How Paramount+ is using fandoms to ‘evangelize’ audiences

International chief marketing officer for Paramount+, Cameron Dillavou, tells The Drum when you have intellectual property (IP) like Star Trek you need to let fans “evangelize audiences” and spread the word. “It's much more powerful coming from them [fans] in an organic way, fan to fan, rather than us.”

Competing in a crowded marketplace Paramount+ entered the streaming wars in 2021 and has since amassed 56 million global subscribers. The service was rolled out globally in 2022 which has helped boost its numbers, adding 9.9 million subscribers in the final quarter of 2022 and growing its revenue by 81% to $800m year-over-year.

Dillavou is always trying to figure out ways to activate the fan community. “How do you acknowledge them? How do you respect them? How do you in an organic way give them the tools and the information you know they’re going to love and get them to talk about your news and share it,” she asks.

There are two key approaches Dillavou applies. The breadcrumb strategy “feeds intrigue and mystery by trading little pieces of information a bit at a time,” she explains. Or the marketing team can hand over all the news to a fan community and let it do the job of spreading the word.

Star Trek fans were brought into the British Airways Terminal 5 Star Trek takeover when BA cabin crew were adorned in authentic Starfleet costumes, for example.

TikTok is a “crucial” platform for creating buzz around a title and engaging fans, Dillavou says. “TikTok is an amazing channel for the co-creation of content. It’s an engagement tool, and its an evangelist tool for us,” she adds.

Paramount+ has 1.9 million TikTok followers its account strapline claims: ‘It’s the only place where iCarly, RuPaul, SpongeBob, and Picard all meet’. The account is a combination of content teases, behind the scenes, using its IP to react to cultural moments.

“It’s really hard to cut through in culture,” Dillavou Admits. “There’s a point where you reach a crescendo when you're marketing a show, and TikTok really helps us cut through and to be relevant and build a community around the content and cutting through in culture.”

New methods of TV marketing

Experiential marketing has become a tentpole of Dillavou’s global marketing strategy. “We have the most incredible IP at this company, and we want to bring people into these worlds,” Dillavou explains.

For the launch of The Chemistry of Death in Germany Paramount premiered the show on a train journey between Hamburg and Berlin; and when rolling out the service in the UK, Paramount hosted a pop-up space in Piccadilly filled with replica sets, memorabilia, and stunt experiences.

Influencer marketing also is increasingly becoming a central strategy in Paramount's advertising. “Just from a general marketing standpoint it's always better to have someone else talking positively about your show rather than you to be chest-thumping,” Dillavou says. “Especially with shows that are targeted to younger demographics and have fan communities.”

Dillavou's comments follow the likes of Sky and HBO who have previously told The Drum that their influencer campaigns were driving the highest results within their marketing mix.

For a global marketing team, using influencers can also help grow shows locally, Dillavou explains. “I would much rather activate that passion in our influencers and have them go forward and tell people as well as drive awareness broadly and above the line marketing activation,” she says.

Streaming marketing 101

One of the biggest challenges when marketing a streamer, Dillavou says, is making sure audiences know what platform has what content, and that takes time to build she admits. “That is where we need to build top-of-mind brand awareness.”

The marketing teams within each of the franchises advertise in their own way but are expected to always link back to the Paramount+ brand identity. “All of the teams are entrenched in our brand positioning, and our brand story and our brand equity, but then each of them play that brand equity out in a different way,” Dillavou says.

“I want to build a brand that people know that whenever they go to Paramount+ they and everyone in the household is going to find something they love to watch and have a great experience,” Dillavou concludes. Crucially, she wants to take away the “mental work” of finding a show.