As the marketing campaign for season two of SHOWTIME®'s buzzy and fan-favorite series, YELLOWJACKETS, kicked into full gear, the fans wanted one thing and one thing only: a trailer. But if we know anything from YELLOWJACKETS, it’s that The Wilderness demands sacrifice.
Our goal: drive teaser video views by activating and empowering fans to “summon” the teaser trailer through an unconventional, cryptic cross-platform social activation.
From the very moment fans finished season one, they demanded a season two trailer. So before dawn on Friday the 13th, with hunger at an all time high, social channels leveraged insider elements of the show like candles, a seance, and the creepy attic itself with an eerie single candle live-streamed from a replica of the cabin, custom-built for a photorealistic take echoing one of the series' most iconic scenes.
As the candle melted down for 60 minutes and the sun rose through the window behind it, fans were prompted to “Make an offering." Their sacrifices included offering up their first born child, their pets, their legs (nodding to a notable post-crash amputation), their siblings and family members, and even their very livelihoods — being late to work and class so they can watch the trailer live.
Actors from the show, @TwitterTV, @Instagram other SHOWTIME series, and social handles from the Paramount Global family joined in the fun and made their offerings alongside the fans. Community engagement replied in the mysterious, ambiguous tone of the show, telling followers that: “The Wilderness appreciates your sacrifice” and using iconic quotes from the show to remind fans “they wouldn’t be hungry much longer” until the candle burned down and fans’ prayers were answered with a gift from the spirits: The “Darkness” Official Teaser.
But for those fans who went above and beyond with their offerings? Their sacrifices were rewarded with entry into THE ACOLYTES, an Instagram Close Friends list that honors our most devout followers with exclusive content they can only get by proving their devotion to The Wilderness.
As a hype builder for the teaser trailer, The Summoning was a roaring success, helping drive:
Total Social + YouTube Teaser Trailer Video Views: 14.6M (+20X the date reveal)
Total Social + YouTube Teaser Trailer Impressions: 14.8M Impressions
Total Social Shares of Teaser Trailer: 15K users
Total Conversation Volume for Teaser Trailer: 13K Mentions (+120% more than date reveal)
Organic social views of the livestream topped 300K views, while excitement on Reddit spanned multiple threads hyping our countdown, speculating about the candle, sharing the Close Friends execution, and even considering the livestream the perfect video to keep on in the background.
