→ This is a story about what happens when a brand stops performing and starts connecting.

Spider-Man looking down on the city below.Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

With over $800M in ticket sales, Spider-Man: Brand New Day became the fourth highest grossing film in Domestic box office history this week (also the fastest to reach that number). The standard explanation for their success is IP and star power. The better explanation is that Sony did something most brands talk about but rarely practice: they got specific about who they were talking to, met the audience where they were at, and let real people be real. The same principle works whether you are the studio behind a global box office sensation or a team of one.

People First

Here’s something that surprised me this summer:

I got to know Tom Holland and Zendaya and I liked it.

Not in a fan way. I don’t follow either of them on social media. I’m not that into the franchise (don’t get me wrong – I like Spider-Man movies, I’m just not likely to go see them opening weekend). And I stopped following celebrity culture around the same time as I left my studio gig. But my first reaction to the film’s record-breaking opening weekend was “good for them”. Not the studio. Not the filmmakers. I couldn’t care less about the people behind the film. I was happy for Tom and Zendaya.

Quelle surprise?

Not really. The reason is actually quite simple: they broke through my filter. Not as actors promoting a movie or a famous couple performing their relationship for the camera, but as real people. And now I’m rooting for them.

The Awareness Problem

Anyone running a business right now is keenly aware of this: breaking through in 2026 is brutally hard. It’s also what makes Spider-Man’s success so remarkable.

It doesn’t matter if you are a Hollywood studio with a multi-million dollar marketing budget or a small business running your own social media page. You’re fighting for the same pair of eyeballs.

And those eyeballs, well, they don’t like to watch ads. In fact, they don’t like being sold to at all. Which, if I’m being honest, is a real pickle for everyone.

What it means for brands specifically: the guaranteed awareness machine that the media ran on for decades (national TV ads, talk show interviews, magazine covers, radio campaigns) doesn’t work anymore. It broke during Covid. The new landscape includes multiple platforms with multiple choices including everything from eating hot wings and dressing up like a medieval knight to getting interviewed on a subway and lip-syncing like you mean it (I know you watch Tom Holland performing Umbrella every time it crosses your feed too).

For your viewing pleasure: Here’s everyone’s favorite Hollywood couple doing The Puppy Interview with BuzzFeed, because, you know, puppies!

You can blame social media for reducing our attention spans. You can blame streaming for making commercials optional. You can blame AI for flooding the market with manufactured content. It doesn’t matter how we got here: we’re here. And the only thing that seems to capture our attention right now is real people, doing real things, out in the real world.

But this isn’t just a Hollywood problem. It’s the same environment every business is operating in.

There is this tremendous pressure to do more, be everywhere, and speak to everyone.

The answer, however, is exactly the opposite: stop chasing the masses and find your people.

Let’s take a look at how Sony did it.

A Brand New Playbook

What makes the Spider-Man: Brand New Day campaign so interesting is that Sony didn’t run the standard blockbuster playbook. Instead, they purpose-built a strategy that put fans at the center of the conversation. Everything, from the first trailer drop to the partnership strategy and even press tour, was about connecting with people on a personal level.

Here’s the full breakdown:

The trailer. Before the official trailer dropped, Sony released snippets through fans and creators — not as a leak, but as a strategy. Instead of one big studio moment, they created thousands of small personal ones. The film’s social reach hit 2.86 billion across platforms, an all-time record and more than three times the norm for superhero campaigns. That number wasn’t bought. It was built.

The partnerships. Sony’s promotional campaign spanned 165 brands and generated $309 million in media value — an all-time Hollywood record. But the architecture matters more than the scale. Instead of one mass campaign aimed at one audience, Sony built a network of brands that all spoke to a specific community in their own language. Meanwhile, they only spent $3.6 million on national TV ads compared to the genre norm of $20 to $25 million. That’s less than the cost of one Superbowl spot.

The press tour. Ten cities. Weeks of appearances. And the moments that traveled had nothing to do with the movie’s plot. Holland calling out to Zendaya by her middle name in a crowd of fans. Zendaya reaching for Holland’s hand during an interview. None of it was scripted. All of it was shared millions of times.

