This 12 months’s WrestleMania is simply days away, however the WWE’s advertising and marketing marketing campaign for its greatest premium stay occasion of the 12 months was kicked into overdrive months in the past.
In February, three days earlier than the Tremendous Bowl, with all eyes on Las Vegas, WWE tried to grab a number of the NFL’s highlight for itself.
The sports activities leisure firm held a press convention in Las Vegas on the T-Cell Enviornment, simply down the street from the stadium the place the Tremendous Bowl was being performed, to advertise WrestleMania XL, a two day occasion in Philadelphia that begins Saturday. It plugged appearances by high stars together with Cody Rhodes and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who just lately turned a board member for WWE’s dad or mum firm, TKO Group. The free occasion, which was stay streamed on Peacock, was a bid to seize the eye of the hundreds of soccer followers on the town, and potential viewers nationwide.
Hundreds confirmed up for the occasion which didn’t embody any wrestling, however The Rock did slap Rhodes throughout the face, garnering 15.7 million views throughout all of WWE’s social media platforms in lower than 12 hours. Greater than 4.7 million individuals watched the occasion stay, making it the most-viewed outdoors the ring occasion in WWE historical past, in keeping with the corporate. The press convention had greater than 100 million views in lower than 12 hours.
WWE launched its WrestleMania XL video on the day of the Tremendous Bowl. That video has amassed greater than 5 million views and relying on WWE’s account on X, previously often called Twitter.
Jason Cielsak, president, Pacific Rim, at model expertise agency Siegel+Gale, says that the best way the WWE crafts its WrestleMania messaging makes followers longing for an occasion the place lots of the storylines which have been evolving over the 12 months are resolved within the ring.
“It’s a grasp class in advertising and marketing steeped closely in storytelling and drama that lots of the main sports activities leagues and even tv writers may study from,” Cielsak stated.
The Rock’s participation in WrestleMania XL, given his longstanding ties to WWE and his film star standing, is a substantial asset.
“The advantages to WWE are quite a few and assist place the group as a reputable leisure entity, luring “future Rocks” searching for international stardom,” Cielsak stated.
WWE has additionally been utilizing its skilled relationship with two of the corporate’s greatest social media personalities, Logan Paul and Pat McAfee, to advertise WrestleMania XL. Paul, WWE’s present United States champion, a co-founder of Prime beverage firm, podcaster and YouTuber, uploaded a video on X together with his response to the WrestleMania XL press convention. Paul presently has 23.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 6.8 million followers on X.
McAfee, who rejoined WWE’s Uncooked commentary crew and co-hosted the WrestleMania XL press convention, just lately interviewed The Rock on his self-titled tv present on ESPN. A clip of the video posted to McAfee’s X account has greater than 3 million views.
The promotional buildup to WrestleMania advantages not solely the corporate, but additionally localities the place the occasion is being held. Final 12 months, WrestleMania 39, which was held at SoFi Stadium, generated $215 million for the Los Angeles area, in keeping with a research finished by Utilized Evaluation. WWE stated that broke its prior file from a 12 months earlier, when WrestleMania 38 had a $206.5 million financial affect for the Dallas/Arlington area.
WWE says that since 2016, WrestleMania has generated greater than $1.2 billion in cumulative financial affect for the cities which have hosted the occasion.
Shares of TKO Group Holdings, Inc., based mostly in based mostly in Stamford, Connecticut, are up nearly 7% this 12 months.
