Hidden Empire Film Group · 2023
Fear (2023): a film marketing plan for a psychological horror release
For Deon Taylor’s Fear, starring Joseph Sikora, Annie Ilonzeh, T.I., Andrew Bachelor and Terrence J, AONE Creative wrote the digital, social and connected TV campaign roadmap with Hidden Empire Film Group, and built a game to grow the audience first. Hidden Empire ran the campaign, and the film opened in theaters on January 27, 2023.
- Fear
- Hidden Empire Film Group
- Theatrical release
- Digital
- Social
- Campaign roadmap
- 2023
- Fear
- Hidden Empire Film Group
- Theatrical release
- Digital
- Social
- Campaign roadmap
- 2023
- Fear
- Hidden Empire Film Group
- Theatrical release
- Digital
- Social
- Campaign roadmap
- 2023
The brief
Tickets for moviegoers aged 16 to 45
The objective, in the plan’s words: drive awareness and conversion. Get 16 to 45 year olds to buy tickets to see Fear in the theater, by reaching a qualified audience in their preferred channels and driving them down the conversion funnel. The two KPIs were video views and clicks to ticketing sites.
What Fear is: psychological, gore, elevated and intellectual, rated R. What it is not: political, PG-13 or for the faint of heart.
We wrote the plan in early 2022, when the release was set for that year; the film opened on January 27, 2023, with Variance Films handling theatrical distribution and PaperAirplane Media the in-theater marketing.
The audience
Four audiences, and where to find them
- An estimated 40 to 50 million
Horror and similar movie fans
On Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, display, native and connected TV. Reached by interest, behavior, keyword and third-party data.
- An estimated 30 to 40 million
Frequent moviegoers
On the same channels. Reached by behavior, location and third-party data.
- An estimated 52 million
Movie theater visitors
AMC, Cinemark, Regal and other chains’ patrons, on the same channels. Reached by interest, behavior and third-party data.
- Size to be set
Fans of the cast and crew
On Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, display and native. Reached by interest, behavior, keyword, and first and third-party data.
Focus on the audience, not the screen. Right message, right time. We start by qualifying the targeting sources for each phase of the journey, since too narrow loses opportunities and too broad wastes money; then align channels, tactics and investment to each stage; then pull audiences through the journey with messaging matched to where they came in.
Demographics, location, interests, behaviors, brand affinities, purchase data, in-market and mobile location data, first-party data and viewing data combine to find the people most likely to buy a ticket, and the reporting shows which message, creative and channel moves them.
Content streams capture data from the web, social, mobile and video to show behavior, perception, trends and sentiment in real time, so the campaign can join conversations already happening. The goal of real-time content marketing isn’t to be relevant to everyone. It’s to be extremely relevant to this audience.
Social
Each platform with its own job
- Informative. Revealing. Entertaining.
Facebook
The central hub for evergreen content: motion assets for the characters and the story, announcements, teasers, the trailer, key art, critic and audience quotes, behind the scenes from the cast, live talent activations and Facebook Live.
- Stirring. Thought-provoking. Interactive.
Instagram
The grid as a mini website: grids that tease the film’s atmosphere, a launch grid that turns light moments into a darker psychological twist, assets seeded to the cast, Stories and Reels, dark posts to grow the account, and IG Live.
- Emotive. Connected. Engaging.
Twitter
One-to-one with fans: behind-the-scenes looks at the cast, talent takeovers, live tweets, character tweets the cast can amplify, short form of 15 seconds or less, GIFs and cinemagraphs.
- Where horror fans gather
Snapchat and TikTok
Snapchat in the paid mix, and TikTok in view, since horror fans index high there.
The cast
Talent as the voice of the campaign
The cast came with their own audiences: Joseph Sikora as Rom, Annie Ilonzeh as Bianca, Andrew Bachelor as Benny, Terrence J as Russ, Ruby Modine as Serena, Tyler Abron as Kim, Iddo Goldberg as Michael and Jessica Allain as Meg, with T.I. The plan counted their combined social following in early 2022.
- 106.5MCombined social following of the cast, counted in early 2022
- 9Cast members in the talent plan
- 3Phases, from three months out to the weeks after release
- Strategy
Start with the facts
Audience insights, platform benchmarks, competitive research and talent audits set the strategy.
- Calendar
One shared master calendar
Every post, key date, PR moment and paid media flight in one calendar shared with all parties, delivered two weeks of content at a time.
- Influencers
A running database of fans
Influential fans tracked as the campaign runs, to engage them and earn media.
- Engagement
Comments every day
Responsive content made from daily monitoring of comments, staying connected with the audience and its influencers.
- Reporting
Weekly and monthly
Weekly comparative reports on paid and organic performance, fan growth and press and influencer mentions; a month-over-month report to steer the strategy.
The plan
Inside the roadmap
Establish: three months out
Leverage the cast to amplify the conversation, with character-focused activations that tease the story of the film.Engage: one month out
Hyper-target the audience through paid and owned social media, and run digital ads across the channels that matter.Launch: the last two weeks and after
Raise awareness among the core audiences, and amplify the message with ticket and preorder calls to action.
- Video series
Conversations
Animated and still graphics on the history of the film’s lodge and each character’s own fear.
- Video series
It’s Not Real!
