Apr 28, 2026 7:00pm IST
The ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ Sets Marketing Benchmark; Bollywood, Take Notes
While Hindi Cinema still follows textbook promotions (teasers, trailers, spottings, and city tours), Hollywood just ran a masterclass in marketing a movie, ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’, that felt like a cultural event before a single ticket was sold. The world of a film, its characters, its language, its feeling, and its connection with the audience is the most powerful asset there is. “The Devil Wears Prada 2’s” marketing campaign is a bible on how to market a film successfully.
There is a scene in the original “Devil Wears Prada” where Miranda Priestly surveys a rack of near-identical belts and shows disdain. Twenty years later, the marketing team behind the sequel, “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, has been doing the same thing to every other film releasing in 2026. Look alive. Class is in session.
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” does not release until May 1. And it has been on everyone’s film to watch since they began shooting. Which is when the team began dropping tidbits to garner interest for the film. The marketing campaigns behind the Streep and Hathaway starrer are so layered and so deeply rooted in what people already loved about the original that the teaser alone received over 181.5 million views in its first 24 hours. That number did not come from luck or nostalgia. It came from one of the most deliberately constructed marketing campaigns in recent Hollywood history, one that stopped feeling like just marketing and started feeling like a cultural moment. We saw this before for “Barbie” and “The Drama”, and now for “Devil Wears Prada 2.” Here is what they actually did.
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Marketing Before Shoot Wrap
Most campaigns begin when the teaser and trailer drop. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” began the moment the cameras rolled on the streets of Manhattan. A clip of Hathaway stumbling on set and recovering mid-stride without missing a beat went viral instantly. They also used paparazzi cleverly, so instead of hiding, they let themselves be ‘papped.’ Fans didn't see Hathaway, they saw her movie character, Andy.
Meryl as Priestly in Milan
In September 2025, Meryl Streep sat front row at the Dolce & Gabbana show in full costume as Miranda Priestly, with Stanley Tucci beside her as Nigel. Later, after the show, Priestly met Anna Wintour, the real-life inspiration behind the character, backstage, and they shared a brief conversation, which also took social media by storm. Fiction and reality in one frame stirred a lot of discussions.
The Oscars Moment
At the Academy Awards in March, Hathaway presented an award alongside Wintour, channelling Andy Sachs. They acted out a skit in which Wintour met her with cool indifference by calling Anne, ‘Emily’. The moment quickly became a meme and went instantly viral while making the audience witness something iconic.
The Vogue Cover
Streep and Wintour were on the Vogue cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz, and styled by Grace Coddington. Vogue also dropped a video alongside it of the two of them together, and the internet went bonkers. The original film was a satire of Wintour’s world. Nobody planned that twenty years later Anna would become part of the marketing for the second part.
The Cerulean Callback
“The Devil Wears Prada 2” team knew exactly what they had in that iconic blue sweater monologue. For The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Streep wore a custom J.Crew Cerulean cashmere sweater designed with her stylist Micaela Erlanger. One sweater with a talk show appearance takes you back to the iconic cerulean-sweater monologue, thanks to nostalgia marketing. A love letter to the audience that says: “We remember what mattered to you.”
The Butter Birkin
AMC and Regal theatres unveiled a red handbag-shaped popcorn bucket, nicknamed the ‘Butter Birkin’, as a part of a special ticket deal. A bundle including the bag, a ticket, and a limited-edition Runway magazine sold out within a week of going live. To announce it, the social media team paired the reveal with clips from the original Devil Wears Prada, which were all over social media, and a $40 version of a designer bag, which grabbed a lot of attention.
Bottling the Brand
The marketing infiltrated the daily lives of consumers through high-profile lifestyle collaborations that turned cinema into a commodity. Nearly 20 years after Priestly’s "lumpy blue sweater," dialogue, Smartwater released special edition bottles in that exact Cerulean shade. The definitive blue of the Runway universe. Simultaneously, Starbucks has leaned into its history with the franchise, launching a global character-inspired menu featuring the "Miranda Caffè Latte" — extra hot, no foam, with an added shot — and the "Emily Iced Chai."
The Global Takeover
The press tour was a city-by-city fashion editorial, each stop chosen to speak to a specific cultural market. Mexico City opened at the Museo Frida Kahlo, nodding to art and Latin culture. Tokyo brought the Asian market in at Roppongi Hills Arena. Seoul followed with a press conference and red carpet. Shanghai’s Taikoo Li Qiantan brought in local designers and celebrities. The world premiere landed at Lincoln Center in New York on April 20, livestreamed on Hulu and Disney+, before London closed the international leg. Every city, every outfit, every appearance was intentional.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Emily Blunt and Tucci are being jointly honoured with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony on April 30, 2026, one day before the release of “Devil Wears Prada 2”. The stars are being awarded in recognition of their overall careers, with specific acknowledgement of their iconic roles as Emily Charlton and Nigel in both “The Devil Wears Prada” and its sequel. This is a marketing masterstroke as it puts the film back in every headline at exactly the right moment.
Wooing India
To connect with Indian audiences, the team arranged an interview with Karan Johar, who admitted he has watched the original film 200 times and often channels Priestly in his own boardrooms. Hollywood identified the perfect Indian cultural bridge and collaborated with him to create a moment to connect with the Indian audience.
The ‘Runway’ Moment, Lady Gaga and Doechii
When the final trailer dropped on April 6, it did not arrive alone. It came with a preview of “Runway,” a track written specifically for the film by Lady Gaga and Doechii, produced by Andrew Watt, Bruno Mars, D'Mile, and Cirkut. The song, released on April 10, and the official music video launched on April 28.. The music video features the two artists strutting through an explosion of couture looks. This has helped pull music fans as well as fashion fans, treating the soundtrack as a marketing asset, and not an afterthought.
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