The Inbetweeners
taking the cult show mainstream
Overview
Taylor Herring have worked with The Inbetweeners and its cast and creators, Bwark Productions, since the show was first launched 3 years ago.
Our challenge for series three was to break the show into mainstream media notably tabloid media and broadsheets whilst servicing the show's online fanbase.
We were also tasked with integrated promotion of the upcoming DVD.
The Campaign
We worked with the Sunday Times on a 3 week promotion to deliver a launch positioning that would work both on and offline. A double page spread positioning piece ran exclusively in Culture before the first episode transmission. Over the next two weeks there would be a series of online exclusives, promoted within the paper, including special picture galleries, clips and a live reader Q&A opportnity with the show's writers Iain Moriss and Damon Beesley.
We negotiated a dedicated photoshoot with FHM magazine for a special reversable cover that would see the whole cast appear on the front and back covers of the magazine – a first in the magazine for any TV show. The pictures were further syndicated out resulting in some major tabloids – plus multiple online hits.
We arranged for an Inbetweeners takeover of Gordon Smart's Bizarre in The Sun on the Saturday before transmission - which would see the boys guest-edited the column.
A number of set visits during filming were set up with key publications including; Heat and Zoo. These were negotiated to run as a staggered burst of publicity, ensuring that each publication had a different angle and were not competing against each other.
Further interviews were conducted throughout the series, including a number of self-penned pieces with the series writers. Other results included; the front cover of The Guardian Guide, double page spread in the the Mirror, full page in Celebs on Sunday, double page spread in the Daily Star, 3 page spread in Now, spreads in Nuts and Zoo, full page in Grazia and multiple hits in Heat magazine to name but a few.
The series launch was covered across most TV listings titles, weekly showbiz magazines, weekend supplements and pick of the days.
As cast access was limited we conducted a key syndicated interviews with ITN, MSN, PA the BBC, whilst also seeding regular early clips to around 20 websites, blogs and social networks.
Measurement and Evaluation
We secured over 170 pieces of national print coverage plus radio broadcast interviews on XFM, This Morning, Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio 7, Scott Mills on BBC Radio 1 and Fearne Cotton gave the show multiple shout outs on her Radio 1 show.
We also organised a live webchat with the boys at Channel 4, which became a global trending topic on Twitter.
Results
The first episode of the new series drew a record average audience of 2.6m/12.5% share, making it the highest rating programme ever broadcast on E4.
During the run, The Inbetweeners was the second most watched programme across all channels just behind the BBC Ten O’clock News.
The DVD, released by 4DVD, was the biggest selling title of the year.