The epic conclusion to a legendary journey, Spartacus: War of the Damned unleashed a battle unlike anything seen before. The final season of Starz’s most-watched program saw Spartacus and his rebels wage one bloody combat after another in an attempt to bring down the mighty republic of Rome. The result was the name Spartacus being etched in history forever. The grand scale of Spartacus: War of the Damned necessitated a bold effort in social as well, especially to sustain the interest of fans who knew that the show was entering its final season. Could the Spartacus social community mobilize its followers to show the same passion in social that Spartacus and his men displayed on the battlefield? Campaign Objectives • Drive show awareness and viewership • Cultivate and sustain engagement with a rabid fan base • Use paid media to acquire new fans and amplify top-performing content in real-time In order to accomplish these objectives, the Spartacus social communities (Facebook, Twitter, GetGlue, Battle for Nuceria) had to make fans feel as if Spartacus was speaking directly to them and they were part of the rebellion themselves. It was no easy task. The language of the show was essentially a whole language unto itself, as series creator Steven S. DeKnight described it as a cross between Shakespeare and Robert E. Howard. For example, instead of the following phrases commonly used on social, Spartacus would say: • “Raise voice on the matter" instead of “What do you think?" • “Spread word" instead of “Share this" • “Set eyes to purpose and mind to task" instead of “Watch tonight" Our social channels utilized the Spartacus voice in order to enhance its authenticity and credibility with its community. All copy and assets were written and designed with the language in mind, allowing for larger creative initiatives that not only sustained engagement but substantially increased it organically. Battle for Nuceria, a large-scale transmedia experience that accompanied our series, brought the world of Spartacus to life by challenging users to complete missions ordered by Spartacus and his rebels themselves. With Spartacus: War of the Damned, STARZ Entertainment approached a social strategy in a way never approached by the company before. Our social channels were completely content driven, using the Spartacus voice to make the fans a part of the story and of the world of Spartacus and his rebels. , Staying true to the voice of the show became our campaign rallying cry. Copy such as: “Thank Jupiter it’s Friday. Share to spread word a new episode of Spartacus: War of the Damned begins tonight." inspired Facebook community members and Twitter followers to speak as rebels themselves. It also led to them sharing Spartacus content more often with their friends as they attempted to introduce the language to them. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151567810106147&set=a.428830921146.222555.66533446146&type=1&theater • https://twitter.com/spartacus_starz/status/423152538464964608 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151480846101147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391143269.&type=3&theater To excite and reward this huge community of super fans, the Spartacus campaign did a number of unique initiatives featuring exclusive content. We revealed our interim teaser art for the final season. War of the Damned during San Diego Comic Con. Fans engaged with teaser posts and earned the reveal of the full image. We also revealed the season Key Art in social through crowd sourcing. We revealed exclusive scene clips to our social communities and provided even more exclusive script reveals. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151325238956147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391143366.&type=3&theater • https://twitter.com/spartacus_starz/status/314459144402919424 With this campaign, we focused on the importance of engagement going beyond premiere. Instead of a large condensed burst of activity close to premiere to try and drive tune-in numbers, the Spartacus social communities deployed an engagement strategy that focused on activating its community months in advance of premiere and stretching throughout the season. In Facebook, this kept the page’s EdgeRank score high so that Spartacus content found its way into more people’s Newsfeeds. Even during a bridge week where there was no new episode, engagement increased compared to the prior week through a character Facebook “takeover" where the copy and voice made it seem as if the beloved warrior Gannicus was posting to the page himself. To continue the frenzy throughout the season we rewarded our avid of fans with custom content, a GetGlue sticker collection and, via Battle for Nuceria, special post episode recap videos with our show creator and Executive Producer, Steven S. DeKnight. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151469277781147&set=a.428830921146.222555.66533446146&type=1&theater • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151507170821147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391143150.&type=3&th • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151571067066147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391143110.&type=3&theater The focus was on the community, not tune-in. Special attention was given to how much our channels were posting about tune-in, because too much tune-in messaging led to noticeable drops in engagement. Instead, a premium was placed on shareable content that didn't focus on tune-in but could still drive it because of its viral appeal. One example was “Spartacussing," where fans were presented with an asset with a famous curse line from the show and asked to respond with what their favorite was. The end result of this approach was a larger organic reach than paid reach during the season. Additionally, once the season was complete, the engagement didn't stop there. During post finale we continued to engage with our community by sharing content that would encourage nostalgia and provide fans with the opportunity to mourn and say farewell to their favorite characters. This involved a series of posts/tweets in the weeks after finale focusing on the shows characters with very simple messaging such as, “For Spartacus", which was a popular quote from one of the final episodes. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151424063991147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391063304.&type=3&theater • https://twitter.com/spartacus_starz/status/324190843336523778 We also believed in the value of participating in real time conversations. Diligently monitoring the conversations in the Spartacus community provided opportunities to capitalize on real-time trends and conversations. One example was after a mid season episode where fans were buzzing about an epic, blood-soaked handshake between Spartacus and Crixus that reunited them as friends and allies. The team quickly put together an asset depicting the scene and when shared, it received tremendous engagement within minutes. A paid media buy for the post was also activated in real-time to extend the organic reach even further. Uniquely in Twitter, we were able to activate and engage with our talent and Executive Producer. They participated in live Twitter chats, engaged with us and the fans, and promoted the show themselves. It allowed the fans to have a unique window into the show and a direct line to the men and women who made their favorite show a reality. Spartacus trended on Twitter during its premiere and finale and trended on GetGlue multiple times throughout the season Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151520327011147&set=pb.66533446146.-2207520000.1391063265.&type=3&theater • https://twitter.com/spartacus_starz/status/315188658795868160 • https://twitter.com/spartacus_starz/status/355837842259320834 Our campaign goals and how we achieved them: • Increase engagement rates compared to previous season o Average Facebook engagement per 10K fans had significant jumps during premiere (59%) and finale (218%) weeks compared to the previous season o Sizeable lifts in organic (96%) and viral (65%) impressions were seen to the previous season o Combined organic and viral reach was 140% greater than paid reach o Recorded the top 10 performing posts in page history, including individual post records for post likes (150K), comments (11K) and shares (17K) • Surpass the 3M Facebook fan mark o 3M fans reached in January before the season premiere; finished with 3.4M o The page continues to grow, despite being off the air for almost a year. Currently the page is at 3.6M • Measure results against other premium television shows for comparison. o During the week prior to finale, Spartacus had higher engagement than two other popular shows, with larger fan bases, that had their respective finales at the same time.
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