A phenomenon 20 years in the making comes to life for the first time summer 2014 when STARZ Entertainment premieres its newest Original Series, Outlander, based on the bestselling novels by Diana Gabaldon. In Outlander the STARZ digital marketing team was presented with a very unique challenge, how do we activate this large, very active and excited fan base to become our Digital Word of Mouth Marketers? How do we get them so excited about this show that the world can’t help but notice? How do we “break the internet?" Campaign Objectives • Establish and cement our owned channels as the authority and primary source of information for the Outlander TV Series • Serve as an editorial source for all the things our fans love about the series • Bring fans along as we embark upon an epic love affair and invite them to join us • Use the fans to amplify our messages and evangelize the series • Support our Outlander super fans and give them exciting, compelling content In order to accomplish these objectives, the Outlander social communities (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) are creating unique campaigns to entice and excite our fans. Establishing Captivating Platforms The Outlander fan base is unlike any other. They are passionate about these books and that has led them to be passionate about our series. The Outlander social communities developed a conversational and friendly voice that felt authentic and spoke to our consumers. We’re fans talking to fans establishing platforms with content that will drive any fan girl wild. One of our most successful platforms thus far has been Instagram. We created an exclusively Behind the Scenes handle dedicated to providing inside looks into production. A first for the network, this handle “pulls back the curtain" and gives fans a glimpse into what it takes to build the world of Outlander. Our consumers flock to every channel we create, going so far as to “have their sons teach them to use Instagram." As an extra treat for our fans, we had Outlander author Diana Gabaldon take over the handle for a week to chronicle her trip to Scotland. She provided unique behind the scenes photos only “Herself" (as she is fondly referred to by her readers) could capture. Examples: • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/386224398971043840 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/422546182729375744 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=629771667082046&stream_ref=10 • http://instagram.com/p/fsae1HtqY7/ • http://instagram.com/p/fLOeUYNqcO/ • http://instagram.com/p/j3EMYjtqcw/ • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=636264729766073&set=a.530151793710701.1073741826.524783437580870&type=1&theater Creating Custom Content An important part of our digital strategy is designing exclusive content, both physical and digital, tailored for our fans. We have created “Pocket Jamie," an 8 inch standee of our main character. We designed spice kits inspired by our heroine Claire. Both have been used as giveaways in our social communities. Our digital content is much more varied and is intended to activate our fan base and encourage them to share. We have released a series of video spots entitled “Speak Outlander." These video spots tackle some of the tough (or loved) Gaelic words in the Outlander series and teach fans how to pronounce them. Each spot has a cameo appearance by a member of the cast and is led by our Gaelic Expert. We also created Holiday Greeting videos for the Christmas and New Year’s seasons knowing that some of our fans have waited 20 years to see their favorite characters come to life and a Holiday message from their “Claire" or “Jamie" would mean the world to them. In an effort to establish our channels as the source for all things Outlander, we are creating a “Fan Communities Directory" the catalogs each community page, blog, forum, Twitter account, etc. that has been set up for Outlander over the years. We are the hub and the main source for the series, but we are building relationships with all the fan communities out there and giving our series fans an understanding of where they can go to delve deeper into other aspects of this saga. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=637439762981903&set=a.530180260374521.1073741830.524783437580870&type=1&stream_ref=10 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=632908323435047&set=a.530180260374521.1073741830.524783437580870&type=1&stream_ref=10 • http://instagram.com/p/iud6FAtqTF/ • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/406792605112864769 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/406075026082127873 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=614424278616785&stream_ref=10 • http://instagram.com/p/icb0E6Nqa3/ • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=639287162797163&set=pb.524783437580870.-2207520000.1392184377.&type=3&theater Taking It Further We have held two highly successful fan events where Outlander fans had the opportunity to meet with and participate in Q&A sessions with the creators and stars of the show; Ronald D. Moore, Diana Gabaldon, Caitriona Balfe, and Sam Heughan. The most recent of these events, the Fan Gathering that took place this past January, was live streamed internationally so that all of our fans could enjoy the panel discussion and see our very first trailer before it was released anywhere else. We created a custom hashtag for the event, #OutlanderInvadesLA, that was used over 15,000 times in the course of a weekend. Examples: • https://www.facebook.com/OutlanderTVSeries.starz/posts/10151923805528227?stream_ref=10 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624035930988953&set=a.530180260374521.1073741830.524783437580870&type=1&stream_ref=10 • https://www.facebook.com/OutlanderTVSeries.starz/posts/10151936460508227?stream_ref=10 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/419922081896488960 • https://twitter.com/Thats_Normal/status/420716877623861248 • https://twitter.com/alicialquarles/status/422209592853266432 • https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.578883632170850.1073741833.524783437580870&type=1&stream_ref=10 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/389128029525401601 Honoring Our Fans Equally as crucial as creating compelling content and establishing custom platforms is honoring the loyal fans that support both the series and our social communities. We celebrate content they create promoting the show or its characters by sharing it to our pages and encouraging other fans to comment or share it as well. We provide them exclusive first looks at the series, in video and image form. Most recently, we will host the #PocketJamie Awards. We are in the process of getting Pocket Jamie cut outs into the hands of as many of our fans as possible. We will then announce the #PockeJamie awards for photos taken with their own cut out. Categories will include “Best Supporting Appearance With A Pocket Jamie" or “Most Traveled With Pocket Jamie" and winners will be chosen in each section for a chance to win signed SWAG by our show creator Ronald D. Moore, author Diana Gabaldon, and series stars Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan. Examples • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/431532340947320833 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/420272210184380417 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/428285188901060608 • https://www.facebook.com/OutlanderTVSeries.starz/posts/10151957487048227?comment_id=29204131&offset=0&total_comments=323 • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/422546182729375744 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=629771667082046&stream_ref=10 • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605711619488051&set=a.530180260374521.1073741830.524783437580870&type=1&stream_ref=10 • http://instagram.com/p/f34V96tqUd/ • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=573327192726494&set=pb.524783437580870.-2207520000.1392185774.&type=3&theater • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=561607753898438&set=pb.524783437580870.-2207520000.1392185780.&type=3&theater • https://twitter.com/Outlander_Starz/status/403994176527667200 Successes: • Twitter Successes o In the 8 months that our channel has been active, we have trended 5 times on Twitter. o 3 of the 5 times were over the course of 1 weekend, during New York Comic Con. o #Outlander was used in 80 tweets an hour at our Fan Event at NYCC o All of our hashtags were used over 30,000 times in the course of a month • Facebook Successes o 86% of our fan base is actively engaged with our content and talking about our show o Our first look photo of Jamie outperformed similar first looks from other premium cable shows and blockbuster films. o Our Trailer post received over 15,000 shares, a record for the page • Video Views o Our First Look Trailer has received over 500,000 (from Facebook, YouTube and Starz.com) video views to date. o Nearly 200,000 of those views came from the first weekend it was released • Fan Events o Received 400 RSVPs to one of our events in 20 minutes o Received 1,000 RSVPs in an hour o Maxed out at 2,500 RSVPs in less than 24 hours o During the fan event, our starz.com homepage experienced a 270% increase in traffic o The Outlander homepage, where the event was live streamed, experienced a 790% increase in page visits • Instagram Successes o Gained 3,000 followers during our launch weekend o Gained an additional 2,000 followers during author Diana Gabaldon’s week-long takeover in February 2014 o Have a total of nearly 18,000 followers in 5 months
Additional Links: URL: www.facebook.com/outlandertvseries.starz URL: www.twitter.com/outlander_starz URL: www.instagram.com/outlander_starz
