{"id":255076,"date":"2025-05-24T08:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T08:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/advertising\/how-the-lilo-stitch-marketing-team-avoided-an-ugly-sonic-glitch\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T08:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T08:52:16","slug":"how-the-lilo-stitch-marketing-team-avoided-an-ugly-sonic-glitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=255076","title":{"rendered":"How the Lilo & Stitch Marketing Team Avoided an Ugly Sonic Glitch"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Sorry, Ugly Sonic\u2014you\u2019re not going to have an Ugly Stitch to add to your friend group.<\/p>\n

Back in 2019<\/a>, Paramount learned the perils of building a major movie marketing campaign around the reveal of a \u201clive-action\u201d version of a beloved animated character\u2014in that case, Sonic the Hedgehog. When fans got a look at the film\u2019s take on the classic video game speedster, they made like Knuckles and didn\u2019t chuckle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The largely negative online reaction spurred the filmmakers to instead flex their muscles by postponing the movie for a ground-up character rebuild that was more in line with vintage Sonic. The result of that extreme makeover? A billion-dollar-grossing global franchise that\u2019s currently prepping its fourth installment.<\/p>\n

No such last-minute interventions were required to rescue Stitch, the cute and fluffy half of the titular Lilo & Stitch duo headlining Disney\u2019s live-action adaptation of its 2002 animated favorite. According to Mouse House marketing evp Martha Morrison, she and her team knew they had a star on their hands the moment they laid eyes on the CGI recreation of the previously hand-drawn extraterrestrial.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe was obviously very<\/em> cute, and felt very much like the character people know and love,\u201d Morrison tells ADWEEK, admitting that an Ugly Sonic-like scenario was a concern prior to her first look at the new Stitch. \u201cBelieve me, you run through all the things that people could potentially say about the character that would present a problem. But the filmmakers nailed it.\u201d <\/p>\n

The updated Stitch has already won the hearts of moviegoers heading into opening weekend. Box office estimates<\/a> indicate that Lilo & Stitch will likely bank nearly $300 million around the world over the Memorial Day holiday. (Not bad for a movie that started its life as a direct-to-Disney+ production.)<\/p>\n

And Disney\u2019s Stitch-centric marketing campaign can be credited with laying the groundwork for that hefty haul. The alien has been running rampant through a series of real-world pop-up stunts, including a Super Bowl appearance<\/a> that almost upstaged the Big Game as well as viral movie theater appearances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been so much fun having him out in the world,\u201d Morrison says. \u201cHe\u2019s a little naughty, but he\u2019s also so sweet. People have fallen in love with the character.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bowl-ed over<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Stitch made his first appearance at last year\u2019s D23, Disney\u2019s annual fan event. A custom-created trailer teased his arrival for the assembled audience, and you can hear their cheers in real time when Stitch tears through the screen and into their lives.<\/p>\n

That playful introduction purposefully echoed the way his predecessor made his debut over two decades ago. The trailers for the animated Lilo & Stitch memorably placed the alien in such Disney classics as Aladdin<\/a> and The Lion King<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Needless to say, he didn\u2019t play nicely with his fellow cartoons. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there was a lot of admiration and nostalgia for how Stitch interacted with other Disney properties in 2002,\u201d Morrison notes. \u201cThat was something that became a factor for us: How do we take this character and have him intervene in a fun way that also encapsulates his personality?\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of simply recreating that earlier Disney movie mayhem, though, Morrison\u2019s team decided to find ways that Stitch could show up in the real world: \u201cThere were these cultural moments happening within our campaign window, and we decided that Stitch should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to cultural moments, it\u2019s hard to get bigger than the Big Game. So it only made sense that Stitch would insert himself into the on-field action during the Super Bowl\u2014an idea that Morrison credits to creative marketing evp Jackson George. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it was a complicated negotiation,\u201d she says of how the Stitch cameo came to pass. \u201cBut the NFL was game, and we made sure to pick a moment where it felt seamless\u2014like you were still watching the game. Only then do you realize that Stitch is there!\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Morrison, the Super Bowl stunt required a custom shoot on a football field, and then the visual effects department worked their digital magic on the footage. The result was a piece of in-game promotion that stood apart from the other movie trailers airing that night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be hard to cut through if you aren\u2019t a big superhero movie,\u201d Morrison notes. \u201cOur spot got attention by feeling like it was almost built into the programming.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From l to r: Maia Kealoha, Stitch, and Sydney Agudong in Lilo & Stitch <\/span>Courtesy Disney<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The next wave<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Coming off the Super Bowl, Morrison says her team fielded a number of calls from interested parties looking to recapture some of Stitch\u2019s chaos magic. But they had already planned for the campaign\u2019s next beat to be more story-focused and emphasize the film\u2019s human stars\u2014specifically Maia Kealoha\u00a0as Lilo and Sydney Agudong as her older sister, Nani. Those characters were prominently featured in the first full trailer<\/a>, which debuted with the release of Snow White in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the story spot was out there and people understood there was a balance, it was Stitch Mania starting from the end of April to now,\u201d Morrison laughs. <\/p>\n

Stitch\u2019s return to the spotlight was aided by an animatronic version developed by Industrial Light & Magic. That\u2019s the critter that moviegoers saw wreaking havoc in movie theaters<\/a> during the opening weekend of Thunderbolts,* aka The New Avengers<\/a>. But Stitch also helpfully scanned movie tickets in between the G-rated mayhem.<\/p>\n

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Stitch scanning people\u2019s tickets at a movie theater to promote the new \u2018LILO & STITCH\u2019 movie.<\/p>\n

In theaters on May 23. pic.twitter.com\/IvFTKJTEnr<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) May 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n

ILM\u2019s animatronic later made appearances at the Lilo & Stitch press junket<\/a> and on the red carpet at the movie\u2019s world premiere in L.A.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the fun is taking Stitch out in the world and allowing fans to interact with him and seeing their response,\u201d Morrison says of orchestrating those social media-friendly moments. \u201cWe wanted people to capture it with their cameras and talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And more of those appearances are on the way after the movie\u2019s release. Morrison promises that Disney will definitely be taking advantage of 626 Day<\/a> on June 26\u2014named for Stitch\u2019s experiment number. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have some activity around that,\u201d she teases.<\/p>\n

Her team will also be re-creating a 2004 stunt<\/a> promoting the opening of the Stitch\u2019s Great Escape ride at Walt Disney World by wrapping Cinderella Castle in toilet paper. One caveat: This latest TP job is a digital exclusive since papering the real castle is a complicated engineering feat. <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s fan service, but we decided not to do it in the exact same way,\u201d Morrison says, echoing the overall approach to the new film\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

As the first 2000s-era Disney cartoon to receive the live-action treatment, Lilo & Stitch proved an effective training ground for how the marketing team might approach the upcoming IRL version of Moana, scheduled to sail into theaters on July 10, 2026. Morrison worked on the campaign for the 2016 cartoon, which remains one of the most-streamed titles on Disney+ and spawned a 2024 sequel<\/a> that broke box office records.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing from the Lilo & Stitch campaign that will carry over into Moana is the magic of seeing something that you love come to life in live action,\u201d she remarks, noting that the original film remains omnipresent in peoples\u2019 lives in a way that older Disney titles\u2014including Lilo & Stitch\u2014aren\u2019t. \u201cThe love and care the filmmakers are taking to honor the Moana legacy is something we\u2019ll be tapping into.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, you can bet that an Ugly Heihei situation won\u2019t<\/em> be on the menu. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n