Like our super tight spandex-wearing hero, the Home Entertainment team is used to handling hard things. But to drum up excitement for the DVD release of Deadpool, we needed something better than ever before: a throbbing, rock-solid example of Deadpool's outrageous and dirty humor. Something to convince audiences to reach out and grab our offering with both hands. Something sexy, surprising, and mind-blowingly exciting.
We needed imaginative original content that was unequivocally Deadpool – in the voice of Deadpool himself. With pranks, stunts, and a ton of dirty jokes, we aimed to make fans feel as if they were actually hearing from the Merc with the Mouth.
But when presuming to speak as the beloved character, authenticity was key. The campaign used a wide variety of channels to put fans in touch with DP. (He loves to be touched.) On each, the message and format was adapted to suit the audience and have the most impact.
The result was groundbreaking, insanely fun content that promoted digital, DVD and Blu-ray sales, engaged audiences across all channels, and gave our superhero one massive ego stroke. (That's what she said.) Our main goal, be the top selling Marvel Digital HD title of all time. After all, the more hands on the hard goods, the better. (That came out wrong.)
A boring Facebook post announcing the street date? No thanks. We announced the fake sale of Deadpool on "VHS and LaserDisc" with real-looking product pages. Media outlets couldn't get enough. More importantly, we racked up 60,000+ clicks on the pre-order link. Deadpool became the #1 pre-ordered title in Fox history. With so much fanfare, we're selling real Deadpool VHS copies at this year's Comic Con.
Both Deadpool's own social media accounts and those of Ryan Reynolds (7M+ followers) were used to celebrate obscure and not-so-obscure holidays. Like when he slaughtered a piñata for chimachangas on Cinco de Mayo? Or when we posted hilariously grotesque original adult coloring book pages for National Crayon Day?
Breaking the fourth wall (and shameless self-promotion) is Deadpool's strong suit. So to mark our Digital HD release, he took over the iTunes store and inserted himself into the main pages of other movies. Several X-Men films, Alien 3, Taken, and Batman were trolled by Deadpool, who encouraged visitors to ditch those lame titles and pick him up instead – a first-time stunt for iTunes.
On Facebook, we invited over 30 journalists from around the world to take part in a hilarious panel discussion with Ryan Reynolds, director Tim Miller, on-screen villain Ed Skerin, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and producer Simon Kinberg. Over one million people tuned in to watch the filmmakers answer fans' questions on the livestream and give insight into the making of the film.
We celebrated the Blu-ray release with a first-ever sponsored lens by a home entertainment studio. It transformed fans into Deadpool, if only for those glorious 10 Snapchat seconds. Fan reaction reached a fever pitch when Ryan and other cast members posted their own selfies.
Since Snapchat is all about capturing small moments in users' lives, we used the platform to give fans an inside look into Deadpool's daily ventures. Our "day in the life" Snapchat story chronicled (with hilarious detail) everything Deadpool does in his normal life. From hitting the gym to getting groceries, and of course the occasional bathroom break, fans loved laughing along with Deadpool's ridiculous antics. The Home Entertainment team grew the Deadpool Snapchat account by an incredible 18%.
Nothing unites fans from all over the world like erectile dysfunction… or at least hilarious commercials about ED. On May 5th, we released "Deadpole," a parody of Viagra and Cialis commercials – complete with the real actress from previous Cialis spots. The ad even had a hilarious script by the film's screenwriters, and direction from Tim Miller. An in-costume Ryan Reynolds promised, "Deadpool on Blu-ray helps you to be ready any time." That's something we knew entertainment outlets would get excited about…
Deadpool broke the fourth wall yet again to appear in his own Honest Trailer, something no other character could have done so successfully.
Unlike the awesome campaign, the results were nothing to laugh at…
Beyond the acclaim from critics, passion from fans, and generally overwhelming enthusiasm from audiences everywhere, one stat stands out:
Deadpool is Fox's best-selling Digital HD title ever.
It all makes sense when you look at the numbers.
-2 million: Unique impressions on the Facebook Livestream, with 1MM watching the stream.
-5 million: Views on the Livestream when shared across Facebook's "Celebs and Movies" page. On Snapchat, the live stream had 1.6 million views.
-18 million: Online views for the long-form ad spot, "Deadpole," along with 28.3 million estimated impressions. When shared on Ryan Reynold's Facebook page, it generated another 3.6 million views. The spot was so popular that an "Extended Cut" was given exclusively to USA Today. It currently stands as the 2nd most viewed video on Facebook EVER!
-13.5 million: Views on the Honest Trailer, which became one of Screen Junkie's most watched trailers of all time.
Number aren't your thing? How about some fancy words? We received massive coverage across the web, with stories appearing on E! Online, The Hollywood Reporter, CNET, Huffington Post, MSN, AOL, Uproxx, Perez Hilton, Moviepilot, Slashfilm, Nerdist, BroBible, and more.
Oh, and then there's all the records the DVD sales have broken:
