Situation’s Burn Book

This week on the CTI Blog, Creative Strategist Carly Michaels gives readers a peek inside CTI sponsor Situation’s Burn Book (figuratively speaking, of course) to see how they turned Mean Girls into a sensation not only onstage, but also online. 

Remaking movies into musicals is nothing new, but today’s hyper-digital world poses a unique opportunity for shows to transcend the big screen to the stage to a mobile device. While nothing compares to the experience of seeing your favorite movie re-imagined on stage, social media has the power to give fans the chance to live that experience on an ongoing basis.

Mean Girls on Broadway has been challenged with taking a movie, so pervasive in the heart of pop culture, and bringing it to life on the Broadway stage. Moreover, it cleverly utilizes the iconic references and beloved characters to grow an audience of more than a quarter of a million people across the brand’s social communities.

Below are five key takeaways on how Mean Girls on Broadway evolved from a pop culture movie to a pop culture musical (with must-follow social channels).

1. Own the iconic moments around the movie but make them your own.

Shows with existing brand equity have an advantage to leverage moments associated with the brand and the pop culture zeitgeist. However, when it comes to marketing the show, it’s crucial to put your mark on an already universal moment. Take October 3rd, for example, a day that has historically been synonymous with “Mean Girls” the movie and is now a holiday in the world of pop culture.

It was inevitable that the musical had to be a part of this trending moment but with a Broadway spin. And how did Mean Girls do that? By offering a free fan performance, leveraging the show’s cast and creative, and making the day all about the Broadway fans – not ticket sales. The musical made sure not to leave out the thousands of fans who couldn’t physically be at the show. For these “remote” fans, Mean Girls on Broadway released more than 168 unique pieces of social content so everyone could join the celebration.

2. Find new opportunities that expand on existing brand capital.

It’s useful to lean into the movie’s iconic moments, but it’s essential to create new moments that are uniquely associated with the musical. Behind the scenes, Mean Girls on Broadway has stayed abreast of moments that could be own-able to just the show.

Musicals inherently have the advantage of providing a more in-depth look into characters. For example, in the musical, Damian Hubbard flaunts his super-fan status for all things “Ru Paul’s Drag Race,” specifically donning t-shirts of Alyssa Edwards and Bianca Del Rio. As tweets rolled in from fans of “Drag Race,” it was evident that Mean Girls needed to speak and engage with this specific community. The result? A panel and performances at DragCon in NYC, and a partnership that established a deeper and more authentic relationship between the musical and the drag community.

3. Bring the show and characters to life through content.

Regina George, Cady Heron, Gretchen Wieners – these are all household names to millions of fans. What happens when you re-imagine these iconic characters for the Broadway stage? Social media and its ongoing feed of content allows musicals to share a multitude of perspectives and voices through the lens of their characters. When you think of “Mean Girls” the movie, you view the story through the eyes of the protagonist, Cady Heron. Through social media, the show has been able to lean into multiple characters’ unique voices from Queen Bee Regina’s calculated confidence to outsider Janis’ empowered sass.

4. Give all fans a voice.

More than 13 million people attended a Broadway show in NYC in 2017-2018, according to the Broadway League. What about the millions of fans around the world that can’t make it to New York to see the show? That’s where social media has a huge opportunity to connect fans from all geographic locations into one centralized community. To celebrate its massive fan-base, Mean Girls launched an official Facebook Group where fans can share their love of the show and connect with each other. Through this group, the show created a home for thousands of super-fans, who are the first to engage with content and serve as brand advocates.

5. Make the music integral to your content strategy.

You can’t shift audience perception from movie to musical without putting the music at the forefront. In 2017, there were 400 billion streams via streaming services, making social media the go-to place to share music. Whether it’s larger pieces of content like music videos or lyric-based visuals– it’s essential for fans to resonate with the music, because that’s unique only to the musical. By taking fans’ online behavior into consideration, the show leveraged social to establish an official fan bracket to determine the ultimate Mean Girls Summer Bop, just two months after the Original Broadway Cast Recording was released. The show not only gained insights of the songs fans resonated with most – but also saw the highest performing Instagram post to date.

These takeaways go to show that the limit does not exist when it comes to re-imagining a pop culture movie into a pop culture musical.