How TV shows like 'Percy Jackson' and 'One Piece' fend off the sophomore slump

Talk astir champagne problems: Your highly touted tv series, based connected precise fashionable root material, premieres to large ratings, instrumentality adoration and a 2nd play renewal. Now, you request to guarantee the show’s trajectory keeps rising. How bash you debar the dreaded “sophomore slump”?

That’s wherever the selling squad comes in. But successful our fragmented integer media ecosystem, spreading the connection astir your Season 2 premiere day is not enough. Indeed, there’s overmuch time, effort and wealth spent connected molding a show’s instrumentality into the benignant of must-see lawsuit that volition gully viewers aged and new.

Two streaming titles, some successful the action/fantasy genre, precocious pulled backmost the curtain for The Envelope, detailing their sophomore selling strategies. The first, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” which returned to Disney+ connected Dec. 10, follows the adventures of the titular lad of Poseidon and demigod (Walker Scobell) from co-creator and enforcement shaper Rick Riordan’s publication series. The second, Netflix’s “One Piece,” which returns March 10, follows the ragtag Straw Hat Pirates of enforcement shaper Eiichiro Oda’s manga bid arsenic they prosecute the invaluable One Piece treasure.

For both, the logistical intricacies of casting announcements, trailers and cardinal creation are important — but they’re thing without the attraction of each show’s precise progressive and almighty fandom.

“You spell successful knowing that ‘One Piece’ is the fig 1 manga successful Japan, but conscionable however meaningful that is to fans is ever thing that is truthful inspiring,” says Jonathan Helfgot, Netflix’s vice president of marketing, U.S. and Canada. “Seeing however fans responded to the characters and the execution of these characters that they’ve loved for truthful agelong was fantastic to spot and thing we knew we had to span betwixt Season 1 and 2. We knew that keeping those characters live successful their lives was going to beryllium truthful important.”

Remaining applicable successful the offseason has go an adjacent greater situation successful the epoch of extended hiatuses betwixt seasons airing. “Percy” had 23 months betwixt its Season 1 finale successful January 2024 and past month’s Season 2 premiere. The spread is adjacent wider for “One Piece” arsenic much than 2 and a fractional years volition person passed by the clip caller episodes drop. Blame the 2023 Hollywood strikes on with the world that large phantasy projects instrumentality considerably much clip to sprout fixed the elaborate sets, costumes and peculiar effects required.

As such, some streamers’ selling teams employment an “always-on” attack to engagement with fans. In “Percy’s” case, “This is, arsenic you tin imagine, a hyper-engaged, rabid instrumentality basal connected societal and we’re tapping into them routinely and making definite we’re continuing that dialogue. We past privation to marque definite we’re honoring them with what we are delivering from a run perspective,” says Erin Weir, enforcement vice president, selling for ABC and Disney Entertainment Television.

Those selling campaigns spell beyond societal media posts to support anticipation astatine a fever transportation and actively prosecute the fandom portion besides attracting caller viewers. “This is truly arsenic large arsenic it gets successful the tv space,” says Weir of the “Percy” campaign, which included aggregate partnerships, an activation and formed sheet astatine San Diego Comic-Con past July and, person to the Season 2 launch, takeovers successful New York City and Chicago arsenic good arsenic a 3D billboard activation successful Hollywood with a water-filled tidal question effect. “This is thing that radical are anticipating and are coming into our streaming services for and truly wanting to marque a infinitesimal retired of it.”

Even though the 2nd play of “One Piece” (subtitled “Into the Grand Line”) doesn’t aerial until March, a dependable watercourse of property releases person been coming for months. For example, the archetypal teaser trailer and Season 3 renewal came successful August; October saw the Season 2 premiere day announcement and archetypal look photos; and November touted Season 3 opening accumulation successful South Africa with the casting quality of Tony victor Cole Escola (“Oh, Mary!”) arsenic morally challenged Bon Clay.

The selling instrumentality didn’t instrumentality the holidays disconnected either. “One Piece” released a Christmas Day NFL pregame announcement that instrumentality favourite quality Tony Tony Chopper, antecedently announced arsenic appearing successful Season 2, volition beryllium voiced by Ikue Ōtani, who besides voiced the anime quality for astir 2 decades. Also connected the aforesaid day, iconic quality Dr. Hiriluk (Mark Harelik) appeared successful unrecorded enactment successful a planetary archetypal look.

When the sky’s the bounds for hyping these large shows, however competitory bash things get betwixt teams? Not much, says Helfgot, adding it’s a bully happening to look astatine what the contention is doing, but each goes backmost to the fandom. “The champion selling and the champion instrumentality engagement comes erstwhile you are a instrumentality yourself truthful you get excited astir different radical getting excited,” helium says. “It’s much to conscionable enactment successful interaction with the instrumentality portion of ourselves.”