Helping a global entertainment studio make the right decision

Todd Trautz Maru/Matchbox | March 2023


A global entertainment studio enlisted Maru to help advise them on content planning. They needed to identify which series or movie to reboot out of a set of more than 20 titles and discover the format that would be the most successful for various audiences. Additionally, the entertainment studio sought to leverage the emotional connection to the original movie or show to draw in a new generation of viewers while capitalizing on the previous audience.

Maru understood that deciding what entertainment to consume is an emotional decision, so we went beyond the traditional line of rational questioning to uncover the answer. Maru's research approach included Implicit Association Testing (IAT), which helps capture each movie's strength and show the title in generating positive, fast, implicit associations. This timed behavioral test forces respondents to evaluate the titles quickly, ultimately revealing the subconscious strength of each title driven by their emotional attachment.

Using the traditional approach, we can determine the “Awesome” movie would have had the greatest interest at 64%. However, IAT and Fast/Slow alignment analysis revealed almost the opposite hierarchy of titles. The fast, positive associative data captured the emotional dimension of the content’s nostalgia, which aligned with the core objective. The IAT data indicated that the “Family Movie” and the “Magical Movie” drove stronger positive associations and emotional connections.

Business outcomes:

The studio produced both the “Family Movie” as streaming series and the “Magical Movie’ exclusively on their streaming platform. The insights revealed by Maru’s analysis resulted in both titles being produced as award-winning successes. The “Magical Movie” broke Nielsen records with 2.7 billion views on its debut, beating records previously held by Disney's Encanto and Frozen.

To learn more about Implicit Association Testing, contact us here.

Maru’s research capabilities are deeply rooted in our proprietary HUB platform, which powers our research worldwide. From multi-touchpoint Customer Experience (CX) and Customer Experience Management (CEM) to Panel Communities and on, HUB allows multiple data streams to be integrated into a single ecosystem, facilitating the real-time analysis of behavioral, transactional, and attitudinal information to deliver insights at speed.

Our team will be delighted to discuss your needs; please contact us here.

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