Last December, the hills were alive with the sound of retweets, as NBC found itself hosting an organic social media phenomenon with Sound of Music Live!, a revamped live broadcast of the famed play, starring Carrie Underwood. Thanks to a tempest of tweets and huge ratings, NBC discovered a few of every network’s favorite things and an annual tradition was born. NBC quickly announced a follow up: Peter Pan Live!, starring Allison Williams and Christopher Walken.

By establishing Peter Pan Live! as a pillar of its holiday programming, NBC hopes to attract families by turning back the clock. The original Broadway stage adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s novel was first brought to TV back in 1955 on NBC, becoming a holiday staple. Peter Pan Live! is a unique blend of tradition and reinvention, as NBC continues to expand upon its live event TV programming, positioning the throwback musical as a buzzy holiday tradition for families and live-tweeters alike.

Before Sound of Music Live!’s premiere, “we weren’t sure what to expect,” admits Sharon Allen, SVP of Marketing Strategy for NBC Entertainment. Over 44 million viewers provided an emphatic answer, ensuring NBC employs the same formula going forward.

“A lot of the things, quite honestly, we did for Sound of Music, we’re building on and evolving specific to Peter Pan, because it did work,” according to Allen. This year “we’re able to leverage Sound of Music’s success [to] get people excited,” touting the return of Emmy nominated producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, while relying on the enduring appeal of Peter Pan to help cement the premiere date.

A live theatrical production triggers many challenges from a marketing standpoint. Unlike any other show, “there are no assets. We’ve had to create everything,” Allen points out, including stills, posters and promos. It becomes “an interesting challenge because we have to create [assets] before they’re actually ready to go,” staging scenes from the forthcoming show and shooting rehearsals specifically for promotional purposes.

NBC will use its own air to promote the program, unveiling a sneak peek during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, teaching Jimmy Fallon to fly, and broadcasting the above Making of Peter Pan Live! special on Wednesday, November 26 at 8 pm PT.

To promote the live event, NBC is selling the timeless quality of Peter Pan, a different tactic than it used for Sound of Music. Last year, Carrie Underwood’s star power was the focus of NBC’s marketing push, now “we’re using the story versus the Carrie Underwood [factor]. It’s a great, well-loved timeless story that so many people know and remember,” regardless of age, says Allen.

NBC also is reaching out to schools and regional theaters to encourage tune-in. “To get families to watch together, we’re doing a lot of outreach through schools,” Allen says.

And of course, social media is a huge factor in NBC’s marketing strategy. Sound of Music Live! tapped into the cultural zeitgeist, helped along by its explosion on Twitter. Allen attributes this to the unexpectedness of live TV: “You never know what’s going to happen on stage, and we were thrilled to bring [that dynamic] onscreen as well.”

Pre-premiere, NBC has been active in the social sphere, with its user generated dance mashup video, Throwback Thursday social content on the Today show and its #TickTock countdown.

While NBC offers second-screen experiences during all of its shows, they’re doubling down on Peter Pan. To inspire communal viewing and engage families, there will be a Shazam experience featuring sing-along content paired with on-air call to actions, emboldening fans to crow, er tweet, during the show. Though it remains to be seen how much the talent will be able to perform and tweet, NBC has talent activation across all properties, and is focused on getting them and their teams engaged as best as it can to drive the social conversation. NBC is pushing to make Peter Pan even bigger than Sound of Music, and Allen thinks it will succeed: “Nobody really wants to grow up, right?”

Peter Pan Live! is already trending for NBC, and the network clearly feels bullish about its upcoming prospects with The Music Man planned for 2015 and Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men in the early stages. In the meantime, NBC hopes to once again tap into a mystical place as elusive as Neverland itself, a DVR-proof broadcast, when Peter Pan Live! premieres Thursday December 4 at 8 pm ET/PT.

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