So if you care to find “Wicked,” look… just about anywhere.
You’d have to be flattened by a farmhouse to miss the “Wicked” promotional onslaught. From Starbucks drinks (Elphaba cold brew, topped with green matcha foam, anyone?) to Emerald City Lego sets, “Shiz University” sweaters at Target and OPI’s “Fiyero’s My Mani” nail polish (it’s a shade of cobalt blue), Universal has partnered with more than 400 corporate brands to create scores of products and tie-ins to launch the big-screen musical extravaganza. And the studio didn’t stop with themed coffee beverages and winter wear. Manhattan’s Empire State Building was illuminated in pink and green, the signature colors of the film’s witchy protagonists, while earlier this year, stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande stopped by the Summer Olympic games in Paris in Elphaba and Glinda cosplay.
All this publicity wasn’t just a runaway tornado. It’s all been meticulously designed by Universal’s chief marketing officer Michael Moses, who told movie theater owners that his mission with “Wicked” was being “just short of obnoxious.”
“We live in an environment where monoculture doesn’t happen in the way it used to,” he told Variety. “So, you have to be everywhere.”
An onslaught of all things Oz, however, doesn’t come cheap. Those extensive global marketing efforts are estimated to have cost $150 million, according to rival studio executives. And that doesn’t include the combined $300 million production budget for “Wicked: Part One” and “Part Two,” which arrives in one year.
It’s already paying off: “Wicked,” a “Wizard of Oz” origin story about everything that happens before Dorothy was sent down the Yellow Brick Road, opened to $112 million at the North American box office and $162 million globally. Those ticket sales rank as the third-best domestic debut of the year and the biggest opening in history for a Broadway-to-film adaptation. Rave reviews, positive word-of-mouth and the musical’s infectiously catchy songs are expected to drive repeat business throughout the holiday season.
In the wake of its decades-in-the-making debut, Moses divulged the aggressive and expensive strategy to turn “Wicked” into the biggest Broadway adaptation of all time… and his plans to recapture the magic all over again for “Part Two” in November 2025.
How did you decide where and when to start the marketing campaign?
We were always very clear that this movie centers on, and would be powered by, females. But we also wanted to declare that we intended “Wicked” to be a cultural event. And there is no bigger media event than the Super Bowl. We wanted to begin as big and declarative as possible and continue at that level.
The first teaser includes the famous “Defying Gravity” battle cry. Was there debate about holding it back?
There wasn’t a debate. When you’re working on materials, you always have those kinds of conversations. But if there’s a single sound associated with “Wicked,” it’s certainly that end to “Defying Gravity.” If we were going to invest in the 60-second spot on the Super Bowl, you have to put as many goodies in there that were available at the time. We know what a triumph that battle cry is, and ending that spot with it felt assured and inescapably the right call.
Studios have been criticized recently for hiding that movies are musicals. How did you approach that in the marketing materials?
When you’re working on something like, let’s say “Wonka” or “Joker” or other films that didn’t begin their lives as musicals, I understand the impulse to not, as we say, put on your jazz hands too soon. It’s a polarizing genre. If our job as marketers is to invite as many people as possible, sometimes that feels like a third rail not to touch. But in this case, there’s no pretending that this was a non-singing version of “Wicked.” We started without characters breaking into song. We used the songs, but we didn’t show anybody singing. As the campaign progressed, we slowly began to introduce those elements.
Did you take any inspiration from “Barbie,” another movie with a female-centric campaign?
That’s the inspiration: Last year’s biggest movie also was centered on and fueled by women. I get frustrated sometimes that our industry has to relearn that lesson time and again: There are enough women in the world. If you make something that is truly an event for them, they will show up. “Barbie” proved that in giant magnitude last year. We found hope in that; that we could be a version of that same phenomenon.
So, the only question anyone wants to know… how big was the marketing budget?
I’m not going to tell you. I will say this: We knew what our aspirations were and what it would take to get there. With any film, you have to balance what you spend against what you believe is possible to make at the box office. And we did that. You can say it now, in success, that it was responsible. But we knew if we pulled back in any way, it might risk falling into that pigeonhole of the movie being only for the fans or a specific demographic. We had to aspire high, and sometimes that comes with aspirational costs.
Are there any aspects that cost less than people would think?
The lights on the Arc de Triomphe were a bit of digital wizardry that didn’t actually happen. A lot of the partner campaigns have great reach, like Target and Xfinity. That’s a balance between partner and studio, so our ubiquity wasn’t always funded from the studio alone.
“Wicked” boasted partnerships with hundreds of brands. Were there any you turned down?
We were selective with who we pursued. It’s risky for these big retailers to bet on a first movie. Usually, this level of campaign is reserved for a franchise title that already has proven it has a reliable audience and can deliver. That was a real point of intention for us, proving to all those partners that this was going to be worth the risk. So starting back in March of 2023, we brought 200 different brands to set in London and showed the materials to convince them from the outset that this was going to be something special. So, it wasn’t a matter of turning people down as pursuing the right ones.
How did you decide which were the right brands?
Starbucks is the Grail. We’ve been pursuing Starbucks for many years, as has everybody, and they are very selective. This is the first time they partnered at this level with a film brand. We knew who this audience was, and we knew there was something thematic in terms of emotion and style that we could aim for. Each expression felt like it was part of the whole. There wasn’t anything that didn’t fit the overall campaign.
Which are some of the offbeat partnerships that excited you?
Lego is one brand that, rightly or wrongly, is associated more with boys and dads rather than girls and moms. I was really excited they stepped up in the way they did. I thought that was a big early indicator of how broad we could go.
Does consumer fatigue exist? Were you worried at any point about doing too much?
We presented to exhibition that our goal was to be just short of obnoxious. Do you know when you cross that line? I don’t know. But we live in an environment where monoculture doesn’t happen in the way it used to. So, you have to be everywhere. If you’re chronically online, you probably saw everything. But there are so many people who aren’t, and we needed to be wherever they were in their own consumer journeys. Yes, it’s a risk. I’d like to think we didn’t cross it. But your mileage will vary on that answer.
Do you believe the adage that all press is good press? This is my way of asking if the website misprint on the “Wicked” Barbie doll box was good in terms of awareness.
I don’t think that all press is good press. I always categorize incidents between what might actually damage the desire to see the movie and what might not. I think that was an example of one that’s an anecdote more than a threat.
Do you have any favorite memes?
I love seeing all the “this is me before/after ‘Wicked’” TikToks, with fans and doubters alike showing themselves pretty wrecked as the credits roll. Talk about effective first-person marketing.
Are you holding space for “Defying Gravity”?
That’s going to become a saying in the lexicon.
Act Two of “Wicked” is darker in tone compared to the first. Will the promotional materials for “Wicked: Part Two” be reflective of that shift?
The real answer is we don’t know yet. Even though the relationships get more complex in Act Two, it resolves with one of the best mutually supportive songs, “For Good.” Those themes of sisterhood, standing up for yourself and doing what’s right in the world all still exist. We’re just getting started, but the good news is we’re seeing that people are leaving movie one invested in these characters and what might happen.
How do you plan to keep up momentum until “Wicked: Part Two” in 2025?
I’m not sure there’s a playbook to go by that has this fast a turnaround. It goes back to your question of how much is too much? We will be supporting through award season, but we won’t be starting the campaign for “Part Two” as early as we did for “Part One” on the Super Bowl. We will be waiting a little longer. You can’t miss us if we never go away.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
