Paramount brings a dystopic future to Latam with #HandmaidsEnParamount

At first sight, The Handmaid´s Tale didn´t seem to have the potential to resonate with Latin American audiences, but combining storytelling with audience insights, our digital campaign for the premiere of the show in the region yielded the following results.

+29M

impressions

+7M

interactions

#1 Show

in the 35-year-old demographic in Mexico

Context

Paramount Channel has existed in Latin America for a few years, focusing on offering audiences a curated selection of classic movies & entertainment. In March 2018, Paramount Channel took the groundbreaking decision of bringing The Handmaid’s Tale - a show that had been a resounding success in the US - to Latin America, setting a new tone for their upcoming programming. This was not only a new move for Paramount, but it was also be the first time that the show was being introduced to the Latin American market through cable television.

About the Show

Based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, the show takes place in Gilead, an oppressive society in what used to be the United States. In the show, Gilead is ruled by an intransigent regime that treats women as property of the state and is faced with environmental disasters and a plummeting birth rate. In a desperate attempt to repopulate a devastated world, the few remaining fertile women are forced into sexual servitude. One of these women, Offred, is determined to survive the terrifying world she lives in and find the daughter who was taken from her.

Digital Campaign Objectives

Drive tune-in to the show’s premiere in Paramount Channel
Increase brand awareness about the show and audience engagement in the Latin American Region
Support TV rating objectives

Challenge

With a show unknown to the Latin American market, and a plot inspired by the potential consequences of some of the core social issues of today’s American society, how could Paramount Channel make audiences in Latin America relate and become interested in the show and its premiere?

Solution

Storytelling and creative content

To address this challenge, the Newlink team identified key parallels between the potential horrific future portrayed in the Handmaid’s Tale, and specific realities people in Latin America face every day. Combining those insights with a storytelling-driven digital campaign, we showed audiences that the realities of Gilead are not as unlikely and unrelated to them as they may seem.

With this in mind, we launched a dynamic and interactive digital campaign across the brand’s Facebook, Instagram and Youtube channels:

First, we developed a series of glossary videos explaining the core elements of the show’s foundation before the premiere, as well as introducing the new “roles” of this new society.
Second, we explained the complexity of the plot and its relevance to today’s society through a series of storytelling videos, setting the tone for what users could expect from #HandmaidsEnParamount as well as giving them multiple reasons to watch the show.
As a finishing touch, we highlighted all the awards that the show has received internationally, sparking even more curiosity and interest from the audience.

Results

Mexican audience, hooked by The Handmaid’s Tale makes it #1 Show

Through this storytelling-driven, multi-platform digital campaign, we successfully yielded outstanding results for the premiere of The Handmaid’s Tale. The show generated unprecedented ratings the day of the premiere, becoming the #1 show on-air among Paramount Channel’s target audience in Mexico and surpassed social media engagement levels for the channel.