The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

Digital Technology Diversity & Inclusion

Queerty “goes there” in AbFab movie promo hookup

Author

By Doug Zanger | Americas Editor

July 22, 2016 | 7 min read

It takes some gumption to really snap into the sensibility of a film — especially when that film is Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, which opens today in the US. With the predilections of main characters Edina and Patsy (played by comedy legends Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, respectively) in full flower — vices that, to an ordinary person, would be verboeten, are de rigeur, this is a movie that appeals to a core audience and might be considered a tad on the raunchy side. Though the film is considered, to some degree, a harmless romp not to be taken too seriously, more, er, traditional brands would likely steer clear — though you’ve got to give Coca-Cola some credit for digging in to this one in the UK.

The AbFab franchise has, for the longest time, been rife with brand placements and references, but there is one part of the duo’s partying ways that hasn’t quite found the right place to live. So, how do we put this delicately? It has to do with California Cornflakes. Peruvian Powder. Nose Candy. You know what we’re talking about here.

In a bold move, leading LGBTQ entertainment site Queerty has taken the plunge and added a takeover of the site today — with the leading characters, Edina and Patsy, popping up in all manner of places, comically setting up shop, including popular quote bubbles from the show. But what makes this execution unique is in the upper-left corner of the page, the header area, where the characters snort cocaine off the Queerty logo.

via GIPHY

So why would Queerty agree to something other sites might deem untouchable?

Scott Gatz, CEO and founder of Q.Digital, which runs Queerty and other LGBTQ sites, LGBTQNation and Gay Cities was excited to be a part of the rollout of a film that has wide appeal to its base.

“We all wanted to do this. I think it's so on-brand for the movie and for the characters. It's kind of fun to be able to work with an agency to come up with something this creative,” said Gatz.

While the final product will no doubt elicit laughs, and perhaps a few spit takes, the journey to get there was full of trial and error.

“It was definitely an evolution. We started with the idea of having Patsy and Edina pop up in various different parts of the site. As you're browsing Queerty, at any random moment, Patsy and Edina might fly in from the left and sit on where one of our normal articles might sit. She erases the article and sits there,” he said.

“In another case, they pop up from the bottom right of the screen and in each time, and they have little quote bubbles saying popular sayings from the TV show. Everyone I know that watched Ab Fab is able to quote the funniest lines from that show over the years. Patsy and Edina popping up with those quotes all over the site seems like the perfect way and kind of the right spirit for the entertainment-focused readers of Queerty. Having the funny quotes pop up everywhere. You don't even know where to expect Patsy and Edina to pop up. That was the original idea.”

The evolution, with MoxieUSA out of L.A. for Fox Searchlight Pictures, continued to its current cross-screen life.

“As we were talking with the agency, they came to us with this idea. They did the further thinking and took the concept to ‘where else could Patsy pop up?’ They wanted to do something with the (Queerty) logo. We kind of went a little back and forth and they mocked it up and said, ‘What do you think of this idea? It's very much about the irreverent tone of the film. It fits with the irreverent tone of Queerty. Can we put the two together?’ We all liked it. We all realized exactly what it is, which is a play on this character – the character who's kind of known for being not PC. This fits with her. It's something that you would expect from her. We felt this would be great. We know that our audience would recognize it as the joke that it is and have fun with it, especially those who are big fans of the show,” continued Gatz.

Gatz pointed out that the Queerty audience may be a better fit that some more mainstream sites to host this kind of takeover. They make it clear that they are not supporting drug use, but the target is undeniably hit right in the center.

“Our audience, LGBT folks, generally are a little bit more tuned in to some of this type of humor. I think that's why the series and the film have such a great gay following. My expectation is that the vast majority of our audience will see it that way. We're not condoning drug use. We're not advocating for anything. We're just having some fun with a fictional character who does things like that in the film,” he said.

Floating ads on websites have been around for a while, but there's never been anything this bold that includes a corporate logo.

“Most media companies and internet companies won't let someone else play with their logo. You look at the Google doodle every other day, and it's only Google that's playing with it. It's never a third party. Yahoo does it too, but it's never a third party. I think that is groundbreaking all by itself for letting the brand logo play with another brand. It shows the type of company that we are — that we like to be creative and push those boundaries. Especially where our audience is very aligned.”

What publishers can learn from this is to take chances, especially when the site aligns with the creative being produced. A collaboration between agencies and media sites can be as good a fit as an agency and a brand.

“Ultimately, we're trying to help raise awareness of the film and get our audience talking about the film — creating conversation. We ‘went there’ with this. Users know that we went there, and they may have a conversation with their friends.”

Gatz hopes the conversation revolved around those “did you see that?” moments, but at its core is promoting a film that is likely going to be popular with Queerty’s base.

“We're going to be paying close attention to those kinds of things. Is there word of mouth? Do people share it? Do people start talking about it? It will be good to see whether that's anecdotal evidence or whether we're actually being able to see that on social channels as well,” said Gatz.

“Films are all about reminding people that they're happening. Letting people know when the film is opening, and creating word of mouth. If together with Moxie and Brigade we can create some word of mouth around this film, then it'll have been a success.”

Digital Technology Diversity & Inclusion

More from Digital

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +