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Showtime Future of TV

Why fans fell in love with Showtime's Penny Dreadful: interview with VP of Digital Marketing at Showtime Marcelo Guerra

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By Natan Edelsburg, SVP

May 26, 2015 | 5 min read

Showtime's Penny Dreadful is currently in the midst of its second season. The twisted drama brings together some of literature's favorite characters including Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and characters from Dracula. The name refers to the type of cheap and suspenful British literature that was published in the 19th centruy.

Showtime's Penny Dreadful

The show comes from Sam Mendes (who won an Academy Award for directing American Beauty) and John Logan (who won an Academy Award for co-writing Gladiator). Stars include Reeve Carney (who plays Dorian Gray), Timothy Dalton, Eva Green, Josh Hartnett and Helen McCrory.

One of the main ways it was clear that this show became a hit in season one was through the tremendous outpouring from fans across digital and social. We interviewed Marcelo Guerra, the Vice President of Digital Marketing at Showtime to get an inside look at the network's strategy with the show and how fans fell in love with the characters and storyline.

Found Remote: What did you do on social for the second season? How was it different than the first?

Marcelo Guerra: The Penny Dreadful season one strategy targeted fans of horror, classic literature and period dramas. Keeping story details under wraps, we focused on the series' pedigree and production value – documented by an on set digital producer – to build initial awareness and excitement.

The series delivered, and the fans fell in love. Penny Dreadful quickly became one of the most engaged fan communities we have. With this highly active fan base, community management remained alive between seasons through a bridge strategy that began at San Diego Comic-Con, included a season one social marathon, and continued to deliver more content from the on-set digital producer.

Our approach going into season two energized core fans –encouraging advocacy around the new plot points and themes – and also drew in new viewers. Shareable content, targeted paid media, and partnerships helped us achieve our goals. For example, we used Vine and Twitter to create a Tarot card reading experience for fans; we had a 100 Days Of Penny Dreadful campaign using Twitter and Storify; and we curated a recap of season one using Victorian themed graphics on Facebook to refresh fans and prep for the new season premiere. In paid media, we executed a character campaign as a launch partner for Instagram's new carousel ad product. And through partnerships with high profile YouTube content creators, we drove over a million views to Penny Dreadful inspired content.

FR: Why do fans love this show? What social platforms are strongest?

MG: Since early in season one, fans have continuously praised the acting, writing, costumes, and cinematography. They often refer to Penny Dreadful as their favorite horror series and reference its innovative take on gothic literature.

Facebook is the top-performing platform, along with Twitter. The most active fans took on a moniker of their own – The Dreadfuls – and continuously engage the official profile and each other on Twitter.

FR: Any big campaigns worth noting for the second season? How did they do?

MG: The YouTube campaign has been particularly noteworthy. The Fine Brothers created an amazing eight minute recap of season one. Make-up artist channel Made Yew Look is releasing a series of videos showing fans how to create the looks of our creatures. And we actually brought Google owned & operated V Sauce 3 to Ireland where they shot a video about immortality from the set of Penny Dreadful. The work produced reflects the voices of each of these artists, producing an organic point of connection between Penny Dreadful and their audiences.

FR: Anything else?

MG: It's such a delight to engage a passionate fan base, so we continually look for new ways to reach out to the Penny Dreadful community across the social landscape. This season we're executing a special Snapchat campaign related to Evelyn Poole's dolls that will entertain our fans.

Penny Dreadful airs on Showtime at 10pm ET/PT and can be viewed on Showtime Anytime and Showtime On-Demand.

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