A Social Media Plot and Strategy for Ryan Reynold’s Free Guy
Free Guy is debuting only in theatres on August 13, 2021. It’s a big deal in our pandemic-riddled world that it’s not being released as a streaming option (just ask Scarlett Johansson or Disney, yikes!). Described by lead actor Ryan Reynolds on his Instagram as “It’s my favorite movie I’ve ever done. Just an absolute fastball of joy”, this long-anticipated release had a moving target for opening day dates, putting fans in an absolute frenzy of frustration mixed with excitement. The film can be described as a romantic action comedy/buddy movie in which Guy, played by Reynolds, realizes that he is a non-player controlled (NPC) character set in the world of Free City and he has more control over his actions than he ever thought possible. This great epiphany is provoked by Jodie Comer’s character, Molotov Girl, whom is Reynold’s on-screen love interest. This action-packed thrill ride, complete with a villain played by Taika Waititi to evoke the perfect balance of viewer laughter and loathing. Though the film will have plenty of laughs, there is still plenty of intense video game-style violence and some potty or crude humor.
Overview of Social Media Marketing Strategy
The social media marketing strategy for Free Guy, debuting only in theatres on August 13, 2021, will rely on a mix of paid (Instagram and Facebook ads), shared (influencer campaign, involving the three main stars of the film: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, and Taika Waititi using their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and owned social media (on the Free Guy movie social channels: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) content before, during, and after the movie release.
Social Media SMART Goals
Some social media SMART goals for the campaign are:
S (specific): Drive box office success from the campaign and send movie viewers to the theatres after waiting for so long for this movie. The focus will be on ticket sales for this movie and becoming THE summer blockbuster of 2021 in the United States, as well as measuring social media sentiment, engagement growth pre, during, and post campaign.
M (measurable): We will track: sentiment of movie reviews, metrics that trace our paid social media ads to the movie website or online ticket buying companies, and how our audience engages and grows with our owned social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and You Tube, using pre-campaign numbers as a benchmark. We will measure our TikTok challenge by hashtags, views, and posts from beginning to end.
A (attainable): To reach our main goal of sending viewers to the theatre to watch Free Guy, we are launching a pre-, during, and post-release social media campaign. We need to conduct a social media audit of the film’s social channels as well as the social media of the three main influencers before we get started, to see how many followers they have, what channels they are most active on, and where we should spend the most time, effort, and money creating content. Also, what is our target audience and where are they on social media? That needs to align. More on the audience later.
R (relevant): The timing is right. The original release date was July 3, 2020 (Ordona, 2021). 20th Century Studios released a YouTube campaign on June 10, 2021, announcing that the new in-theatre release is August 13, 2021.
T (time-sensitive): The clock is ticking. Pre-release work starts on June 10, 2021! And ends when the movie is expected to run its course in theatres and roll over to streaming only, which should be within a 30–45-day sweet spot (Pallotta, 2021) after August 13, 2021.
Campaign Platforms
We will use a few social media platforms to reach our target audience: U.S. males and females ages 13 to 55 who like movies, Ryan Reynolds, and the other stars, enjoy comedy and action films, like and gaming. We will also reach out to the parents of gamers. According to Tech Jury, 70% of parents believe video games have a positive influence on their children’s lives (Yanev, 2021). Since the movie is PG-13, we are including kids aged 13 and above, and their parents, who are likely in their 30s-50s.
Instagram. The film has an official Instagram set up with 31.5 K followers, as of August 1, 2021. This will serve as our first benchmark for growth in audience and engagement. Here, the Instagram stats (as of August 1, 2021) of our 3 key influencers: Ryan Reynolds (38 M); Jodie Comer (1.8 M); Taika Waititi (2.5 M). We are targeting U.S. males and females ages 13 to 55, and we will find them here on Instagram.
Facebook. The film has an official Facebook page set up with 14K followers, as of August 1, 2021. This will serve as our first benchmark for growth in audience and engagement. Here are the Facebook stats of our 3 key influencers (as of August 1, 2021): Ryan Reynolds (20 M); Jodie Comer (174 K); Taika Waititi (904 K). Our target demo of U.S. males and females ages 13 to 55 will be here on Facebook.
