| Title | CONTINUITY BAT |
| Brand | WARNER BROS. |
| Product/Service | MEDIA AND ENTERTAIMENT |
| Category |
A09. Excellence in Brand Integration into Existing Content |
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Entrant
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PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
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Idea Creation
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PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
|
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Idea Creation 2
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DRUM London, UNITED KINGDOM
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Idea Creation 3
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CHANNEL 4 London, UNITED KINGDOM
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Media Placement
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PHD London, UNITED KINGDOM
|
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Production
|
DRUM London, UNITED KINGDOM
|
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Production 2
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WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT London, UNITED KINGDOM
|
Credits
| Jessica Roper |
PHD |
Media Director |
| Susie Milburn |
PHD |
Strategist |
| Charlotte Ullah |
PHD |
Media Group Manager |
| Martin Gough |
Warner Bros. |
Deputy Marketing Manager |
| Alex Lewis |
Warner Bros. |
VP Marketing and Publicity |
| Daniel Payne |
PHD |
Broadcast Manager |
| Alice Pascoe |
PHD Drum |
Account Handler |
| Ruth Griffen |
PHD Drum |
Account Handler |
| Callum Sibley |
PHD Drum |
Creative |
| Andrew Wilson |
PHD Drum |
Creative |
| David Williams |
PHD Drum |
Creative |
| NIck Scott |
Channel 4 |
Group Partnership Manager |
| Chris Braithwaite |
Channel 4 |
Commerical Director |
The Campaign
Our creative solution to this challenge was Continuity Bat – a branded content partnership that would expose our millions of 16-34s to LEGO Batman through the lens of his personality.
LEGO Batman’s hilariously self-assured persona means that he is happy to be the centre of attention at all times and it felt natural for him to try to make his mark on any medium we placed him in.
For us, this meant enabling him to be disruptive, turning up uninvited to surprise and delight existing fans and entertain audiences who were less familiar with him.
And to ensure we were able to expose as many 16-34 year olds to his personality as quickly as possible, there was only one place we wanted him to appear.
Primetime TV.
Creative Execution
In partnership with Channel 4, we created Continuity Bat.
Four days of primetime TV where LEGO Batman barged in as a self-appointed station announcer on Channel 4.
This made LEGO Batman feel like part of the channel, not just a movie character advertising his new film.
18 different continuity intros were specially written to introduce Channel 4’s most popular shows.
All recorded by the voice of LEGO Batman himself, Will Arnett
And all specially animated by the movie’s producers, complete with Channel 4 branding.
Across four consecutive days, LEGO Batman introduced 50 primetime Channel 4 shows.
All whilst keeping within strict UK regulations on the distinction between presentation and commercial airtime.
LEGO Batman even took over Channel 4’s official Twitter feed to comment on the shows he’d introduced and responded to tweets from viewers while they were being transmitted.
The LEGO Batman Movie opened at No.1 in the UK Box Office – beating Fifty Shades Darker.
Delivering a 16-34 box office performance that was 18% higher than the genre average.
Continuity Bat was seen by 40% of the UK population in just four days.
Specially commissioned research showed that 1-in-6 of those who saw Continuity Bat booked a ticket to see the movie as a result.
Delivering an ROMI of £17:34 for every £1 Warner Bros. spent
We didn’t ‘advertise’ on Channel 4 – we made LEGO Batman part of Channel 4’s presentation team for FOUR DAYS before The LEGO Batman Movie’s UK launch.
We worked in close partnership with Channel 4 and Warner Bros. to keep within the UK’s strict regulation around the distinction between presentation and commercial airtime
The voice of LEGO Batman, Will Arnett recorded 18 different continuity intros that were written just for the UK market to specifically reference Channel 4’s most famous shows
Ultimately making LEGO Batman feel like part of Channel 4 rather than a brand that was advertising on it.
To bring LEGO Batman to life, we needed to find a way of not only getting across his personality but also ensuring that a 16-34 audience would understand that The LEGO Batman Movie was both funny and not “just for kids”.
Channel 4 is the best converting TV commercial TV channel in the UK for 16-34 audiences so it was the perfect place to target our core youth cinema going audience.
It is also the home of many female-skewing shows, which meant that we could target Fifty Shades’ core ‘Mum’ audience in addition to a young adult audience.