Al Yankovic is a music and cultural icon, and Daniel Radcliffe is as A-list as they come. We knew our opportunity lay in reaching the talent’s individual fandoms, appealing to their unique careers, and ultimately marrying these fandoms into one that would create a swell of positive conversation surrounding the film.
Our goals were to increase social conversation surrounding the film with multiple audiences, grow our brand channel accounts, and position the title as the must-see movie of 2022.
We crafted a multi-platform campaign and platform-unique strategies that spoke to individual audiences in the right way, reaching talent fandoms as well as new followers and entertainment fans.
Instagram: The Roku Channel brand account was, along with Twitter, the film’s headquarters – all film content lived here, and was strategically launched to create a steady drumbeat of beats throughout the campaign.
The account was also used to engage fans directly with live events – as our social correspondent went live from behind the scenes and the red carpets of The Toronto International Film Festival screening and US premiere event.
We tapped popular Instagram account @CelebsonSandwiches to create an original painting of Weird Al on a bologna sandwich. The art and accompanying contest fittingly launched on National Bologna Day.
Twitter: The Twitter brand account and the official film account (@BeWeird) were established as hubs for all WEIRD announcements, news, talent activations, and creative.
During the Toronto International Film Festival, we hosted a #HideandTweet, hiding WEIRD t-shirts around the festival and sharing clues to their locations. Fans found all packages in just under an hour and created conversation leading up to the Midnight Madness opening screening.
On launch day, the Twitter account hosted a Watch Party featuring a live Q&A with “Weird Al” Yankovic and we released the WEIRD GIPHY collection of clips, memes, and stickers.
Reddit: From the moment the campaign launched, Reddit fans were excited for and supportive of the film, and we wanted to give something special back to them. As part of the media campaign, we programmed an AMA with Daniel Radcliffe and Al Yankovic which broke platform records.
YouTube: As part of the WEIRD Premiere held at 5 Alamo Drafthouse locations across the US, we went live from the Red Carpet with host @guywithamovieamera (Reece Feldman). The livestream was streamed to all Alamo Drafthouse premiere audiences and to the social community via The Roku Channel account
The campaign saw great success across all social channels and on The Roku Channel with millions of streamers watching WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story during its opening weekend.
The Reddit AMA with Daniel Radcliffe and Al Yankovic was the most upvoted brand advertisement on Reddit in 2022
WEIRD trended organically 11 times during the campaign across Twitter, Reddit and YouTube
The WEIRD GIPHY collection received over 127MM views on launch day
#WeirdTheAlYankovicStory hashtag had over 1 billion impressions across social media
WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story had the biggest opening weekend audience in the history of The Roku Channel
WEIRD drew more new/lapsed viewers to The Roku Channel during its opening weekend than any on-demand content launch ever on The Roku Channel.
WEIRD garnered more streaming hours during its opening weekend / opening day than any other video-on-demand content launch in the history of The Roku Channel.