Twitter. The film has an official Twitter handle set up with 7.95 K followers, as of August 1, 2021. This will serve as our first benchmark for growth in audience and engagement. Here are the Twitter stats of our 3 key influencers (as of August 1, 2021): Ryan Reynolds 17.8 M; Jodie Comer (NOT ON TWITTER); Taika Waititi (1.3 M). Our target audience is on Twitter, too.
TikTok. Our main three influencers TikTok numbers are (as of August 1, 2021): Ryan Reynolds (6.7 M); Jodie Comer (not there); Taika Waititi (not there). Since Reynolds is the only influencer in this space officially, we will capitalize on that and have him start a challenge: having fun with the epic line from Molotov Girl to Free Guy, “Is that a Glock in your pocket?” Of course, in the film, he responds, “No, it’s two.” This could be hilarious to see what kind of random things people pull out of their khaki pants pockets. A khaki pant challenge, if you will (incorporating the hashtag #khakipantschallenge). Our target audience is on TikTok.
You Tube: The movie already has a presence on 20th Century Studios’ You Tube channel, with 4.2 M followers reaching movie fans, Ryan Reynolds fans, Deadpool fans, and more. This number will serve as our benchmark for growth and engagement, as will the number of views, comments, and shares that all the current pieces of video pertaining to the film have. Our target audience is here, too.
Voice and Hashtags for the #FreeGuy Campaign
For this campaign, we can let it rip and have some fun. The movie is snarky, action-packed, and fun, and the social media should be on par. The voice of this entire campaign is funny, sarcastic, playful, entertaining, and engaging. It’s gender-neutral and trying to reach the Gen Z and Millennial crowd, and the younger Gen X crowd.
There are some fun hashtags to incorporate in this plan including the following: #freeguymovie #blueshirtguy #bethegreatguy #ryanreynoldsfreeguy #ryanreynolds #jodiecomer #taikawaititi #molotovgirl #freecity #khakipantschallenge (TikTok).
Partnerships and Influencers
We are going to run a vivacious ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram before the movie hits theatres, as well as a TikTok challenge starring Ryan Reynolds called #khakipantschallenge. We are leveraging the heck out of working with Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, and Taika Waititi and using them as our celebrity influencers. They have great comedic chemistry and star power, which we will harness for our purposes.
3 Sample Social Media Posts for #FreeGuy
For Instagram
@vancityreynolds wants you to wear your jammies 👕to see him in @freeguymovie in theaters 🎦 on August 13, 2021, 🍿just leave your pet fish 🐟at home #freeguymovie #blueshirtguy #ryanreynoldsfreeguy link in bio (https://bit.ly/FreeGuyTix)
For Facebook
How’s this for a 🍿movie🍿 poster? Who doesn’t root for a hero who saves his goldfish? Get off your couch and go see Free Guy in theatres NOW. ps://bit.ly/FreeGuyTix
For Twitter: Poll: Who wore it better? Uma or Jodie?
#bitchstolemylook #molotovgirl #freeguymovie #pulpfiction
References
Ordona, M. (2021, June). Ryan Reynolds’ ‘Free Guy’ Gets New Trailer for Post- Lockdown Release Date. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-06-10/ryan-reynolds-free-guy-gets-new-trailer-for-post-lockdown-release-date
Pallotta, F. (2021, February). How Long Should Movies Be in Theaters Before Streaming? Hollywood Is Trying to Find out. CNN Business. https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/28/media/movies-streaming-box-office-theaters/index.html
20th Century Studios. (2019, December). Free Guy, Official Trailer. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2m-08cOAbc
Yanev, V. (2021, July). Video Game Demographics — Who Plays Games in 2021. Tech Jury. https://techjury.net/blog/video-game-demographics/#gref
#freeguymovie #freeguy #ryanreynolds #jodiecomer #taikawaititi #ufcjconline
