Finally, eleven years after the popular animated movie Toy Story 2 the long awaited sequel Toy Story 3 is here. And Disney-Pixar is pulling out all the cards to ensure proper exposure for the film’s debut. Toy Story 3 has appeared in various commercials including US Postal Service priority rate shipping, Visa debit card, and Aflac.  But how are these efforts going to surpass other blockbusters like Shrek Forever After, geared toward the same target audience?

Disney-Pixar has aimed for the social media target, using both Facebook and Twitter to allow for more exposure of the popular film. On Facebook, Toy Story 3 has over 2 million likes, a very funny toy creator, interactive video games, and ticket purchasing options.  Fortunately, these features are fun for both adults and children and a wide variety of customers may be reached because of this.

On Twitter, Disney-Pixar is the first company ever to have a successfully promoted trending topic. Just like regular tweeting trends, Toy Story 3 appears at the bottom of the trending list but it’s highlighted yellow and clearly labeled “promoted.” The response has been great and Toy Story 3 has been a large topic of discussion on twitter and has countless retweets.  Yes, Toy Story 3 has become quite a buzz topic for their use of promoted tweets.

This popularity of promoted tweets leads us to think, has Disney-Pixar’s release of Toy story 3 sprouted a revolution for promoted tweets?  Well, slightly.  Twitter has stated they will not be running promoted tweets for every brand, but that promoted tweets have to “resonate with users.” This is aimed to cut out potential promotional tweets that will not be discussed or accepted by twitters users.  Other brands such as Best Buy, Red Bull, and Starbucks were brands that first used promotional tweeting, yet none have experienced such success as Toy Story 3.  The success from Disney-Pixar’s promotional efforts appears to be a perfect mixture of all the right ingredients which has no doubt made Toy Story 3 this summer’s biggest blockbuster.