Partner with seasoned content creators to introduce Deli Boys Season 1 as a culturally relevant, comedy-forward series by creating a moment online that resonated with comedy-loving audiences, particularly men aged 18-49. This was a new venture for our client, Onyx Collective. A "first of it's kind, never been done before" Influencer Junket for them, where we took the cast of Deli Boys on a tour of creator collaborations over the course of two days.
The objective was to embed the show into creator feeds where deli culture, food obsession, and internet humor already thrive, using creator-led content to generate highly shareable, internet-native moments. By leaning into humor, improvisation, and the show’s chaotic tone, the campaign aimed to spark virality and repeated exposure across platforms.
At its core, the goal was for Deli Boys to feel familiar before it felt new, using cultural presence and virality to drive awareness, interest, and eventual viewership on Hulu.
Strategy:
The strategy centered on onsite collaborations and creator-led storytelling with well-known, culturally relevant internet personalities who operate at the intersection of food, deli culture, and comedy.
We focused on creators who could authentically pull audiences into the hilarious, unhinged world of Deli Boys. These creators were selected for their ability to improvise, riff, and generate chaotic, quotable, internet-native moments that naturally matched the tone of the series. Humor served as the primary creative driver throughout the campaign.
In partnership with Hulu, cultural alignment was balanced with performance requirements. Creators were chosen based on consistent reach ranging from 500K to millions of average views, 80%+ U.S.-based audiences, a 60%+ male audience skew, strong engagement, and a recognizable internet voice. The goal was to work with partners who could deliver meaningful scale while maintaining authenticity.
The creator mix prioritized deli themes and culture creators whose content already reflects the tone and environment of the show, alongside comedy creators known for character-driven and observational humor. These creators were positioned as cultural guides, helping bring audiences into Deli Boys in a way that felt playful, insider, and unmistakably on-brand.
Execution:
Execution followed a creator-first process, beginning with partner discovery and extending through rollout.
Creators were sourced through targeted platform research and social listening across TikTok and Instagram, with a focus on food, deli-themed, comedy, and culture communities. Each creator was vetted against performance benchmarks including views, audience composition, engagement, and tonal alignment with the show.
Once selected, creators were given autonomy over the creative. They introduced Deli Boys through their existing formats which included onsite interviews, food-focused videos, and comedy-driven posts. We wanted the world of Deli Boys to feel like it entered their native feeds. Mentions of the show were intentionally light, allowing humor and familiarity to drive interest. This let the content grow viral and gave the Deli Boys cast a digital touchpoint to compliment the rest of the show’s promotions.
Onsite creator partners included Shop Cats Show, Subway Takes, The Joe Must Go On, The Ocky Way, Subway Oracle, and Bite Me NYC. During their collaborations, cast members Asif Ali, Saagar Shaikh, Poorna Jagannathan, and Tan France joined creators to partake in improvised bits and make playful references to show elements like Caca Brand Achar. These moments blurred the line between promo and play, resulting in content that felt spontaneous and internet-native.
In parallel, an expanded creator push featured some of the internet’s funniest voices rolling out Deli Boys–themed content in their own style. Sketch comedians like That’s My Boy Jacob and meme platforms like Daquan created culturally relevant comedy inspired by the show, including satirical concepts such as tips for small business CEOs who may or may not be operating illegal fronts for the mob.
The rollout was staggered to feel organic, with onsite content establishing the tone and world of the show ahead of launch, creator posts driving awareness during premiere week, and continued creator chatter sustaining momentum across the premiere window through repeat exposure and social proof.
The influencer campaign delivered strong organic scale while maintaining cultural credibility and cost efficiency across platforms.
High-performing partners such as Shop Cats Show, Subway Takes, and The Joe Must Go On anchored the campaign’s reach, each driving multi-million views across Instagram and TikTok at comparatively low CPMs.
Creators like Daquan and The Ocky Way contributed outsized cultural impact within specific internet communities, helping the show break into adjacent comedy and food-driven spaces. Meanwhile, niche partners including That’s My Boy Jacob, Bite Me NYC, and Subway Oracle delivered on-theme storytelling and contextual relevance, rounding out the campaign with depth and authenticity despite smaller audience sizes.
Overall, the campaign successfully balanced reach, engagement, and cultural fit. The diversified creator mix allowed Deli Boys to achieve broad visibility at scale while remaining embedded within food, deli, and comedy-first internet culture – reinforcing the show’s tone and positioning without relying on traditional promotion.
Influencer Partner Performance (Total Views Across Instagram and TikTok):
The best part of the campaign however, were the fan comments. We’ve attached those as a PDF to this application.
