The world of Sex Education and its characters are much beloved by fans, so we wanted to create an in-world piece featuring one of the most popular characters from the show. Aimee’s journey to finding sexual pleasure on her terms, especially after her sexual assault, really resonated with fans and has been one of the most talked-about aspects of the show. Therefore, celebrating Aimee’s growth in a raucous, raunchy spot seemed a perfect way to get fans hyped for a brand-new season of the show and remind them why they love watching.
We decided to create a vlog-style piece of content, set in Aimee Gibbs’ bedroom, where she reviewed sex toys for the public. Bringing in the iconic Dr Jean Milburn as a guest host would also allow us to reunite two characters on-screen whose scenes together in Season 3 had generated a lot of love on social media.
We wanted the content to feel like it could live within the Sex Education franchise, giving fans who we know can’t get enough of the show that little bit extra.
Once we had the idea down, a strong script was key. With two such well-developed characters, we needed to ensure that the content felt like Aimee and Jean. We knew that Sex Education fans are deeply immersed in the world and characters and that they’d pick up on anything that felt out of character. As avid fans of the show ourselves, we were able to write Aimee and Jean in their voices and get the script approved by the showwriters.
On the day of filming, Aimee Lou Wood and Gillian Anderson had a blast with the script, ad-libbing in parts and bringing tremendous energy to the scene. We filmed on the Sex Education set, with access to the show’s props, wardrobe, and makeup departments, so we were truly able to make the piece feel authentically Sex Education.
Sed Education actor, Alistair Petrie, directed the piece, and having him behind the camera brought out extra enthusiasm from the actors and gave a sense of Sex Education family while filming.
Editing the piece, we wanted to match Aimee’s chaotic energy and we included graphics that reflected Aimee’s bedroom decor, her sparkly personality, and the silliness of the content. From animating her “ratings” to the music choice, we wanted the whole piece to have an atmosphere of whimsy equal to Aimee’s character.
DIY Diaries got 3.3 million organic views and over 341,000 organic engagements across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. On Instagram, it saw the third-highest engagement rate of all the Season 4 campaign content (including trailers, key art and first looks), at 12% ER.
The response to the content across platforms was overwhelmingly positive, with comments declaring “This is GOLD”, “I’d watch ten seasons of this”, “I need this to be a whole web series”, “This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen”.
Once the SAG strike was over, both Aimee Lou Wood and Gillian Anderson shared the content multiple times on their own channels, proving that it’s not just us who is proud of the final result.
DIY Diaries is a perfect example of how, at Make It Social, we understand the DNA of a title and what its fans want to see as promo content, as well as how we have the finesse to bring it together in a highly polished asset.
