Sony Pictures partnered with social agency Fullscreen to build trust between the Venom movie and the core comic and Marvel fandoms ahead of the movie's release.
The campaign's goals were to:
Fullscreen's strategy was to reference a classic Marvel "letters to the editor" feature found at the end of the physical comics called Eddie's Clubhouse. An in-world feature, Eddie's Clubhouse showcased Venom and his host Eddie Brock answering real letters from fans.
Fullscreen relaunched the feature, this time on social via a unique reinvention of Twitter Moments where Venom himself would reply to fan tweets in "digital issues" built around a weekly theme. Each issue included curated conversation threads and exclusive content that inserted Venom's voice into conversations the core fandom was already participating in.
The series of 12 issues extended from San Diego Comic-Con to release and included real-time event coverage, custom illustrated fan art, a Q&A with director Ruben Fleischer straight from the editing bay, and special weekly content releases that injected Venom's humorous POV in surprising ways, such as a first-look film clip where traditional subtitles were replaced with Venom's commentary.
The final issue included another organic platform reinvention, this time using Twitter auto-replies, that enabled Venom to expand his custom replies at scale. Developed in partnership with Twitter and PXL, the #BondWithVenom chatbot recognized keywords in fans' tweets and then surprised and delighted them with direct replies custom built for those exact keywords. Some keywords served as easter eggs, unlocking replies from Venom that teased movie details. The activation leveraged participation from movie talent and partners like IMAX and Fandango to amplify awareness beyond core fans to a broad audience in the weekend of release.
Though the activation was organic, Venom's replies generated over 20% of total campaign impressions, with 22% of users replying back to Venom more than once (and many core fans replying over 10 TIMES!). The entire campaign resulted in positive sentiment of 90% (a 50% change from the campaign's launch at San Diego Comic-Con), proving that Fullscreen had successfully bonded with Venom and established trust with the core fandom.
The Twitter Moments and #BondWithVenom activation were crucial catalysts for turning the sentiment tide and keeping the the movie's positive momentum going when it mattered most. Venom went on to post opening weekend box office records for October with new and core fans alike citing Eddie's Clubhouse's "insane promotional work" as the "highlight of their week."
