Dexter Morgan is resurrected from the useless… actually.
Showtime’s sequel collection Dexter: Resurrection takes place a couple of weeks after the occasions of Dexter: New Blood, which aired from 2021 to 2022. This time, Dexter runs off to New York Metropolis after surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound, chasing down his son.
The sequel collection premieres with two episodes on July 11 on streaming and on-demand for the Paramount+ Premium plan and airs on broadcast on July 13, with the remainder of the season premiering weekly.
Whereas the solid options Michael C. Corridor reprising his position because the titular character, it additionally stars returning actors like Jack Alcott, David Zayas, and James Remar. However there’s additionally new expertise being added to the principle lineup, together with Uma Thurman and Peter Dinklage.
To get followers excited in regards to the new collection, the Showtime and MTV Leisure Studios advertising, social, and communications group launched an in depth 360 advertising marketing campaign throughout totally different cities like London, Mexico Metropolis, and New York Metropolis with varied artistic parts.
“The marketing campaign feels multidimensional, so you possibly can expertise the Dexter universe in so many alternative methods,” Amy Campbell, chief advertising officer, Showtime/MTV Leisure Studios & Paramount Media Networks, advised ADWEEK. “I’m lucky to work with some group members who’ve been engaged on Dexter for a lot of seasons, and it’s so thrilling as a result of we’re additionally followers. It’s thrilling to have the ability to put a lot vitality into it.”
An immersive multi-room activation debuted in London from July 8 to July 13, the place followers had the chance to stroll into varied rooms impressed by the present. In Mexico Metropolis, a Dexter: Resurrection takeover came about at Comedian Con, the place the trailer was proven to followers throughout a panel that includes Michael C. Corridor and different solid members. A separate immersive expertise will launch at San Diego Comedian-Con later this month.
In New York Metropolis, sports activities followers and theatergoers alike had been met with customized sponsorships of the Mets-Yankees Subway Collection and Shakespeare within the Park.
On the day of the world premiere on July 11, the Empire State Constructing was lit up in purple in honor of the present’s bloody theme. The premiere itself was additionally sprinkled with varied interactive parts, together with a choir, which was introduced onto the purple carpet earlier than and after the screening of the primary episode.
In the meantime, Showtime debuted customized audio spots in varied cities, together with Chicago and Los Angeles, which had been narrated by Corridor in Dexter’s first-person monologue fashion, dynamically focused with customized messaging that modifications based mostly on a consumer’s location, time of day, and present climate.
Showtime additionally partnered with Amazon throughout Prime Week for customized, restricted version containers that function the present’s branding.
Although the marketing campaign formally kicked off in April, Campbell stated the seeds for the marketing campaign had been planted almost two years in the past, when the Dexter social media group reactivated the franchise’s social channels, whereas additionally debuting new TikTok and YouTube accounts and gaining 2.2 million new followers. Cumulatively, the franchise’s social footprint has surpassed 14 million followers throughout platforms, which, in line with Showtime, is the biggest amongst any of the community’s mental properties.
Showtime beforehand reported that the final season of Dexter: Unique Sin drove 343 million social views and 16 million engagements, whereas the collection finale delivered a 27% improve in viewers over its premiere episode. In the meantime, the current trailer for Dexter: Resurrection introduced in 52.7 million views in its first week and reached No. 4 on YouTube Trending inside 24 hours.
“We’ve been seeding their needs with content material, compilations, and fan edits, and that’s been our technique alongside the best way,” Campbell stated. “We’ve got these fandoms we create across the franchises, whether or not it’s Dexter, the Yellowstone universe, or Yellowjackets, the place we actually tremendous serve them with content material in every single place that they’re, and social is a vital a part of that.”
Campbell additionally stated that Corridor himself and government producer Clyde Phillips partnered intently along with her groups by loads of technique, planning, and inventive classes to make sure the marketing campaign was reflective and celebratory of the present.
“They’re so engaged, grateful, and great to work with, and it simply makes it a pleasure,” Campbell stated. “It’s such a gem of a present as a result of it’s so well-loved. The solid is unimaginable. The manager producers are superb, and my groups are actually in lockstep round each single factor that we’re doing.”
Going ahead, the marketing campaign for Dexter: Resurrection shall be prolonged on social with platform-intentional movies, episodic publishing, compilations, and user-submitted fan edits. Moreover, each episode shall be supplemented with an official YouTube after-show, Dexter: Ultimate Reduce.
Campbell stated that, on the finish of the day, it actually ties again to the Dexter fandom and the way loyal they’re to the present in any case these years. She added that they even labored intently with Paramount’s analysis group on the marketing campaign to grasp what’s driving followers.
“Individuals love Dexter,” Campbell stated. “Dexter has followers of various generations, and I believe the one factor all of them love is Michael C. Corridor. He’s simply so iconic to these followers, and conserving them on the coronary heart of what we’ve been doing has been thrilling.”
