THE BRIEF: MAKE THE LAUNCH OF "THE BOYS" SEASON THREE THE MOST SUCCESSFUL IN FRANCHISE HISTORY.

In a world where superheroes neglect the darker side of their actions and fame, Prime Video’s The Boys centres on a group of vigilantes who's mission is to take them down. With the new season promising to be the most chaotic yet, our job was to:

• Drive buzz amongst fans, becoming the most recommended release on launch weekend.

• Recruit new viewers by bringing chaos from the show to their world.

THE CHALLENGE: THE BATTLE FOR SUPERHERO FANDOM IS RAGING.

2021 saw the release of over 22 superhero TV shows and movies, including the top 3 grossing films...all from Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a quarter when Dr. Strange and Thor were set to dominate the box office, how could a non-MCU title stand-out from the cacophony of capes and sea of sidekicks?

Showcasing Prime Video's The Boys main ‘anti-hero’ Butcher, and leaning into the season twist of him gaining his own superhero powers; laser eyes. Using custom-build neon we created the effect that laser eyes were searing from the billboard, down the wall, splitting posters promoting the show, before seemingly blowing up a burnt-out car at the bottom of the site in the carpark – absolute carnage.

The power of outdoor as a platform for engagement was on show through-out the campaign, with the burnt out car slowly having graffiti added to it from the public also. This actually added to the activation, showcasing the real world anti-hero sentiment of the site as it transformed over time.

Finally the site selection was critical to fuel conversation, appearing in The Butcher actor Karl Urban's hometown of Auckland and on one of the busiest traffic thoroughfares.

By going on the attack, Butcher burned himself into the minds of over 3.4M ANZ fans and ensured The Boys Season 3 was the ‘most recommended’ Prime Video release not just at launch, but the entire quarter.

Laser eyes so bright, they incinerated the competition.

Prime Video claimed #1 share of new Streaming Video on Demand subscriptions in the 3 months preceding launch. We overtook the superheroes in ‘new-to-platform subscribers’, with 5.95% more than Disney+. A heroic achievement given our share of spend dwarfed the superhero budgets of our rivals.

Billboards that became memes.

Fans organically posted content of the NZ site to the Reddit thread r/TheBoys (545K members), and digitally recreated it in Grand Theft Auto Online. The real-life Butcher himself, Karl Urban, loved our work so much he shared it to his personal Instagram

story, broadcasting a ‘billboard’ to his 2.4M followers.

F*** Superheoes? F** Yeah!