney started off their advertising for Toy Story 3 with a teaser poster which included the tag line ‘No toy gets left behind.’ This poster connected with the publics knowledge of the previous film, showing signs of the sequel's story line, once again, being about the rescuing of a character.

3. 1) PostersFollowing the teaser poster, a full series of posters were released.These posters featured characters interacting with the ‘3’.Old favourites such as Buzz, Woody, Jessie, Rex, Slinky and Mr Potato Head, were all given their own ‘one-sheet’ posters with formatted black backgrounds.These posters simply portrayed the message that the old characters would be returning in the film.

5. 1) PostersFollowing these, a series of posters introducing the new characters, such as ken, Lots-o-Huggin’ bear and Peas-in-a-Pod.Other characters from the day care centre were then also introduced, leading to the final posters which featured both sets of characters, new and old, together.

7. 2) TrailersThe teaser trailer simply shows all the characters coming together, and the film title.This trailer gave no indication towards story line, it just showed characters and elements of their personalities.

8. 2) TrailersThe second trailer released was the ‘real trailer’ which hinted more towards the storyline of the film.The trailer begins where the previous movie, toy story 2, ended, with Andy playing with his toys. This then moves into a montage of Andy ageing, which finishes at Andy being ‘College student age’ and leaving his room, clearly symbolising him leaving his past behind.

9. 2) TrailersThe last trailer released was the second full trailer. This trailer was similar to the first, however, it had less focus on the sentimental feel of the movie and moved onto the action and more complex storyline elements.

10. 3) OnlineThe first online advertising element for Toy Story 3 was the official website.The website opens with a rolling stream of quotes and summaries from recent reviews. Once you enter the site, it goes on to show information about the individual characters, how they we’re created and made and video clips.

11. 3) OnlineThe official website also contains games, a gallery of stills from the movie as well as all the one-sheets made for the promotional posters.There is also a section on ‘the movies’ that contains information about the previous films, news on the third film and video clips and responses to all three films.

12. 3) OnlineThe official website also has background information and a build up on the new characters.This section of the site features different things for each of the new characters, for example; A video series for Ken called ‘Ken’s Dating Tips’; And an old vintage advert for Lots-o-Huggin’ Bear.

13. 4) Advertising and Cross-PromotionsAnother method of advertising used by Pixar for Toy Story 3 was cross-promotions.This included stores such as ‘Toy’s R Us’ creating sections of their stores specifically dedicated to selling the Toy Story 3 Characters.They also joined with product companies such as Kellogg's, who created promotional packaging for their products.

14. 4) Advertising and Cross-PromotionsAs a later part of advertising, the formats from the original one-sheet posters were reused to create large billboardposters and transportation advertising using the recognised and simple design.

15. 5) Media and PublicityThe final method of advertising used by Pixar was media and publicity.This included Pixar’s appearance and Comic-Con 2009 where they re-released the first 2 Toy Story films in 3D and announced the new cast members that would be joining to voice the new characters.

16. 5) Media and PublicityFor this method of advertising Pixar also took around 65 minutes of the film to create a ‘cliff-hanger edition’ which was taken to be shown on college campuses around the country.With worry that they wouldn’t create enough interest to make people later buy tickets to see the real thing, Pixar cleverly advertised these screenings through the creation of leaflets advertising jobs at ‘Pizza Planet’ (the kiddie pizza restaurant featured in the previous films).