Wicked

Skills Involved

Key-Art Art Direction, Motion Art Direction and Design, OOH – Social – Digital Static – Versioning

Agencies / Studios

Universal Pictures, Jon M. Chu, Peacock Creative (Internal), Art Machine, Method

When

December 2024 – March 2025

“Something has changed within me” is an iconic lyric from the song “Defying Gravity”. This was the defining art direction that encompassed campaign – we visually see peacock “change” into the world of Wicked. Myself and the team worked closely with Method to establish how these transitional elements would work. We wanted less of a “Disney magic” type look (less sparkles) and more of a “wizarding world” feel, like we were taking our first step into the Emerald City. With a March 2025 streaming date, this “Big Event” spot premiered during the Super Bowl.

Because Wicked: Part I takes place in the early years of Oz, the campaign had a much deeper focus on pink vs. green, Glinda vs. Elphaba – at school. Attention was drawn to iconic imagery like the Emerald City, the rolling fields of flowers, and how the two lead characters influenced the backdrop, almost in a competitive way. Flying monkeys vs. cherry blossoms. Wicked: For Good is where we see more of the yellow brick road and darker-purple tones. I worked with Art Machine to bring motion to this vertical for WeHo bus shelters and other placements.

This OOH placement is located outside of Peacock Theater in LA Live. Working closely with Art Machine, this went through many revisions as we struggled to find a happy balance between how the Peacock logo was treated in relation to Wicked and what art to focus on. In the end we went with the “keyhole” art in the center, followed by two character portraits, and two tune-in posters. Given the instant familiarity of the title, we didn’t find it necessary to always place the Wicked logo directly next to the pink/green Peacock logo, as it was visually redundant.

These static adjacent Sunset Boulevard boards complimented each other very well. Instead of overwhelming viewers with an abundance of tune-in messaging and taglines, we kept it very simple and symmetrical. Working with Art Machine, we made sure Glinda’s board highlights Peacock (in pink), using Shiz University as a backdrop, while Wicked is secondary. Elphaba’s board was the exact opposite – highlighting Wicked (Peacock is secondary), with the green Emerald city behind her.

Our vendor was able to provide extensions for both boards (Glinda’s crown and Elphaba’s broom). One concept we discussed for some time was to release real-world bubbles behind Glinda’s board, but decided it may not be as impactful as intended.

The Dynamic Duo are two Silvercast boards in close proximity to Penn Station. As you can see, this brings a motion element to the static Sunset boards above. Because these are digital boards, there was a need/want for Pre-Launch/Post-Launch messaging such as “Streaming Only On Peacock March 21”.
I worked with Art Machine to make sure they had all the assets needed and provided motion art direction. Although this was a :15 second camera drift, it was important to me we saw distinguishable details: specular highlights on both logos, cherry blossoms falling, bubbles circulating, lightning flashes, dust and particles, and Elphaba’s cape blowing in the wind.

LA Live (or Peacock Plaza) is a unique placement that showcases many interconnected oddly shaped screens with a lot of foot traffic. I worked closely with Art Machine and internal creative to make sure this showcases Wicked in an impactful edit, resolving to the “Creation of Adam” inspired cinemagraph (which we repurposed in several placements below). I really wanted the “peacock transformation” moment to be the first thing you see across all screens – with Cynthia Erivo’s final note in “Defying Gravity” almost calling out across the Plaza.

Unlike the vertical key-art referenced above, this hero art used in the theatrical release worked better with black tune-in typography instead of white + the “wickified” Peacock logo. We received some pushback from the studio as they didn’t want us to alter the art in any significant way. For example, in most placements Ariana’s hand actually extends over the tip of the Emerald City. Their hands don’t necessarily meet in the middle.

There were many digital statics/banners versioned out across the campaign. This was a nice use of toolkit assets from the studio (over alpha), which incorporates moving character portraits with Peacock CTA.
These were repurposed for various lower thirds as well.