Summary
Decoding Chris Pratt's Terminal List: The 360 Experience To stand out from every other ‘one man revenge' story, we took audiences inside the troubled mind of James Reece, the show's protagonist with an interactive 360 experience on Times of India that was viewed 4.4 million times. His fragmented mind was shown as a 3D anamorphic experience. Users interacted with his fragmented mind to piece together the conspiracy, making the show a must-watch for fans.
Challenge
The Chris Pratt starrer Terminal List was based on the novel by Jack Carr (which had minimal fan following in India) and was set to launch on the same day as the last two episodes of Stranger Things' latest season, which was an already well-established franchise among fans. The task was to ensure James Reece's story engaged fans right from the get-go by creating a web of distortions, so that they would be invested in his Terminal List when the show finally launched. Our objective was to promote the story of Navy Seal officer James Reece (Chris Pratt), whose entire platoon is ambushed & killed on a covert mission. James believes his team was set up and goes on an act of bloody revenge to uncover the truth and eliminate the people on his Terminal List.
Objective
To promote the new Amazon Original web-series, The Terminal List, we wanted to stand out from every other ‘one man revenge' story before ours. Being a tentpole Amazon Originals release, the show premiered globally in more than 240 countries and territories. India with our mobile-first entertainment seekers too was a crucial market with hordes of Christ Pratt fans waiting in anticipation, thanks to his Guardians of The Galaxy franchise and his latest doomsday flick Tomorrow War. Moreover, the action-adventure genre was one of the most viewed by subscribers of Prime Video and viewers were eager to find out the next big draw to dive into.
Strategy
While our core audience was aged 18 to 34, including both men and women, our overall TG ranged from 18 to 44. Having had the advantage of executing multiple title promotions for Amazon Prime Video, we knew that interactive engagements was the way to go as it helped users internalize the message more effectively. Similarweb & Google's learnings also revealed that our core audience enjoyed engaging with new tech innovations. To understand James Reece's revenge, you need to first understand his mind. As ever since the incident that killed his platoon, he suffers from headaches, paranoia, and memory confusion. So, we decided to take our audience into James Reece's mind and experience his conflicting memories, so they could better understand his motivations. To do this, we devised an idea that would allow users to interact with his mind and piece together the larger conspiracy that drives the show. To represent James Reece's fragmented mind, we created a mobile-first interactive 360-degree experience on one of India's largest online publications, Times of India. The experience was mobile optimized to ensure people could use it on their data plans and using the touch functionality, users could move the fragmented anamorphic sculpture around. Once the fragments were properly aligned, Chris Pratt's face was revealed. Users could then interact with the key elements to play snackable dialogue promos that revealed James Reece's story and the larger conspiracy. Fans could easily share this experience with their friends & family through the WhatsApp messaging app. Display ads on the Times of India website, along with social content, encouraged users to decode Chris Pratt's Terminal List by leading them to the microsite. Editorial articles on TOI & ETimes websites also piqued people's interest in James Reece's story before they engaged with the 360 experience.
Data
This was a first-of-its-kind 3D anamorphic experience created to promote an OTT series. It not just introduces the main character, but also helped fans empathize with him by exploring his memories themselves. Moreover, the custom experience was created as a barter integration with TOI, saving us the build and server hosting cost and thus making the idea more effective on a smaller budget.
Solution
Results
With 4.4 Mn microsite views (69% more than similar campaigns on TOI), 45+ Mn overall reach (23% more than similar campaigns on TOI) & 1.38 mins of average time spent (10% more than similar campaigns on TOI), we managed to create a memorable experience that reminded fans to tune in to the show once it was launched. Our efforts got viewers talking about the show and made for a memorable launch for season 1. Now with talks of season 2, it seems like this is only the beginning of James Reece's story.
