This year’s WrestleMania is coming up soon, but the WWE has been working hard on their marketing campaign for months.
In February, just before the Super Bowl, WWE tried to get attention in Las Vegas while everyone was focused on the NFL.
WWE held a press conference in Las Vegas to promote WrestleMania XL, a two-day event in Philadelphia starting Saturday. They talked about appearances by stars like Cody Rhodes and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is now a board member for WWE’s parent company, TKO Group. The event was livestreamed on Peacock to get the attention of football fans in town and viewers across the country.
A lot of people showed up for the event, even though there was no wrestling. The Rock slapped Rhodes, and the video got 15.7 million views on WWE’s social media in less than 12 hours. The press conference got more than 100 million views in less than 12 hours.
WWE released the WrestleMania XL video on the day of the Super Bowl. It has over 5 million views on WWE’s X account, which used to be called Twitter.
Jason Cielsak, president, Pacific Rim, at brand experience firm Siegel+Gale, says that WWE’s WrestleMania messaging gets fans excited for an event where many of the year's storylines are resolved in the ring.
Cielsak said that WWE's marketing is a great example of storytelling and drama that other sports leagues and TV writers could learn from.
The Rock being part of WrestleMania XL is a big advantage for WWE because of his long connection with the company and his fame as a movie star.
According to Cielsak, The Rock's involvement benefits WWE a lot and helps show the organization as a serious entertainment company, attracting others seeking global stardom.
WWE has also been using its professional relationship with two of the company’s biggest social media personalities, Logan Paul and Pat McAfee, to promote WrestleMania XL. Paul, WWE’s current United States champion, co-founder of Prime beverage company, and YouTuber, uploaded a video on X talking about the WrestleMania XL press conference.
McAfee, who joined WWE’s Raw commentary team and co-hosted the WrestleMania XL press conference, recently interviewed The Rock on his TV show on ESPN. A clip of the video posted to McAfee’s X account has more than 3 million views.
The promotion for WrestleMania not only benefits the company, but also the local areas where the event is happening. Last year, WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium brought in $215 million for Los Angeles, and WrestleMania 38 made $206.5 million for the Dallas/Arlington region.
WWE has stated that since 2016, WrestleMania has created over $1.2 billion in total economic impact for the cities that have held the event.
TKO Group Holdings, Inc., located in Stamford, Connecticut, has seen an increase of nearly 7% in its shares this year.
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