On Super Bowl 2023, we stole the attention from the most expensive media space in the world by turning everyone's eyes to the cheapest media space you could think of: a VHS tape.

Twenty years ago, Blockbuster was a billion-dollar franchise with eighty-four thousand employees and nine thousand retail locations. Today, there's only a single one left. The last standing mom-and-pop store wanted to remind people that they were indeed [still] open for business.

Blockbuster would need to activate its die-hard audience of cinema buffs who might join them in-store but generate enough awareness that the general public might purchase merchandise from their online store.

Letting people know the brand needed their patronage would be key, and a huge brand awareness play would show fantastic results. But how could a brand reach a huge audience on a small retail shop’s budget?

A hyperlocal media plan that generated so much hype, speculation and intrigue that the general public couldn’t help but notice.

Like the cockroaches that inherit the end of the earth after us — the world's last blockbuster will be standing long after we're gone. And they remained that way by outwitting, outlasting, and outsmarting their competitors.

So while the world's biggest brands launched 30” digital & TV spots during the Super Bowl, we turned into a smart idea that could get the same level of attention with a much smaller budget.

With a rabid online and local audience, we realized we could release a commercial in-store that would be shared widely online. This led us to release our commercial on VHS.

When Blockbuster announced on social that they would be making an ad on 02.12, intrigue and speculation filled the web—amplifying the conversation and bridging the gap from hardcore fans to more casual observers.

With this campaign, we spoke directly to Blockbuster’s core audience of nostalgia fans but the message connected with a more broad, mainstream audience. The campaign conjured up memories of a beloved American pastime of visiting your local Blockbuster on a Friday night. For many who saw this commercial, it brought them back to their first job at the local video store.

After we shot our commercial, we created content to reach our biggest fans. Leaving a trail of social breadcrumbs that had them speculating across the internet about what we might do. No paid media was used. Once we engaged with this audience and drummed up speculation, we invited journalists who reported on what everybody was saying on Reddit, online film communities, our social channels and more.

Now while we went analog with the commercial, we didn’t want to miss an opportunity to engage Blockbuster’s avid fans online. The announcement, campaign content, and ultimately the viewing party, were strategically released to Blockbuster’s community of 70K on Instagram. It was further fueled on platforms like TikTok and Reddit for reach and amplification.

To join together the physical event and the fans online - we tapped Instagram live to invite highly passionate followers to tune in for the VHS premier happening at the World’s Last Blockbuster Store. This “hacking” of the media experience helped us infiltrate pop culture and drum up conversations on one of the most saturated advertising days of the year.

While brands spent $7Million for a Super Bowl spot, we spent $0 in media to release a VHS with organic social reach to achieve 9x the viewership of the Super Bowl.

Leading up to the event, the conversation around Blockbuster & the World’s Last Store blew up across mainstream media outlets, garnering over 2 Billion Media Impressions in over 100+ placements.

Business soared as a result of the remarkable, widespread coverage. We increased brand awareness and memorability, which led to effective business results. The store had over a 1700% lift in online sales - doubling up on staff to fulfill orders on one of the busiest weeks in the store’s history.

At the end of the day, the media cost for this campaign was $6 dollars. That was the cost of the VHS tape. The rest of the social media tools we used to share the VHS were free - there was no paid media in this campaign.

The film itself was produced for a budget of less than 10K. It was shot by a crew of three people in a day: a director, an editor an art director. Travel amounted to less than $ 2K and no equipment was rented. The star of the film cost $19.95 — a robotic cockroach purchased on amazon.

Most of the costs would go towards post and finishing, which cost around $5000. The film was transferred to a single VHS for less than $100. Overall, producing the spot cost well under $10K.