The Disney100 TikTok partnership demonstrates how creative use of entertainment platforms like TikTok can enable commercial success. The partnership promoted unprecedented growth across Disney profiles (187 million followers gained — 180% growth), major global community conversation with video views in 24 global regions participating, delivering 7.2 billion video views for #disney100 and 18 billion character cards earned through the Disney100 gamified hub.

This activation was to celebrate a key moment in the organization’s history, and its impact on culture, by creating and building stories that have inspired billions of people. It gave users the chance to celebrate this moment by creating content and participating in the celebration while also recognising the audience’s participation in storytelling.

Disney was approaching its major 100-year anniversary.

In the world of digital, celebrating a milestone and driving audiences to participate can be an extremely challenging and crowded space. This situation inspired the first-of-its-kind gamified content hub.

The objectives were to expand the Disney community on TikTok, reach core fans, provide unique experiences, and inspire and facilitate creativity to truly celebrate the major milestone.

To drive creativity on the platform, a first-of-its-kind destination within TikTok was created to invite Disney fans to a unique interactive experience where stories, magic, and memories come together.

Fans were able to watch videos from across Disney's brands, create their own videos with Disney music and effects, play daily Disney trivia, and collect and trade "Character Cards" of favorite characters to win unique profile frames to show off their fandom.

TikTok also activated a Disney100 Playlist for the community, featuring some of the most popular hits from the Disney catalog, including songs from classic movies like "Cinderella" and "The Lion King" as well as the then-upcoming "Wish," alongside hits from the likes of "Toy Story" and "High School Musical."

The partnership’s delivery of unique access to content and creation experiences that fans couldn’t find anywhere else truly demonstrated TikTok’s mission to inspire creativity and bring joy.

With more than 48 Disney accounts participating, the four-week activation was live in 24 regions around the globe. Whether you were a fan of legacy films, heroes from #marvel or newer classics like #encanto, Disney fans come to TikTok to connect and create entertaining videos that make the shared Disney experience on TikTok special.

The creativity of Disney's brands at the time were beloved by more than 150 million followers of Disney-operated TikTok accounts, with ESPN becoming the most followed publisher on the platform following the activation. The total Disney following grew by 187 million followers by the end of the campaign.

The approach was to engage the Disney accounts to deliver consistent content (some exclusive) throughout the partnership, to inspire co-creation on the platform. Disney IP was also integrated into the gamified hub to enable Character card unlocks and a Disney100 playlist for the community to create with.

This program was truly a global cross-functional effort, requiring continual operational alignment across both Disney and TikTok‘s various teams including: social/marketing, partnerships, music, communications, legal, and product development teams.

Once the proposal was agreed upon, the TikTok product team had 6 weeks to create, test, and launch the gamified Disney hub for global users. As this was the first of its kind, users also had to be taught how to access and interact with the gamified hub.

For scale, this partnership was unlocked in over 24 regions, with official content delivered from over 48 Disney accounts, delivering approximately 4.9k posts, across 4 weeks. Disney accounts gained over 187 million followers during the campaign. #Disney100 delivered over 7.2 billion views during the campaign.

• More than 48 Disney handles grew by 187 million followers by the end of the campaign (+182%)

• 24 regions around the globe participated delivering 7.2 billion video views with #disney100

• 18 billion character cards earned through the Disney 100 gamified hub

• Since the launch of the Disney 100 hub on TikTok, there was a significant increase in the popularity of some of Disney’s fan favourite original songs, with a few even earning a spot in the TikTok Billboard top 50.

- Sounds:

“The Wish” 5.1 million creations, 2.5 billion views

“Steal the Show” 1.2 million creations, 1.4 billion views

“We dont talk about bruno” 2.5 million creations, 1.4 billion views

• Disney’s @ESPN became the most followed publisher globally reaching 41 million followers