Disney’s Hulu has a lot riding on “Black Cake,” its adaptation of Charmaine Wilkerson’s New York Times bestseller that centers on a Black family and spans decades and geographies from Jamaica to Scotland to California. From creator-showrunner Marissa Jo Cerar (“Women of the Movement”), Oprah Winfrey‘s Harpo Films, and Aaron Kaplan‘s Kapital Entertainment, the adaptation drew a bidding war before it went to Hulu in 2021.
The series promotion is expansive as well — around its premiere November 1, Hulu teamed up with Barnes & Noble to give the book’s fans a sneak peek of the first two episodes — the first time the streamer has offered such a perk. Several Caribbean bakeries across the US will give out samples of black cake, the rum-soaked treat that’s at the heart of the story. Historically Black colleges and universities including Spelman College and Howard University will highlight the book at various homecoming and parents’ weekends.
With promotional partnerships increasingly common in streaming, it falls to Adia Matthews, VP of Partnership Marketing at Hulu, and her four-person team to make sure Hulu’s efforts make maximum impact. And with Hollywood actors still on strike and prohibited from promoting any projects distributed by the major entertainment companies, such partnerships are more essential than ever in getting the word out about new releases.
“Partners are very important in terms of building awareness among broad audiences and especially specific audiences that we want to target — not just so that someone knows that a new series is about to release, but allowing people to understand this story is for them or it’s going to resonate,” Matthews told Insider. “We really see them not just as collaborators, but also storytellers alongside us.”
Hulu’s partnerships start with the audience
Matthews and her team put together about a dozen partnerships a year tied to big releases. They start by learning about the given series or film and its target audience. They identify which categories, such as retail or beauty products, share that audience, and search out specific brands or companies that could be a fit for a collaboration that’s as vibrant as the entertainment itself.
“I will watch screeners, the team will read scripts. We’ll really get immersed in understanding what are the hooks that we can lean into, what are the elements that are really going to resonate with an audience?” Matthews said. “Just as important, we think about who the audience is. What is our positioning, what are our insights telling us, what are the key demos that we want to reach out to, and how will a story resonate with those key audiences.”
For “Black Cake,” the book’s fan base and defining themes were front and center for Hulu.
“The fanship around the novel was definitely a pillar that we wanted to lean into,” Matthews said. “But there are other things, like the fact that this is an authentic representation of a Caribbean family and a Caribbean lived experience. And it’s in Jamaica and it’s in the UK and it’s in Southern California, and it’s showing intersectionality in a way that you don’t get to see on screen all the time.” She also believed the story’s intergenerational theme would resonate with HBCU students and their families.
Other recent partnerships have leaned into humor and retail but still hew to a given show’s audience and relevant partners.
To spread awareness of season 2 of “This Fool,” a Hispanic-aimed comedy set in Los Angeles, Hulu worked with LA shop Trejo’s Coffee and Donuts — founded by Mexican-American actor Danny Trejo — to create custom donut flavors inspired by the show and give them away on the season’s opening weekend. To amplify the campaign, Hulu enlisted Postmates as the exclusive delivery service for the donuts.
And to promote season 3 of comedy-thriller “Only Murders in the Building,” Hulu teamed up with star Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty makeup line in a few ways. Hulu had an activation at Comic Con where a vending machine dispensed products featured in the season. “It was kind of a surprise and delight,” Matthews said. “You didn’t know what you were going to get.”
The effort also included an Instagram Live video featuring makeup artist Cynthia Di Meo recreating Gomez’s look as the character Mabel Mora. Influencers were treated to makeup demos at a Sephora location in Hollywood, followed by a screening of the season finale.
Partnerships need to drive results for both parties
The program drove plenty of press coverage for the show and a significant increase in social media followers, to over 1 million, according to Hulu. TV data company Samba TV tweeted at the time that viewership of the season 3 premiere was up 14% over season 2’s debut.
Getting partners on board requires making sure the deal meets their objectives, too. Customers must be members of Barnes & Noble’s Premium Membership ($39.99 a year) to see the “Black Cake” sneak peek, which let the bookseller promote its rewards program.
B&N’s premium membership is one of the company’s priorities, Matthews said, adding, “There’s certain ways that they look to engage their members, and it aligned with how we were looking to drive awareness for the story.”
Matthews has been at the Walt Disney Co. for eight years and in her current role for two. She started out working on marketing partnerships to promote Disney film releases and went on to work in roles focused on loyalty and fan engagement — expertise she now brings to Hulu across its range of programs.
“Some are going to be really broadly appealing, some are going to be really fun, some really need to be treated with nuance and care because they’re important stories to tell,” she said. “And how you tell them and how you tell them with partners is really critical.”
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