Derry Girls is a sitcom set in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1990s about a group of school friends at a Catholic girls’ school. We needed to launch the third and final series, cut through and excite audiences about the show’s return. The series had a cult fan base from series 1+2, so the brief was to build on that and tap into the retro 90s nostalgia trend that was gaining ground in the UK amongst our target (youngs: 16–34), making the series unignorable and an unmissable hit.

We brought back Smash Hits! – an iconic magazine for teens in the 90s – for a one-off, bespoke special. 28 pages of specially shot and written and designed articles and pieces, from 90s fashion shoots starring the Derry Girls, to how-to dance moves, advice columns and record reviews, all featuring – or in the voice of – the characters from the show. Working with the 1990s editor of Smash Hits! We created an authentic version of the magazine – looking and feeling exactly like it did 25 years ago, just very, very Derry Girls. Copies were handed out across the UK and given away free with Heat magazine.

Harnessing the characters love for 90s pop culture we made them cover stars of their very own Derry Girls themed issue. Our cast’s energetic “schools out” themed shoot provided the magazine cover as well as a centerfold pull-out poster. All of the key characters from the show had features, or bespoke Derry themed advertisements, created for them and were filled with easter eggs for the show’s fans. It was designed using the iconic over-the-top hi-energy look of the 90s; with clashing colours, big characterful typography and lots of exclamation marks!!! and a cover with two zingy fluorescent inks. The magazine was designed in conjunction with the Smash Hits team including the actual editor from the time period the series was set in. The result was a 28-page full colour magazine, distributed nationwide through hand-outs, and given away free with UK popular celebrity magazine, Heat.

Our campaign which took an alternative, print first approach, resulted in Channel 4’s second most successful comedy series of all time. Awareness of the show was also at 65% of all UK adults on the day of the first episode, way above the average for a returning series. Our two key objectives were channel attribution and sustaining our share amongst young viewers from the success of the previous season. In terms of channel attribution, we achieved an impressive 61% (vs. Netflix 2%), as well as a 16-34 share of 29.1%, the best of any series; up +39% on series 2 and +28% on series 1. All that, and our magazines even found themselves the subject of bidding wars on ebay!