Sony Pictures' extensive cross-platform partnership with The Telegraph resulted in the biggest box office returns for over 45s Bond has ever had, proving that nobody does it better than newsbrands.

1. STRICTLY CLASSIFIED
Sony Pictures – Spectre
Executive Summary
2015 saw the return of James Bond in his 24th
outing, Spectre. The previous film, Skyfall, had broken
records but with no Olympics or Jubilee to piggy back on we needed to find new ways to fuel the
hype and convince older audiences to actually visit the cinema. The solution was an extensive cross-
platform partnership with the Telegraph that resulted in the biggest box office returns for 45+ that
Bond had ever had. It seems nobody does it better than Newsbrands…
Background and Objectives
“The name’s Bond, James Bond”. Everyone in the modern age has heard this iconic line which carries
with it so many connotations of cool, suave and sleek. Even after over 50 years, 7 different actors
and 23 films James Bond has never been so popular. And so in 2015, Bond was back with the release
of the 24th film, Spectre.
Along with all the challenges our hero faced in the film itself, Spectre also provided another huge
task. How to make the release even bigger and better than his previous outing, Skyfall, which was
the UK’s highest grossing film of all time in 2012.
Skyfall released at amongst a perfect storm of new found national pride. The country was still
glowing from a post-Olympics and Diamond Jubilee celebrations and Bond, being so distinctively
British provided a fitting end to a defining year. Danny Boyle also helped ensure that anticipation for
the next release was at fever pitch by having James jump out of a helicopter during the London 2012
Opening Ceremony with no less than Her Majesty the Queen!
The key challenge for Spectre was to recreate the hype that preceded Skyfall and deliver an even
better opening week. It was critical we opened with a strong figure because the opening week
comprises of up to 50% of the total box office putting a huge emphasis on getting the launch right!
Skyfall set a record £33m opening back in 2012 so beating that would arguably be Bond’s toughest
assignment from M to date.
Insight
One of the reasons Bond has continued to be such a successful franchise is the broadness in its
appeal to all ages. With each Bond released we see a relatively even demographic split between all
ages showing how Bond’s continuous evolvement has always managed to bring in a new generation
of fans.
While the aforementioned national hysteria and PR activity helped elevate Skyfall to whole new level
for Bond in terms of Box Office revenue, it was interesting to see that the release also managed to
grow its 45+ audience as well. This audience were also caught up in the zeitgeist of the time and the
additional revenue from this audience (28% of total) played a huge part in making Skyfall the success
story it was.

2. The issue for us was that the early hype was not the same for us this time. While awareness was high
ahead of release across all demographics, we knew this alone wasn’t going to be enough to entice
the over 45s in particular as they are traditionally less likely to go to the cinema, especially on
release week. On average over 45s visit the cinema only 4 times a year which is less than half of
adults aged 15-34. To ensure we hit our lofty box office target, we knew that we had to generate
excitement amongst this audience in particular so that they were captivated enough to go and see
this on release week along with everyone else.
Acknowledging the need to convert as many over 45s as possible, we knew that Newsbrands
provided us with the perfect platform to reach them. Not only through scale alone but also in a
quality environment where content is trusted. 62% of people trust original content sites, which is
almost twice the number who trust social media sites (32%). Traditional display alone on
Newsbrands wouldn’t be enough to build the advocacy we needed however. To really ramp-up
excitement it was all about seeding content in an environment where it is going to be perceived as
reliable information!
Bond’s sophistication also extends to his audience. 72% of Skyfall’s audience was ABC1, which
compared to all cinema goers at 60% shows you the premium nature of his appeal. Knowing this,
combined with knowing we had to fuel hype amongst over 45s in a trusted environment, we decided
to partner with the UK’s biggest quality Newsbrand – The Telegraph.
The plan
We teamed up with the Telegraph for a cross-platform campaign that was truly shaken, not stirred.
The plan was a 30 Day partnership running from the 26th
September that gathered pace right up
until the film’s release on the 26th
October.
As part of the 30 days of Spectre, no Telegraph platform was going to remain untouched. Every
section, be it in print, digital and social got the Spectre treatment to ensure readers were
surrounded by Bond content everywhere building anticipation ahead of release. From the creation
of a specific Bond content hub online to features across verticals of Sport, Cars, Travel, Fashion,
Technology, Luxury, Food & Drink, Men and (of course) Film, we were absolutely everywhere with
bespoke features and editorial that were contextually relevant to each section.
The features ran across both print and digital including supplements where we also created a 10
page Spectre dedicated reverse cover of Telegraph Mag on the 17th
October, with exclusive content
to further excite readers about the new film.
The activity was also supported by 30 days of competitions where readers could win a different prize
each day. Naturally, each prize was Bond themed with prizes involving all of Spectre’s brand
partners. From Aston Martin Experience Days, Bollinger Champagne to Sony tech giveaways, readers
had their own chance to win a piece of Spectre every day.
If all the editorial features and competitions weren’t enough for you. As release week approached,
we utilised the impact that The Telegraph were able to deliver with a series of high-impact display
formats across print and digital. From DPSs in the main paper and section coverwraps to HPTO’s and
mobile/tablet interstitials. The Telegraph also streamed the World Premiere Live on their homepage
delivering over 23,000 unique browsers, their biggest ever Culture Live Stream. Putting it bluntly, we
were absolutely everywhere!

3. The scale of the promotion across the 30 days took an operation that MI6 themselves would be
proud of. A team of over 80 people, across 11 editorial desks were involved in the creation of all the
content for the campaign. 244 tweets were sent alone across the 30 days!
The Results:
The results of the campaign were staggering with many traditional Telegraph promotional
benchmarks killed along the way.
 The online content generated over 1.4m unique users which was 620% over the original
target of 200,000!
 We achieved a staggering 51,000 entries which is more than double their usual benchmark!
 79% recalled the campaign – The Telegraph’s highest ever for a brand partnership
 58% read or intended to read the features
 12.2m total campaign reach in the UK
Source: Adobe Analytics, eDigital, NRS PADD Mobile Jun 15 for R&F
More importantly than all of that, all of this meant that hype ahead of release was at fever point and
Spectre became the number one film in 2015 with an opening of £41.3m for the first week alone!
This exceeded the record previously held by Skyfall and set Spectre on the way to becoming the
biggest film in the calendar year.
Aside from the small matter of delivering a record breaking Box Office opening, we also managed to
grow our Box Office revenue from the 45+ audience. Revenues from over 45s alone were £34.3m
and up from £28.9m for Skyfall. This was a £5.4m growth with the audience making up over a third
of the total Box Office. The extra revenue equates to an extra 750,000 admissions from this audience
alone!
Mission very much accomplished.
Client View:
Stuart Williams, Sony Pictures Marketing Director. “Every time there’s a new Bond film it’s always
the most anticipated release of the year. The Telegraph provided the perfect platforms for us to
generate excitement ahead of the release and the partnership more than delivered both in terms of
their execution and the results achieved”.

4. Example Content Placements:
10 Page Telegraph Magazine reverse cover:
Social Support:

5. High Impact Display: