Submitted by Substance

The Running Man

Substance ran set visits, out-of-home creative, junkets, premiere coverage and creator content for The Running Man, reporting 465 pieces of coverage and over 2.9 billion UUMs.

Our online PR campaign generated 465 pieces of coverage with over 2.9 billion UUMs.UUMs
Our online PR campaign generated 465 pieces of coverage with over 2.9 billion UUMs.pieces of coverage

Case in 60 seconds

The film needed presence from live production through to release, which meant making content while shooting continued at Tottenham Stadium and Leavesden and turning pre-release work around inside a single day before the film opened.

The campaign appears to turn on the overlap between the film's deadly televised contest and the reality television audiences already follow, because Traitors alumni could talk about taking part in a show rather than promoting a film.

The work was built as one continuous run from set to screen, joining talent capture, out-of-home creative, publicity, premiere activity and creator content into a single release story rather than separate pushes.

Two international creator cohorts visited the live production at Tottenham Stadium and Leavesden to meet cast, join workshops and appear as extras, with Substance shooting sizzle reels and stringouts for their own posting. An artist turned out-of-home posters into acts of protest for a pre-release social film shot across three London locations, while junket and premiere capture with Glen Powell, Colman Domingo, Lee Pace and Edgar Wright fed games, vox pops and live Stories.

Substance reports that the online PR campaign generated 465 pieces of coverage with over 2.9 billion UUMs, with every outlet featuring the junket on its primary channels and consistently positive sentiment.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Film fans and the existing fandoms around the cast, reached alongside the wider national conversation, with junket coverage placed to reach all key demographics across digital, print and podcast outlets.
Based on the available evidence, the campaign sits on the closeness between the film's fictional deadly show and the reality formats audiences watch for entertainment, which the Traitors casting makes explicit rather than leaving implied.
Film releases compete for attention in a short window, and the page shows work spread from live production to premiere night, which reads as an attempt to hold presence across months rather than release week alone.
Based on the available evidence, the film was positioned as a show people could be part of, with creators appearing as extras and Traitors alumni playing at taking part, rather than as a title to be watched.
The out-of-home work appears to assume that a poster becomes shareable when something is done to it, because the protest treatment and the hyperlapse capture give social audiences an event rather than an advertisement.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • digital
  • podcast
  • print
  • social
  • social media
  • Stories
  • custom trainers
  • hyperlapses
  • interviews
  • live Stories
  • out of home posters
  • out-of-home posters
  • pre-release social post
  • red carpet vox pops
  • sizzle reels
  • social post
  • stringouts
  • vox pops

Partners

  • Substance (lead_agency)

Creator role

  • Linda Rands — creator
  • Theo Mayne — creator
  • Traitors alumni
  • Traitors' alumni
  • film and comedy creators
  • two separate international cohorts
  • two separate international cohorts of creators
  • two separate international cohorts of creators on set visits

Results & Evidence

MetricValueResult type
UUMsOur online PR campaign generated 465 pieces of coverage with over 2.9 billion UUMs.performance
pieces of coverageOur online PR campaign generated 465 pieces of coverage with over 2.9 billion UUMs.performance

Why Substance's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Casting reality television alumni against a film about a televised contest gives creators a first person angle, because they can talk about their own participation in the show rather than reviewing the film.

  2. 2

    Filming a set visit for the cohort as well as with it turns hospitality into a supply of assets, because creators leave with edited sizzle reels and stringouts rather than raw footage they have to cut alone.

  3. 3

    Out-of-home read as an act of protest becomes a social film rather than a media buy, because the poster carries the story while hyperlapse and moving camera capture supplies the format that travels.

  4. 4

    Building junket concepts around each performer's existing appeal, action credentials, humour or film knowledge, gives social content a reason to be watched, because it extends a known persona rather than restating release information.

Related Case studies