Summary of Free Guy Project
Introduction
The social media campaign to promote Free Guy will cover the pre, during and post promotional phases of the film. We will show how social media through content, partnerships, and posting schedules will drive people to the theatres to watch the film in person.
Campaign
The overall style of the campaign on social platforms will feel blitzy. The existing promotion of the film on social platforms is repetitive and frequent and we don’t intend to change or challenge that fundamentally. The frequency of posts will increase, reaching a peak on the day of open and then slowly reducing during the post phase.
Platforms utilized for campaign will be: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, with clips available on YouTube’s 20th Century Studios page.
Target market for each platform:
Instagram- women and men, ages 20–40
Facebook- women and men, ages 30–60
TikTok- young men, ages 16–30, gamers
Twitter- males, professional, ages 30–50
The voice of the social media campaign is fun, happy, self-deprecating, regular “guy” feeling inadequate compared to his co-stars.
Hashtags used for the campaign will include: #freeguy, #bethegreatguy, #blueshirtguy, #dropindude, #molotovgirl.
Partnerships/influencers utilized for campaign:
Xbox- promotional posts and web presence for the NPC Awards
ComicCon- with a message of, Free Guy will be back!
Theaters (Regal, AMC, etc), IGN Entertainment- promoting ticket sales of the film.
IMAX- Free Guy is available in IMAX, promotional posts on @IMAX Instagram
@Ninja
New Influencers emerge on open day for use in post phase, identify them by engagement of #freeguy post on opening day and within 1 week of open.
Measurement & Tools
Analytics and measurement: Likes, shares and comments on posts during each phase of campaign. Number of new followers during entire campaign versus baseline. Use of hashtags: #freeguy, #bethegreatguy, #blueshirtguy, #dropindude, #molotovgirl
Pre phase is one month prior to open: July 13-Aug 12
During phase is open day: Aug 13
Post phase is two weeks after open: Aug 14-Aug 28
Content examples:
o Instagram: Bringin’ IMAX back! With action so big you can taste it. #freeguy
o Facebook: Feel the glocks in his pocket- see Free Guy in IMAX. #freeguy #IMAX (video)
o TikTok- Poster with original open date, then illustration of scratching off the date, writing a new one, this goes on, gets sped up until you hear Ryan Reynolds say — “Oh Sh*t (bleeped out) it’s opening tomorrow! No, really!”
During Event Phase
The social media marketing phase should kick off at midnight on August 13 and run all 24 hours.
Special contest on Instagram, there will be a post, repeated once/hour to call for User Generated Content posts of #blueshirtguy and/or #molotovgirl. “What character will you be?” Post pic of people dressed as Guy or Girl at the theater and geotag the theater, applause for wearing a mask to the theater.
Winners of UGC posts will get free Xbox or upgrade (25 winners total), anyone who posts and tags their theater will get a $25 Fandango gift card, offers aspiring influencers exposure, a chance to gain more followers.
Winning posts will be reposted over the duration of the post phase.
Content example:
Facebook- Date night movie anyone? #freeguy #datenight -(video of Guy and Molotov Girl kissing). Purpose- drive people to theater on opening night, targeting couples to choose it as a date movie.
Post Event Phase
The social marketing plan runs from August 14, 2021, to August 28, 2021.
Content example:
Facebook- Did #freeguy actually open, or is this a dream? Pinch us. Oh, and go see the movie in theaters. Purpose- to use humor to drive people to the theater, remind them that it is actually open.
Conclusion
The phase most important to the marketing plan is the pre-open phase. The clock hasn’t started ticking yet on ticket sales and there aren’t critical comments out there, so building excitement in the pre-open phase is essential. It’s risky in the days of COVID-19 to restrict the opening just to the theaters, but with enough excitement and following built, it could be very successful. The hope is to turn the film into a “cult” film and then release to streaming.
Instagram will be the strongest promotional platform because of the demographic and the ease of video posting. The UGC contest and promise of additional influencer notoriety will also be very attractive to Instagram users.
The UGC contest is key for using word of mouth and influencer pressure and promotion to drive people into the theaters to see Free Guy. Promotion can come across as push messaging heavy, so getting influencers and networks of friends involved will drive success.