Breaking a world record with a children's book.
The question Micheal Flaherty asked was simple and slightly mad: what if we got more people to read the same sentence of E.B. White's novel at the same moment than had ever read anything simultaneously in the history of recorded human endeavor? The previous Guinness record was 155,528 students in the United Kingdom reading a Wordsworth poem. Two days before Charlotte's Web opened theatrically, Walden shattered it by more than three to one.
Micheal chose the passage himself — the scene where Wilbur first meets Charlotte. A real-time website showed sign-up counts by state, city, and ZIP code, so schools could compete against each other. Alloy Media activated 5,000 elementary schools. A Toys for Tots drive ran in 1,000 of them simultaneously.
- Previous record: 155,528 — Wordsworth in UK
- Micheal personally chose the Wilbur/Charlotte passage
- Real-time ZIP code registration for inter-school competition
- 5,000 elementary schools in top 25 US markets
- Toys for Tots simultaneous toy drive in 1,000 schools
- Confirmed: Chicago Sun-Times front page coverage
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Washington Times coverage
Two hundred years on, parliaments still listened.
The 200th anniversary of the British parliamentary vote to abolish the slave trade was February 23, 2007. Walden timed the US theatrical opening to the exact date. Before it opened, there was a pre-release screening in Ottawa attended by more than 250 Canadian members of parliament and their staffers — followed the next day by a private screening for 150 pastors and church leaders.
Asbury College's communications department produced a promotional DVD — shot in Maine with six students and two professors, funded by the Transformation Project and the Lilly Foundation — that was distributed to faith leaders across the United States and Europe. The World Evangelical Alliance launched a dedicated resource website. The Amazing Change campaign connected the film to modern anti-slavery activism. In the US Congress, H.Res.158 was introduced to honor Wilberforce's legacy.
- World Evangelical Alliance launched AmazingGraceResource.com
- Asbury College produced church distribution DVD
- US Senate S.Res.613 passed unanimously
- Rep. Joe Pitts introduced H.Res.158 in House
- Amazing Change petition: 390,000 target signatures
- Outgrossed Oscar-winning Last King of Scotland
The dual-audience campaign that rewrote Hollywood's playbook.
Disney and Walden ran two entirely separate campaigns for Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — one for the secular mainstream, one for the faith community — while insisting publicly that the film was neither religious allegory nor secular fantasy, but simply a great story. The strategy was studied, imitated, and widely credited with opening Hollywood's eyes to the commercial power of the faith-and-family audience.
Motive Marketing was hired to activate 10,000 churches. A national sermon contest invited pastors to incorporate Narnia themes. Church packets went out to 50,000 congregations. The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page feature on the campaign. The film grossed $745M worldwide.
- Motive Marketing: specialist faith-community PR firm
- Sermon contest for best Narnia-themed message
- Disney sent church packets to 50,000 congregations
- Learning Annex NYC: 1,000-seat sold-out pre-release screening
- C.S. Lewis estate full creative participation
- Douglas Gresham (Lewis stepson) as guardian of intent
The most politically charged release in Walden's history.
Won't Back Down grew directly from Micheal Flaherty's Wall Street Journal op-ed about Kelley Williams-Bolar, an Akron, Ohio mother jailed for using her father's address to enroll her daughters in a better school district. The op-ed generated enough public outcry that Governor Kasich granted clemency, and a wealthy WSJ reader paid for both daughters' private school tuition. The story became the film.
The release strategy was six months in the making: private screenings in states from New York to Utah; Michelle Rhee presenting the film at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions; $2M+ in publicity contributions from private foundations and the US Chamber of Commerce. The New York premiere was picketed by teachers unions.
- Flaherty spent months reporting on Parent Revolution in Compton
- Op-ed led to Gov. Kasich clemency for Williams-Bolar
- WSJ reader paid for Williams-Bolar daughters' private school
- Michelle Rhee at both Republican and Democratic conventions
- NYC premiere picketed by AFT and NEA
- Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Oscar Isaac, Holly Hunter