CASE STUDY: UK’s Biggest Disney Fan
DT
How a story-led social campaign reignited the Disney fanbase after Covid
Overview
A few years after the global shutdown of travel, Disney faced a challenge shared by many destination brands:
How do you reignite passion, confidence and excitement after a long pause — without resorting to short-term offers or hard selling?
The answer wasn’t more content.
It was a story.
What followed was UK’s Biggest Disney Fan — a world-first, social-led storytelling campaign that ran for months, spanned three destinations, and turned fans into the heart of the narrative.
To this day, it remains one of the most ambitious and successful campaigns I’ve ever led.
The Challenge
Post-Covid, we needed to encourage guests back to Disney Parks & Resorts.
But this wasn’t a typical re-launch moment.
Audiences weren’t just asking:
“What’s new?”
“What’s the offer?”
They were asking:
“Is it safe?”
“Will it feel the same?”
“Will it be worth it?”
“Can I emotionally re-engage with this world again?”
This required more than awareness.
It required rebuilding belief.
The Insight
People don’t reconnect with destinations through information.
They reconnect through stories they can emotionally invest in.
So instead of telling people why they should return to Disney, we created a story that allowed them to experience the return through others.
Not influencers.
Not actors.
Real fans.
The Idea: UK’s Biggest Disney Fan
UK’s Biggest Disney Fan was a world-first concept, designed and led within the social team.
At its core, it was a single, long-form story — told episodically across social — with a clear narrative arc:
Who is the UK’s biggest Disney fan?
The Concept
We launched the biggest competition in Disney UK history.
Fans were invited to submit a 30–60 second video explaining why they were the UK’s Biggest Disney Fan.
The prize wasn’t a holiday.
It was the ultimate Disney story.
Ten shortlisted fans would:
- Visit Disneyland Paris
- Fly to Walt Disney World Resort
- Sail aboard the newly christened Disney Cruise Line ship, The Disney Wish
Across two weeks, they would compete in ten bespoke challenges — one in each destination — to crown the ultimate winner.
Storytelling in Action (Not Just Content)
This wasn’t a single campaign asset.
It was a narrative journey, built intentionally around storytelling principles.
Entry Phase — Emotional Permission
Over 1,500 fan submissions poured in, driven by organic and paid social across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
Fans weren’t selling themselves.
They were telling stories.
This immediately reactivated the community and reframed Disney as something people belonged to again.
The Journey — Belief & Imagination
Ten fans travelled together, experiencing Disney across three destinations and competing along the way:
- Battling Spider Droids in Avengers Campus (Disneyland Paris)
- Competing in a live game-show experience in EPCOT (Walt Disney World Resort)
- Racing through a scavenger hunt aboard the Disney Wish (Disney Cruise Line)
The entire journey was documented and shared socially, allowing fans at home to follow the story in real time.
To amplify the narrative:
- Five creators joined the trip to share the experience through their own lenses
- UK celebrity Janette Manrara hosted the journey, acting as the connective thread
This wasn’t about spectacle.
It was about letting audiences imagine themselves in the story.
The Finale — Payoff
After weeks of storytelling, the campaign culminated in a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
The winner was crowned in front of Cinderella Castle, during a bespoke ceremony featuring:
- Custom fireworks
- Senior Disney executives
- Mickey Mouse
The ultimate prize: An overnight stay inside the Cinderella Castle Suite — a room that cannot be booked.
A story needs an ending.
This one delivered.
The Results
While internal metrics remain confidential, the public impact was clear:
- Over 100 million impressions across social platforms
- Widespread national press coverage
- Significant fan engagement throughout the multi-month campaign
- Thousands of messages from fans following the journey at home
- The campaign became a reference point for post-Covid brand re-engagement
More importantly:
It reignited belief in the Disney experience at a critical moment.
Why This Campaign Worked
UK’s Biggest Disney Fan succeeded because storytelling was treated as a strategy, not a format.
The story did the real work:
- It reduced uncertainty by showing the experience, not selling it
- It rebuilt emotional confidence after a long pause
- It helped audiences imagine themselves back in the world of Disney
- It created shared momentum, not one-off moments
No single asset could have achieved that.
The Takeaway for Destination Brands
When confidence is fragile, and the purchase is emotional and expensive, storytelling becomes a commercial tool.
Not to entertain. But to reassure, reconnect and rebuild belief.
UK’s Biggest Disney Fan wasn’t a viral moment. It was a story people stayed with.
That’s why it worked.