The first article from Brybe's case studies series. In today's blog, we will discuss an extremely interesting story of Universal Pictures – a company that has managed to engage American TikTok users and promote its upcoming movie thanks to its interaction with a very popular topic.
The Situation
Around the middle of 2018, Universal Pictures was preparing for the release of its latest comedy dark fantasy film called "The House with a Clock in its Walls," which was due to appear in cinemas in September 2018. The company wanted to raise people's awareness of the upcoming release by increasing interest in the title to achieve a better box office when the production hit cinemas around the world. To accomplish its goal, Universal Pictures reached for TikTok – one of the best social media platforms to interact with younger users of the so-called Generation Z – where it encouraged followers to celebrate with "magic" and increased their interest in the topic, ultimately redirecting them to their goal and making more people go to cinemas.
And How Did They Do That?
Social media marketers from Universal Pictures prepared a special hashtag for TikTok (#FindYourMagic) to encourage their followers to do magic tricks, pranks, and illusions – which, during that time, was extremely popular content on TikTok. Thanks to this action, they have managed to allow their fans to interpret the theme of their incoming movie in their own way and show their own magic – doing any kinds of magic tricks that these people have found interesting and charming.
To make the campaign more successful and encourage even more people, Universal Pictures hired 10 popular content creators to release "magical' stories". Some of the influencers posted videos of them doing some magic tricks, while others used filming techniques to create interesting illusions for their fans to enjoy. Other methods used by the company during this marketing campaign include, but are not limited to, e.g. branded music – sounds of clock ringing in the background (which was related to the movie's title) helped to build awareness for the upcoming film.
The Effect
Well, the magic worked! Thanks to the used challenge, Universal Pictures company has managed to attract more than 1.3 million likes on the videos of their creators and more than 19,000 of the content generated by users enjoying the hashtag. What is more, the campaign has also led to an 11,000 increase in official account followers.
Feeling inspired already? Or maybe even magical? Hopefully next time you too are going to create something equally charming thanks to our influencer marketplace – here, at Brybe.com.