Deadpool Digital Release
Making a lesser-known superhero a theatrical superstar
CASE STUDY VIDEO
Insight
Deadpool is unlike any other superhero. He’s a brash yet lovable R-rated “merc with a mouth” and a reputation for breaking the proverbial 4th wall in between mercilessly bashing bad guys. And while this lesser-known, unconventional comic book hero and his corresponding franchise have a devoted following, it’s limited mostly to fan boys. So when 20th Century Fox needed to sell the edgy property to the broader universe — and break through a highly competitive holiday box office battling against highly anticipated films like “Zoolander 2” and the female-friendly, star-studded rom com “How To Be Single” — they turned to us.
INTERSTITIAL AD
Idea
Unbeknownst to 20th Century Fox — and pretty much everyone else until we did our research — women love Deadpool. They also love Ryan Reynolds, the actor who fills Deadpool’s irreverent shoes (not to mention his costume). And of course we had our fan boys we could count on. For this audience, thirst was high. Deadpool was a well-known, 11-year venture — a fact that created high anticipation amongst these avid comic book fans.
An early February release meant we could thematically align social content. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day offered rich and relevant fodder for engaging fans. And as always, there would no doubt be pivotal cultural moments that would emerge — real-time or near-real-time opportunities for Deadpool to join in on the conversation and engage fans.
Being present in the social conversation was a core priority for the entire marketing campaign, with more than 25% of the digital budget going towards Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, emojis and publisher-direct.
TINDER & INSTAGRAM ADS
Impact
Deadpool became a box office hero. Along with the impressive engagement stats we’ve shared below, Deadpool had the biggest opening weekend of an R-rated movie in 20th Century Fox history, earning $132.7 million over its Friday-to-Sunday frame. And of course, it was a big hit on social:
> 57M impressions
> 11M video views
> 24% engagement rate (nearly 1.1x higher than the benchmark)
> 19M impressions
> 1M engagements
> 2M video views
> 7.7% engagement rate (2x higher than the benchmark)
> 18M impressions
> 800K views
> 4.6% engagement rate (1.1x higher than the benchmark)
Snapchat
> 199M total views
> 7M total uses
Tinder (yes, Tinder)
> Deadpool became the best performing (paid) Tinder campaign ever
> More than 21% of the 3.5M exposed Tinder users swiped right to engage with our ad
Pandora
> Ran the first-ever day-parted mobile first impression audio takeover, featuring a custom clip of Deadpool singing users a nighttime lullaby
> Achieved a 1.3% CTR, nearly doubling Pandora’s entertainment benchmark
TWITTER ADS
AUDIO PLATFORM ADS