A series that slowly introduces the film’s disturbing story: happy moments between the characters that turn far more ominous.
- Instagram grid
Fear Grid
Grids that move through the stages of horror, from friends meeting for a weekend away to the horrors that wait for them.
- Video series
Fear Does Not Stop Death, It Stops Life
Portraits of the cast that look like paintings in progress, paired with a line about not letting fear stop your work in progress: your life.
- Video series
It’s All in Your Head
Fear that consumes you until it is all you see, while those around you can see it only affects you.
- Social and paid
Everyone Is Scared of Something
Simple and mysterious: bold type on a textured ground, built to flex across social and paid media formats.
- Social and paid
Shine Light on Your Fears
A vivid light bar lights the words: the more you embrace your fears, the more you understand them. One version adds creepy hands reaching for the word.
In the engage phase, character cards introduce each character, talent activations carry the message to the cast’s audiences, and reactive content scares and excites fans. At launch, countdown cards run one week, three days, tomorrow and today; review cards turn the best critic and fan reactions into posts; fear cards pair popular fears with images; and display, plane breakers, five-second narrative teasers, motion covers, canvas and carousel ads move people to buy tickets.
Media
Paid media and connected TV
- Inspire
Unaware to curious
People reached, with video on connected TV and YouTube.
- Motivate
Curious to interested
Video views, with video and carousel ads across native, display and social.
- Convert
Interested to ticket buyer
Clicks to ticketing and ticket purchases, with showtime and ticketing ads on social, native and display.
The full-funnel example in the plan follows one person across devices: video ads on connected TV and YouTube on days 1 and 2, video and carousel ads on days 2 to 5, showtimes and ticketing on days 5 to 12, and connected TV again after day 30 for advocacy.
Media is tested before it scales. Three creative variations become 6 across two audience profiles, 18 across three devices, 54 across three channels and 324 at full scale, testing creative, message, device, channel, publisher, format, daypart, interests, purchase behavior and location to find what to cut and what to grow. Today we build a test matrix like this with AI content production, versioning creative at the scale the plan calls for.
Connected TV reaches movie fans on the biggest screen in the home: by city or ZIP code around theaters, by radius around participating theaters, by past visits to theaters, by theater and movie apps, by genre, by site visits, by searches for movies and showtimes, and among people who buy tickets to similar films. People who see the TV ads are retargeted on social for the next message.
The media overview set three formats across desktop, tablet and mobile: :15 and :30 video on YouTube, social, display and native, measured by view-through rate; animated and static banners, measured by click-through rate; and social retargeting of video viewers.
Measurement
What the plan would measure
- Awareness
Seen
Impressions, viewability and reach.
- Engagement
Interested
Clicks, click-through rate, video views, social engagement, SMS and follower growth.
- Conversion
Bought
Data capture, add to carts and ticket purchases.
Two objectives ran under the numbers: continuous learning, about which audiences, messages, calls to action and channels work best; and tracking growth and returns, about what leads to a ticket, where growth comes from and how the campaign drives engagement against its KPIs.
Before the release
The game came first
Months before the film opened, AONE Creative built Fear: The Game for On Chain Innovations with Hidden Empire Film Group: a pixel-art runner whose runners include the film’s characters. It sent approx. 87,000 players to the film’s site.
What it taught us
A plan built to be tested
A plan that names its audience, its data and its tests gives a studio’s team a clear path from the first ad to opening weekend. We write plans like this for releases today, and run them when asked. AI now speeds the parts that repeat, from versioning creative to the weekly reports, and people still make the calls.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What did AONE Creative do on Fear (2023)?
We wrote the digital, social and connected TV campaign roadmap for the theatrical release with Hidden Empire Film Group, and built Fear: The Game before the release. Hidden Empire ran the campaign.
Who was the audience?
Moviegoers aged 16 to 45 in four groups: horror and similar movie fans, frequent moviegoers, movie theater visitors and fans of the cast and crew.
Which channels did the plan use?
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube, display, native and connected TV, with paid and organic content working together and the cast leading the conversation.
How was it to be measured?
In video views and clicks to ticketing sites, tracked from awareness through engagement to ticket purchases.
What were the creative concepts?
Conversations, It’s Not Real!, Fear Grid, Fear Does Not Stop Death, It Stops Life, It’s All in Your Head, Everyone Is Scared of Something and Shine Light on Your Fears, with character cards, countdown cards, review cards and fear cards.
Who directed and starred in Fear?
Deon Taylor directed Fear. The cast includes Joseph Sikora, Annie Ilonzeh, T.I., Andrew Bachelor, Terrence J, Ruby Modine, Iddo Goldberg, Tyler Abron and Jessica Allain. It opened in theaters on January 27, 2023.
Can AI help with a release plan like this?
Yes. We use AI for the parts that repeat: audience research, versioning creative for tests, comment monitoring and the weekly reports. People keep the strategy, the creative calls and the final sign-off.
Can you write a plan for our release?
Yes. We write the plan, run it with your team, or both. See Entertainment marketing and events.
Start with AI
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Release planning
Need a digital plan before you spend?
For Fear we wrote the digital, social and campaign roadmap, and Hidden Empire ran it. We can write the plan for your release, run it with you, or both.