Young Sherlock
Submitted by Substance

Young Sherlock

Substance Global ran a four-day immersive creator experience for Prime Video around Young Sherlock, reporting 54M+ video views across content made by over 35 international creators.

$3.5M+earned media value
1.5M+engagements
43M+followers reached
726pieces of content created

Case in 60 seconds

Prime Video needed to launch Young Sherlock into global awareness and convert that awareness into viewing, which meant reaching audiences matched to the show's demographic rather than broadcasting the title at scale.

The campaign appears to turn on the reading that a detective series sells through the experience of investigating rather than through description, so creators given puzzles, workshops and staged scenes produce discovery content their audiences read as curiosity instead of promotion.

Substance Global curated a four-day mystery-driven experience that immersed over 35 creators in the world of the series so each could tell the story in their own voice across their own platforms.

Creators were met at the airport by ambassadors and in-character actors with a themed letter, hosted at Estelle Manor, taken through Oxford University and Bodleian Library locations for lock-picking and pickpocketing workshops and editorial shoots, then to a Lore of the Land pub takeover with cast behind the bar and the London premiere.

Substance Global reports 726 pieces of content created, 54M+ video views, 43M+ followers reached, 1.5M+ engagements and $3.5M+ earned media value from the four-day programme.

Strategy Breakdown

Audiences whose profile aligns with the target demographic for Young Sherlock, reached globally through creators selected for that alignment.
A streaming launch competes for attention against every other title released the same week, so Prime Video needed conversation and discovery around Young Sherlock rather than another announcement, which is what the creator programme was built to generate.
Prime Video supplied the world, the cast and the premiere moment, while the campaign put creators inside that world so the series was experienced and relayed rather than advertised.
Based on the available evidence, the programme assumes creators post most readily when given something to do rather than something to say, which is why every location carried a challenge, a workshop or a staged scene.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • behind-the-scenes content
  • content
  • editorial photoshoots
  • red carpet content
  • red carpet moments
  • video

Partners

  • Substance Global

Participation mechanic

  • Creators took part in themed challenges at each location, including a lock-picking masterclass, pickpocketing workshops, Sherlock-inspired pub games and staged in-character scenes, and produced content from each.

Creator role

  • 36 creators
  • brand ambassadors
  • in-character actors
  • over 35 carefully selected creators
  • over 35 international creators

Results & Evidence

MetricValue
Earned Media Value$3.5M+ earned media value
Engagements1.5M+ engagements
Followers Reached43M+ followers reached
Pieces of Content Created726 pieces of content created
Video Views54M+ video views

Why Substance's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Casting for audience alignment with a show's demographic, as the brief here specified, puts the burden on selection rather than on volume, because a matched creator carries the title into a conversation that is already receptive to it.

  2. 2

    Locations that genuinely inspired a production, such as the Oxford spaces and the director's own pub, give creators a reason to post that reads as access rather than as placement, which is why the cast bar shift produced the best performing content.

  3. 3

    Sequencing an experience across four days and several locations means each creator returns with a series rather than a single post, so the 726 pieces of content reported reflect the structure of the trip as much as the size of the cohort.

  4. 4

    Placing talent in an informal setting, pouring pints rather than posing on a step and repeat, appears to lower the register of the interaction and produce content that is harder for audiences to read as a publicity obligation.

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