Lionsgate The Spirit

ProductPulse application on Facebook generates over 5 million social impressions in two weeks and created online buzz about the movie and its characters before the movie was released in theaters.

Background

Lionsgate is a next generation Hollywood studio with a prestigious and prolific library of motion pictures and television programming, and a major presence in the production and distribution of premium entertainment. Lionsgate released their major motion picture The Spirit on Christmas Day, 2008. For the two weeks prior to the launch, they used a variety of traditional and new, media channels to engage audiences and generate buzz.

Objectives

1. Generate online visibility for The Spirit brand across a wide consumer audience
2. Get people engaged and talking about The Spirit and the movie stars on Facebook
3. Increase visits to The Spirit’s Facebook Page
4. Leverage the studio’s high-quality assets to easily create an engaging online marketing campaign
5. Low investment of time from studio brand management

Results

Friend2Friend fashioned an interactive contest around The Spirit and launched it through the ProductPulse application, requiring users to vote for a Spirit character to participate. The character focus engaged users beyond just the movie title, and then expanded their interaction by presenting them with additional information about the movie and other’s comments.

During the two-week marketing campaign, almost 15,000 Facebook members joined the contest and voted on a character, commented on the movie, viewed the Facebook page, or became a fan of The Spirit. Each of these actions was captured in the participant’s newsfeeds, multiplying the impressions created by this activity to over 5 million social impressions in two weeks.

In addition to the visibility generated by this campaign, Lionsgate gathered valuable insight into internet users interests and preferences through the high level of comments and ratings collected through ProductPulse.