Objectives

The overall objective with the Gossip Girl Reboot social media campaign was to utilize each social media platform effectively to fuel the fanbase new and old. 

• Individual Instagram Accounts: We knew one of the biggest points of interest of the new Gossip Girl would be: Who are the new Upper East Siders? They are the who’s who of NYC’s teens. Individual Instagram accounts for each of these characters act as a glimpse into the individual’s life, giving fans a hub to get to know their faves more intimately, drop hints about storylines, backgrounds, and above all, blur the lines between reality and Gossip Girl world. 

• Live Tweeting: Gossip Girl’s Twitter has existed since the first rendition of the show. We hosted a live tweet as each episode of the Gossip Girl Reboot dropped. The goal was to drive up buzz and excite fans with the chance to interact with GG in real time. 

• Text Gossip Girl: Who is Gossip Girl without her infamous blasts? Utilizing the Community app, we set up a phone number where fans can text Gossip Girl. She could send out blasts as she does in the show, ask questions, and drop hints on upcoming episodes. These worked to further immerse the audience in the show. 

• SPOTTED: The capture of scenes from the show on iPhone was posted in different versions across Twitter, Tik Tok, IG stories in a multiplatform effort to make the events seem real.

Strategy and Execution

• Individual Instagram Accounts: A great deal of knowledge about each character had to be ascertained before we could build out Instagram accounts dedicated to each one. To start, we gathered Instagram accounts from around the platform that we believed closely aligned with the aesthetic, and voice choices we believed each character would have. To execute the vision we had a social embed on set to capture videos, pictures, and selfies, from each character’s point of view; following instructions detailing how each would pose, their hobbies, who they would be seen with, and where they would be seen. We then aligned the timeline of their outfits, friendships, fall outs, who is following who as it happened within the show. For example if two characters started off the show as a couple, we would have photos of them together, when in the show they eventually broke up, we would delete the photographs. We may even employ the use of a shady caption on a character’s upcoming post, if in the corresponding episode, they had fallen out with one of their friends. All of these details worked to make the character accounts act as an extension of the characters portrayed on the show. 

• Live Tweeting: Taking note of which characters and storylines generated the most interest amongst the Twitter audience, each week we were able to anticipate the aspects of each episode that would generate the most buzz. By creating “#GGLIVETWEET”  at 8PM EST we were able to create a hub on Twitter for all things Gossip Girl, and have her play into the conversation effectively asking questions, creating interesting prompts for fans, and reacting to topics the fanbase held dear. It was also a chance for Gossip Girl to talk directly to fans, getting a like or response from her proved to be a coveted clout boosting event. 

• Text Gossip Girl: Keeping our ear close to the comments on each platform, we were able to see what interested fans most about each aspect of the Gossip Girl Reboot. Using that information, we catered blasts to drop hints about the most highly talked about storylines. We also mirrored some blasts to match those in the show, we engineered them to drop at precisely the same time as they would when watching with the live tweet. To give our Community members an extra benefit for being on GG’s contact list, we also gave them a chance to get individualized exclusive content depending on how they answered certain questions. For example, GG would send out a blast asking them to choose between 1 or 2, depending on which number they chose, they would get a GIF from the upcoming episode that has yet to air. Overall, the Community app worked to make the Gossip Girl entity real for fans, utilizing social media in real life, as she was depicted to do in the canon. 

Results

• Individual Instagram Accounts: By the end of Season 1B, we were running 10 Instagram accounts for the show– one for Gossip Girl and 9 dedicated to our main characters. The total number of followers across the 9 character accounts grew to 680K. Comments indicate that fans got exactly what we wanted them to out of the profiles. Many times we saw them commenting to fans about their storylines, giving them advice, or cheeky banter. Most of all, we saw them fawning over the posts of the characters they loved the most, loving the extra content they saw of their outfits, hair, nails, and overall energy. 

• Live Tweeting: During the run of our live tweets we saw many fans returning time and time again to discuss the show with Gossip Girl. We saw that we had created an online community of fans willing to share ideas, theories, and commentary around the show at one time. 

• Text Gossip Girl: By the end of Season 1B of Gossip Girl we had over 28K members signed up to receive text messages from Gossip Girl. We saw a consistent talk about the Gossip Girl blasts on Twitter, which enticed those who had not signed up for the blasts to do so– and quickly. Fans also commented that the text messages made the show “feel real”.

• SPOTTED: The SPOTTED content furthered the illusion that Gossip Girl is real, and has very little respect for boundaries, staying true to the cannon.

Media