Mean Girls: Multifaceted Marketing is Totally “Fetch”

In 2002, author Rosalind Wiseman wrote a book for parents to help navigate the world of teenage girl friendships, relationships, and behaviors titled Queen Bees and Wannabes. In 2004, the film Mean Girls was born. This screenplay was written by actress and comedian Tina Fey after reading Wiseman’s book and seeing the potential for a film. Mean Girls would end up grossing $130 million worldwide at box offices. It was an instant hit. The success could have ended there, but everyone saw the opportunity for more, so they put on their marketing caps and ventured into other mediums. It worked and continues to work.

If you ask any Social Media Manager about the date October 3rd, we’ll tell you it’s a social media holiday derived from Mean Girls. It all started with one simple line, that has now been turned into thousands of pieces of (usually pink) merchandise:

Paramount Pictures

There are currently 208K Instagram hashtags of #October3rd, and the majority are related to Mean Girls. Example:

Mean Girls was not just a movie or an idea plucked from a book. It was a product, and products need to be marketed. This means refurbishing, updating, and re-evaluating a product to ensure growth.

“Product marketing is a multifaceted discipline that involves market research, competitive analysis, positioning, messaging, launch strategies, sales enablement and, yes, content.” (Forbes)

In 2018, 14 years after Mean Girls’ was released, Mean Girls: The Musical would debut on Broadway. This musical would appeal to two other major audiences the film never had: Generation Z and Broadway enthusiasts.

In 2020, it was announced that this book turned movie turned musical would be turned into a movie-musical. (Say that three times fast!) Renee Rapp would reprise her role from Broadway as the head “Plastic” Regina George, with Tina Fey reprising her film role. Fey also wrote and produced this new movie. Timing can be incredibly relevant when refurbishing content or rebranding a product. It has now been exactly 20 years since the original movie debut, so the stars have aligned.

While this movie-musical has been labeled as promising “new tricks with old jokes,” many who watched the original film and connected with the original cast worried about a remake with brand new actors. The solution? Walmart Black Friday commercials with nearly all of the old “Plastics” reprising their roles. This nostalgia had a great effect on viewers, as they reminisced on what it was like to be seated in a theater watching Cady Heron walk and stumble into a trashcan. Of course, they will be seated for the new movie; they’re now longing for that feeling back.

Here at Slice Communications, we believe that experimenting can be key! What worked in the past, may not always work now. And what works now, may not always work in the future. Slice’s Attention Model shows how to take audiences from being aware of your brand to being advocates of your brand through Surround Sound Marketing. While your brand or product cannot be everything for everyone, it can be something everyone knows about – and something that people draw inspiration from.

Mean Girls has become an exceptionally multifaceted brand. Currently, there are even more marketing tactics happening simultaneously. American Eagle has collaborated with the movie, selling Mean Girls branded clothing for teens. Metro Buses have famous lines on them that read, “Look both ways, Regina” and “You still can’t sit with us.”

The success that is Mean Girls all started with a ‘how to’ book for parents that has been cleverly refurbished again and again. Ready to creatively experiment with your brand?

Contact Slice!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•