The original “L Word” was a beloved show for generations of LGBTQ+ audiences that at its height inspired friendships, romances, blogs, watch parties and even the occasional cruise. With “The L Word: Generation Q” revival we set out to excite and welcome back that lifelong community of OG fans while inviting in a new generation to join our found-family.
We focused on community building across those multi-generational lines, bringing together new and old fans through weekly engagement stunts across Twitter and Instagram that allowed our fans to shape the weekly conversation and connect with one another in real time.
We kicked off our campaign by introducing our community to one another through a Twitter thread that connected fans looking for watch parties with individuals hosting watch parties - both IRL and digital. We gave them a slew of digital content to enhance the experience, including Instagram Story bingo cards and a premiere day Spotify playlist.
We brought fans into the world of the characters with us too through weekly stunts, games, and talent takeovers. The week of fan favorite character Shane’s birthday party episode, we threw a bash on social media asking fans to tweet us their cocktail (or mocktail!) order to receive a personalized story of how the party would have gone for them. The stunt resulted in 5.6K engagements, 113K impressions and over 600 fan interactions.
To bring some of the original themes of the series to life for a new generation, we hacked platform capabilities on Twitter to reimagine the legendary “Chart” created by Alice in the original series. Through our interactive, continuous Twitter Thread, fans could indulge in the tangled and messy web of hook-ups each week and discuss predictions with each other in real time.
We continued to find opportunistic and creative ways to engage with viewers: eventizing Tina’s surprise return with an Instagram challenge and reaction thread, hyping up Fletcher fans by teasing new music, and fostering regular conversations on everything from season 2 predictions to awkward lunches with your ex.
Alongside starting conversations ourselves, we also created space on our social channels for our community to lead as well. We spotlighted content creators and influencers, teaming up with LGBTQ+ Society6 artists to highlight their unique series inspired designs, and sharing fan testimonials where fans discussed what “The L Word: Generation Q” meant to them.
Finally, at the height of our campaign, we launched a “Who Are You?” character Instagram effect which allowed our fans to further connect with the series and - if they were lucky - their favorite character. The cast also took to Instagram to share their results and celebrate fans who matched with them.
We ultimately achieved our goal of bringing together an entertained, engaged community of fans across all ages and demographics to celebrate not just the series, but themselves too. As we all eagerly await for Season 2 to arrive, we continue to foster community by discussing current events, sharing set updates and welcoming new characters and guest stars to the family.
Bringing our audiences together through the universal language of “The L Word: Generation Q”, our campaign resulted in over 5M total engagements, 66M impressions, and a whopping average engagement rate of 8.7%. Throughout the campaign, we also saw a 343% increase in growth on Instagram and an 18% increase in total community size across all platforms.
In the end, our fans let us know that they felt the people behind the accounts were actually their friend, and thanked us for fostering new connections for them.
