UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT UK

Universal Pictures added video ads from creators to its Instagram campaign for the home entertainment release of the American sci-fi western Nope in the UK, which boosted ad recall by 11 points.

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THE STORY
Screen dreamers

Universal Pictures creates and distributes theatrical and non-theatrical filmed entertainment. Universal’s theatrical slate includes films developed internally, along with co-productions, acquisitions and films developed by outside partners distributed by the studio.

11-point

lift in ad recall for creator video ads

2 million

people in the UK reached

2-point

lift in reported action due to creator activity (i.e. people saying they watched the film after seeing paid activity)

At Meta we’re committed to supporting and nurturing the careers of emerging Black talent. We created the Proud To Be hub as an inspirational resource for marketers to connect directly with Black creators and communities. Our goal is to provide a collaborative space that helps brands and advertisers drive representation in their advertising and create more meaningful experiences. This campaign was a great example of that.
LAUREN WHILBY, STRATEGIC PARTNER MANAGER, EMERGING CREATOR PARTNERSHIPS, META
THE GOAL
Raising brand awareness

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment wanted to raise awareness of Nope in the UK and encourage people to watch the film at home.

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THE SOLUTION

Custom-created Reels

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment joined forces with Meta and creators to produce short video ads to promote the home release of Nope in the UK. To come up with fresh, localised content that resonated with a UK audience, the studio worked with creators from Meta’s Proud to Be creator hub, a resource for marketers to connect directly with Black creators and communities. The Proud to Be hub provides a collaborative space to help brands and advertisers drive representation in their advertising and create more meaningful experiences.

The studio optimised its Instagram campaign for video views to maximise ad exposure for people who were most likely to buy or download the movie. The campaign ran alongside its usual campaign for the film, and used broad interest targeting, combined with placements in Reels, Stories and feed to maximise reach and impact, appealing to audiences beyond the standard campaign content.

To measure the effect of the new strategy, Universal Studios Home Entertainment ran a brand lift study. It found that adding creator content and Reels had a positive impact across all metrics and outperformed its usual marketing activity. Between November 1–24, 2022, the campaign achieved:

  • 11-point lift in ad recall for creator video ads
  • 2 million people in the UK reached at an average frequency of 2.34X
  • 2-point lift in reported action due to creator activity (i.e. people saying they watched the film after seeing paid activity)
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At Universal we are ever evolving our marketing approach to ensure we reach key audiences across our home entertainment release slate. Working in partnership with Meta on Jordan Peele’s acclaimed cinematic thriller Nope was a great opportunity to engage with targeted key home entertainment consumers through black creators whose voices have impact and resonate within the black community, whilst also showing great support for this exceptionally unique movie. These creators helped to craft a vital, tailor-made connection to the film and their content provided the opportunity to re-excite fans going into the home entertainment release. Having a fresh spin on our marketing materials served to cut through the competitive clutter to reinvigorate interest and underscore ownership. Overall, our partnership was a great experience with amazing results.
JASMINE BROWN, MARKETING MANAGER, UNIVERSAL PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
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