Inside Disney’s ‘Very Intense’ Marketing Plan for ‘This Is Us’ Creator’s Top-Secret Show ‘Paradise’

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from the series premiere of Hulu’s “Paradise.” In an overly saturated media market, it’s hard for any show to break through.

And it becomes even harder when a network or streamer can’t truthfully answer this simple question regarding new TV series: “What’s it about?” So in the case of “Paradise,” Hulu’s new political thriller drama starring Sterling K.

Brown, James Marsden and Julianne Nicholson, they answered the question honestly, if not completely, ahead of the Dan Fogelman-created show’s Jan.

28 premiere in TV spots and online promos, collaborations with influencers, and even skywriting across major U.S. cities, by making it clear what they were saying was suspicious each time. “In our early conversations with Dan, we knew we wanted to protect the twist at the end of the first episode so viewers could experience it themselves, which meant we couldn’t really market the whole story and we had to protect some surprise elements,” Disney Entertainment Television marketing chief Shannon Ryan tells Variety. “So, we took a phased approach by seeding out a little bit at a time with a focus on the mystery, the world, the stakes and spotlighting the incredible performances from Sterling, James and Julianne.