Objectives

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) is committed to driving consumer demand for movies, both new and classic. Recognizing the power of film, UPHE celebrated Black History Month 2023 by highlighting the cultural significance of iconic Black films and filmmakers.

Strategy and Execution

Change Hearts and Minds

• Remind audiences about the importance and culture significance of Black movies and filmmakers
• Change the audiences’ movie buying behavior. Specifically, get audiences to buy and collect movies again. 
• Drive engagement and authentic advocacy. 

Campaign Overview

• Month-long campaign that transcended the traditional short-form social video and pre-roll. Instead, the focus was on personal, trusted conversations via long-form video and podcasts. 
  • • Trusted voices to explain and show why these movies are important.
    • Share personal connections and nostalgic experiences combined with iconic movie moments and scenes.  

• Partnered with key Creators. 
  • Double Toasted: Hosted by Korey Coleman, an animator and illustrator who tries to approach every show with a fair, detailed point of view. Very passionate about presentation and keeping his audience entertained, he always remembers to keep a good sense of humor during a discussion. 
  • Nice and Neat: Quintessential podcast about the 360 development of men hosted by Jalon Webster, Duke Ihenacho & Omar Bolden.
  • Brown and Black: 2022 Webby Honoree 'Brown & Black' is a new podcast magazine show exploring the convergence of race and pop culture, hosted by two diverse voices, one Latino and one Black, to fill a needed void in rethinking how pop culture news and opinion are conveyed in America today.

• Podcast creators were presented with dozens of Black films from Universal’s library. They selected four and were provided with digital copies of the film and behind-the-scenes bonus features. 
  • The creators made a podcast episode for each film and included deep dives into each film’s cultural significance. 
  • The podcasts were launched weekly in February 2023 in honor of Black History Month. 
  • Viewers could also purchase the movies at VUDU.com with a special, limited-time discount. 

Results

• Highly Engaging. Deep Discussions celebrated Black Films
  Podcast creators launched one- to two-hour in-depth discussions of each film, featuring guest directors, producers, and behind-the-scenes insights. They also explored societal topics such as interracial relationships, racial bias from law enforcement, and breaking sexual stereotypes, demonstrating the films' greatness and sparking lively viewer engagement.

• • This is a Fantastic Review for Black History Month. - Keep it up you guys.
  • I really enjoyed this video. The way you explained the introductions of the main guys was absolutely brilliant!
  • This movie is INSANELY rewatchable. They hang out on one street the whole time, but it doesn’t feel limiting. There is so much going on, it’s just packed with great moments. There are some difficult scenes, but a lot of entertaining ones, too.
  • Heartbreaking though but great for all the reasons you said - beautifully shot real characters great real dialogue important message. 

• Engage Black Audiences in the Home Ent Category

  In addition to the high engagement in the first bullet point, the program had high reach with over 255k YouTube views, 2.3M Instagram views or impressions and 29M seconds viewed on Twitch. Retail partner VUDU accumulated new accounts and sales as well. 

Media