A CASE STUDY
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A CASE STUDY ✦
NOT WHAT YOU F*CKING EXPECTED
This is the story of an agency and Amazon Prime Video joining forces to debut the streaming giant’s new tentpole spin-off: Gen V.
Our collaborative mission: Gaining fan trust despite being a spin-off, honing our freshman-hero voice to connect with our Gen Z audience, and ultimately launching a successful Gen V TikTok and other social channels.
THE ASK
Launch, guide, and grow an ecosystem of Gen V social channels for Prime Video
THE CHALLENGE
Converting The Boys fans, skeptical of spin-offs, into brand advocates
THE SOLUTION
Subverting expectations of the college genre and the superhero genre while remaining true to the wider universe of The Boys
We focused on a trio of social platforms to build Gen V from zero to hero: Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Each platform held its own niche and purpose for the fandom; we just need to unlock their potential.
Our goal: learn alongside our followers in real-time to mirror the transition that our characters made – from innocent newcomers to disillusioned, radicalized players in the game.
Soon, our fans were in as deep as we were.
THE SYLLABUS
Instagram was our home for premium content, regular updates, and reminders ahead of new episodes. A series of short-form cast interviews helped fans connect with new faces, and small custom-shoot world building pieces rounded out our central social hub.
On Instagram Stories, we built up the fandom with user generated content like fan art and cosplay.
On Twitter (or X, whatever) we focused on reactive content and instant updates.
We threw a lot at fans, and they dissected every last post like they were in biology: episode drops, behind-the-scenes photos, and the occasional campus alert from the Godolkin University Police Department side account (@GodUPD).
TIKTOK
We used TikTok to build a deep love and niche interest in the show, treating it as our “burner account” where we could get a bit more weird with it, reacting heavily to how fans responded—mostly, who they were shipping.
We also built a pair of CapCut templates that debuted on the Gen V TikTok. These were Sony Pictures TV’s first and only CapCut templates.
WELCOME WEEK
Making new friends is hard.
In our case, fans of Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys were extremely skeptical when Gen V was announced… and they weren’t shy about it.
Given recent disappointments from fans of M*rvel and DC over spin-offs, we’d have to win them over the old fashioned way: ripping the puppet spines out of puppet people and throwing them across the room for our potential fans’ amusement (and also creating a comprehensive social strategy to make it all seem chill and effortless.)
MIDTERMS
Our second matter of business was meeting our audience where they were.
Gen V is a show about Gen Z – hopefully this is obvious to you – so we had to hone our razor’s edge in all things copy and messaging. As posts began to roll out, fans began to latch onto our persona.
It took about a week to turn Gen “L” comments into Gen “W” once we started our posting cadence.
Soon, fans were begging for more and beginning to act like they themselves were students at Godolkin University.
MINORING IN MAJORING
Finally, the VCU had no TikTok presence—until now.
We had to figure out how to launch and sustain on a new platform with an all-new fanbase.
How do you convince passionate - yet skeptical - fans that this new show, which affected their precious canon, wouldn’t suck?
We had to commit to our voice, test the waters, and listen to our community. Instead of saying f*ck the haters, we won them over in the comments, prioritizing top-tier community management to fuel the fire.
FINALS WEEK
At first, users were unsure how to interact with these new students breaking into the VCU, as the Gen V voice sounded nothing like its counterparts. But over the course of the season, we were able to shift perspectives and win over the hearts and minds of skeptics, and even had fans cosplaying as Gen V students in the comments.
During a challenging time for the entertainment industry, we gave people an experience to rally behind and created a foundation with fans for our SAG-AFTRA actors, who were able to seamlessly join the party after strike negotiations concluded.
Then – we just had to wait for our grades to come back…
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HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!
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HAVE A GREAT SUMMER! ✦