Warner Bros: promoting The Lego Batman Movie with Channel 4

By letting Lego Batman be Lego Batman and barge his way through popular culture that’s how. In a unique partnership with Channel 4 we gave him a job as its continuity announcer for a weekend, making 18 short films that got Batman talking about some of the most popular shows on TV while showcasing his hilarious need to always be the centre of attention. The partnership allowed us to reach a wide variety of people across multiple touchpoints from TV to Twitter. We worked closely with Channel 4 to negotiate early access to their schedules and totally integrated Lego Batman into the fabric of the channel. Holy-Channel-4-partnership Batman.

Strategy

Our brief was to herald the film as more than just an animation for kids and celebrate Lego Batman as a hero and icon in his own right with a piece of surprising, disruptive content. We had to appeal to a broad audience ranging from families with kids to tech savvy teenagers, and up to 16-34 blockbuster buffs. We would know the content was a success if the film took huge numbers in its opening weekend, tracked strong awareness leading up to the release and drove social media buzz and positive sentiment for the character.

Our strategy was built upon the core pillar, ‘Lego Batman barges in’, which summed up the disruptive, bold and hilariously self-assured nature of the character.

The content had to feel as though it was driven by Lego Batman’s need to be the centre of attention, barging his way into popular culture and UK media. The Lego Movie surprised audiences in 2014 as the standout comedy of the year. Our approach was to use disruptive, innovative content to let people know that The Lego Batman Movie was going to be even funnier, leveraging a media partnership and multiple cultural touchpoints to speak to the broadest audience possible. The key to our approach was to create a seamless integration between the world of the film and the world of the media publisher with a bold media first.

Results

The film launched the following weekend in the number one spot at the box office, a position it held for three weeks.

‘Continuity Bat’ got social media buzzing. It was seen by 40% of the population in four days, and 80% of them did something as a result – either watching the trailer or booking tickets. One in six viewers booked a ticket to see the film as a result, delivering an ROI of £17 for every £1 spent and the film launched in the number one spot at the box office.

As Lego Batman might say, it was totally awesome. Because he is Lego Batman. And you’re not.