Before a single ticket was sold this weekend, Spider-Man: Brand New Day had already broken a Hollywood record. Sony's promotional partner campaign for the film reached a worldwide media value of $309 million, surpassing the studio's own previous record of $288 million set by Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, according to Deadline.
That figure does not include money from licensing partners. Sony made that distinction clear, noting that Disney holds the licensing and merchandise rights for Spider-Man.
The campaign spans 165 brands. Four of them secured product placement directly inside the film. Spider-Man eats Little Caesars pizza, uses a Samsung phone and ASUS computers, passes BMWs on city streets, and walks into a bodega selling Liquid I.V. drink mix. First-time Sony partners on the campaign include Liquid I.V., Samsung, Takis flavored snacks and the soft drink brand Poppi.
Sony EVP of Brand Strategy and Global Partnerships Jeffrey Godsick told Deadline that Spider-Man's broad appeal shaped how the campaign was structured. Unlike many tentpole films where studios focus marketing on a specific demographic that is slow to attend, Godsick described Brand New Day as "a true 8- to-80-years-old movie, it's for everybody."
"When you have a collection of partners like this, you're able to speak to different constituencies, instead of igniting one demographic," Godsick added. "We try to speak to all in different ways."
The social media numbers match the scale of the campaign. Analytics firm RelishMix reported that Brand New Day's social media universe reach across TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X and Instagram had already hit 2.86 billion, an all-time record for the firm. That figure surpasses Avengers: Endgame at 2.4 billion and Avengers: Infinity War at 2 billion. It also comes in at 3.2 times above the combined norms of 26 different superhero films across all social platforms.
Much of that reach comes from the cast itself. Zendaya has 216 million followers, Tom Holland has 70 million and Jon Bernthal has 5.3 million.
The film was directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, and is expected to open to around $470 million at the global box office this weekend.
Little Caesars tied its brand partnership to the film by creating a new product called the Webberoni Pizza, sold specifically in connection with the release.
