Ambassadors Transform Tweety From Classic to Contemporary

Tweety has been a favorite among young kids and teens for more than 60 years. But in this age of one-hit-wonders, when celebrities have to constantly reinvent themselves to stay hot (see Madonna), even a star the magnitude of Tweety can use a little tweaking every now and then.

So last year when Warner Bros. approached my company, Grand Central Marketing, to help rebrand the beloved cartoon character, we jumped at the opportunity. While Tweety’s creation predates the birth of Saturday morning cartoons, or color television for that matter, we chose to integrate some cool technology into the campaign, including PDA’s and a dedicated microsite, to bring our little yellow bird chirping into the 21st century.

The objective was simple: to reposition Tweety as more of a contemporary fashion/lifestyle icon for teens and women and less of a classic licensed character. Influencing this trendy demographic would not be as easy. Our first step was to assemble the “Tweety Squad”—a group of trendsetting teenage girls aged 13-17—who could provide Warner Bros. with fashion feedback and new product ideas while generating excitement for the re-branded Tweety among their peers.

GCM deployed promotional teams to seek out and recruit Tweety Squad members at beaches, parks and malls across the country. Our teams used handheld PDA’s to gather information, and by the end of the four-month search process, we had enlisted 2,400 hand-picked teens. Once the squad was assembled, the next step was to engage them in an open dialogue about what was hot and what was not among them and their friends.

We then custom designed a teen-friendly microsite, TweetySquad.com, and assigned passwords to the Squad members giving them exclusive access. The site offered members the opportunity to communicate openly with Warner Bros. in a fun and entertaining environment. It included Tweety news and gossip, a look at the latest Tweety fashions and accessories, interactive polls and quizzes and most importantly, it allowed Tweety Squad members to “Chirp Up”—telling Warner Bros. directly what they thought was hip, cool and fashionable.

Less than a year after we launched the program, Warner Bros. now has an active, engaged team of teen trendsetters serving as ambassadors for the brand. Our members have offered hundreds of suggestions for new products (“Hey all the Tweety stuff u have is awesome…now all you need is some Tweety for the rockers…some of my friends don’t like too much girly stuff so cater to the less girly of us!” was the advice from one Tweety Squad member). These ideas are being taken seriously by Warner Bros. and their licensees.

The feedback from Tweety Squad members has been so beneficial that Warner Bros. is increasing its commitment to the program in 2006. Promotional teams will once again be out in full force from July to October searching for new members. Members will now have direct online interaction with Tweety licensees, receive exclusive new products and invitations to special Tweety events, and even assist in developing marketing strategies.

Rebranding Tweety didn’t require an extreme makeover. It just took an infusion of some new communications technology combined with traditional grassroots marketing to have Tweety once again flying high. It’s a comeback even Madonna would be proud of.

Matthew Glass is chairman/CEO of Grand Central Marketing, a New York-based event marketing and promotion agency, and pens a monthly column for CHIEF MARKETER.