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The entertainment industry was, like many other industries, heavily impacted by the Corona crisis. With theatres closed and filming stopped for several months, a lot of movies were delayed in their release. The result was a busier than usual release calendar in the post covid period, which made standing out even more crucial.
The Batman does not need any introduction, but that did not make it easy to attract an audience in an already crowded market. The challenge for a movie distributor is that the profitability of a film is calculated on the box office numbers in the early days of the release, and then on the entire ticket sale. Distributors have no direct view of the sales, as these are managed by the cinemas. Attention and engagement are therefore crucial factors for success.
The Batman was a new adaptation of the comic book with a new actor in the role, Robert Pattinson.
To get as many people as possible into the theatres as soon as the film was released, the campaign had to play on the story of the movie and make potential viewers enthusiastic about it. Very impactful formats were chosen for that reason. This case is about the results obtained through the TikTok environment.
The business objective was translated into four campaign objectives:
- Reach: a broad target audience through the overall branding campaign.
- Build: top of mind awareness for Batman as the new dark superhero movie in theatres, with a multitouchpoint communication approach.
- Drive: engagement through relevant social media storytelling.
- Keep: the target audiences captivated through multiple phases of advertising with new trailers, getting them ready for the release of the movie.
To build top of mind awareness, the campaign started one month before the actual release in theatres. To achieve this notoriety, DC fans and fans of this universe were targeted as a primary audience on social media and YouTube.
A Belgian first on TikTok Instant Page
What this case relates to is the usage of a new format on TikTok, the Instant Page. blue2purple and Warner were the very first in Belgium to test it. This lightweight native format allows users to view videos, swipe through carousels and click on buttons, all while staying within the TikTok environment.
When access to the beta version of the format came through, the link between Warner Bros. Discovery needs and this specific campaign was rapidly made, as the format completely immerses the user within the universe of the movie.
A mini site inside the ad
Since this ad form allows for extreme customisability, a mini site was created that let the user really get into the movie's vibe, reading character descriptions and viewing trailers. Engagement was driven through a call to action button redirecting the user to a contest where they could win numerous prizes. Three questions were asked about the Batman universe, on Batman, Catwoman and the Riddler. The mini site also offered the possibility to book a ticket to see the movie in theatres.
Audiences
The main targeted audience for this phase was all genders between 18 and 34 years old. This audience was refined on multiple affinities and behaviours: TV drama and series, comedy, action, crime, sci-fi, animation, cosplay, games, anime and comics.
The second focus was on a younger male audience of 12 to 24 and a female audience of 18 to 34, also targeted on similar affinities and behaviours.
Media efficiency. The CPM was 53 percent lower than other TikTok video campaigns, the click through rate was 92 percent above benchmarks and the cost per click 94 percent below benchmarks.
Reach and engagement. TikTok delivered a reach of 500K, with an overall positive engagement and an engagement rate 15 percent above benchmarks.
Box office. In the end The Batman turned out to have extraordinary box office numbers, 36.8 percent above the original estimate.
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