In "Abbott Elementary," a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — are brought together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible educators may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don't love the school district's less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.
With Season 5 fast approaching, ABC looked to capture the attention of viewers in the places they hang out on social media, exciting fans of the hit comedy, attracting new audiences, and driving tune-in for the season premiere. To do that, ABC created a fun and funny teaser that would be sure to stop viewers from scrolling and pique their interest.
Reddit has called itself "the front page of the internet," and ABC knew the social media and forum website was the right place to grab the attention of fans of "Abbott Elementary" and to capture the eyeballs of new viewers.
ABC created a paid Reddit Disruptor video ad to appear among the various posts on the website. But rather than just creating a teaser for Season 5, ABC made a teaser video that seemed to come through viewers' feeds, making for an eye-catching promo that defied expectations.
The teaser breaks the feed with a thrown apple as the "Abbott Elementary" teachers face down the incoming projectile, before it's slammed straight through the fourth wall — capturing the chaos and comedy of the series, while also presenting social media scrollers with a reason to stop scanning the feed. The promo concludes by giving viewers a quick sense of what to expect in the upcoming season and a reminder of where to find "Abbott Elementary," leaving them excited to watch.
The Reddit Disruptor Ad delivered 4.5MM impressions and resulted in 17.3K clicks for a 0.29% CTR, surpassing the partner benchmark of 0.22% CTR, showing that the animated creative drove higher engagement with users.