Every piece of this campaign answered the same question differently: how do you make people feel like they’re part of the story instead of the target of it?

The trailer made fans the distributors. The partnerships made relevance the reach strategy. And the press tour let two people who genuinely like each other be themselves. In other words, Sony got out of the way. It was a very modern move for an industry that is used to creating the narrative.

Your Brand New Playbook

Sony had 165 brand partners, a ten-city press tour, and two of the biggest stars on the planet. You probably don't. The playbook still applies. It just looks different on a smaller scale.

Here's the same framework, translated:

The Trailer → Your first impression. Sony turned the trailer drop into thousands of small personal moments by giving fans the content first. The small business version: stop treating your launch moments — a new offer, a new piece of content, a rebrand — as announcements. An announcement talks at people. Instead, bring your audience into the process before it's finished. Share the thinking behind the work. The people who engage with the "why" before the "what" will become your biggest fans.

The Partnerships → Your ecosystem. Sony's 165 brand partners weren't repeating the same message to the same audience 165 times. Each one reached a different community on their terms. Most businesses miss this: you're already operating in more than one lane. You have different audiences, different referral sources, different places your work shows up. The question is whether you're meeting them where they are. or flattening everything into one message and hoping the right person hears it.

The Press Tour → How you show up. The moments that traveled from Sony's press tour were the unscripted ones: Holland and Zendaya being real. The small business equivalent is every interaction where a potential customer or collaborator gets a read on who you actually are. Your discovery calls. Your social presence. Ask yourself: does the person on the other side of the interaction feel like they're participating in a conversation with a human or are they being sold to by a business.

For those who are new here, a Purpose Play is my way of helping you connect what I’m writing about to your own business. Consider this an invite to rethink your next brand communication.

Purpose Play

Think about the last piece of content you created for your brand. It could be a web page, email, social post, or something else. Who was it for? What did it say?

Now, think about being on the receiving end of that message. Do you feel talked at or included? What could you do differently to make them feel like a part of the conversation?

Not sure what signal your brand is actually sending? That’s a question I built The Signal Check to answer. For $48, you get a personal review of your brand — real eyes, real feedback, and your clearest next move. This is not a quiz. Or an automated report. It’s me, looking at your actual brand and telling you what I see.

Learn More → The Signal Check

Less Performance. More Trust.

As of this week, Brand New Day has generated over $2B globally including the $800M in Domestic box office mentioned previously. It is one of only seven films to ever reach that mark. Those numbers are extraordinary. But they’re the outcome, not the lesson.

The lesson is what Sony chose not to do. They didn’t flood the airwaves. They didn’t chase every audience. They didn’t ask their stars to perform. Instead, they put the fans at the center, let their stars be themselves, and trusted that would be enough.

I’ve also been running my own version of this experiment since January. Fewer brand partners. Zero IMAX screens. But the same filter: I got clear about what I had to offer, who it was for, found my voice, and trusted that the right people would join the conversation. So far, the math is working.

Related Posts

I Miss Movies. That’s How I Know Awareness Has Changed.

Brand Isn’t a Wrapper. It’s a Filter.

Marketing Isn’t a Menu. It’s a System.

About the Work

I’m Amy Zwagerman—brand strategist, fractional CMO, and founder of The Launch Box. I work with founders and marketing leaders to translate durable marketing principles into strategies and systems that fit their specific context, stage, and goals.

Marketing Jam sits alongside my client work as a place to explore ideas more openly. If the thinking here resonates and you’re curious about working together, you can learn more about my services or get in touch here.

AI-supported, human-led. All ideas and insights are my own. Curious how I use AI and where I draw the line? See my AI Disclosure Policy →

Integrity Pledge 🙋🏻‍♀️: The books, newsletters, shows, podcasts, and client work shared here are 100% reflective of my world. I will always disclose if and when I have a relationship with a brand I mention in a post or am sharing an affiliate link.

What Spider-Man's Record-breaking Run Can…