Gotti - Theatrical Release Campaign

Gotti, starring John Travolta, is a film that follows the infamous crime boss John Gotti as he rises to become the head of the Gambino Crime Family in New York City. While working at Rogers & Cowan, my team and I were tasked to conduct the film’s integrated marketing campaign for its theatrical release.

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Some issues we came across:

• Subject matter that was popular with and known to an audience over 50 but a movie and materials that would appeal to men under 40
• A star people loved, Travolta, but who hadn’t had a box office success in a while
• Limited budget to work with
• Crowded marketplace
• Short lead time
• Low-quality underlying film

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Our goal was to creatively work through these obstacles to make the theatrical opening of Gotti as successful as possible.

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Strategy

With Gotti, we had a movie we knew audiences would love, but critics would hate, so we had to find a way to protect our film’s reputation while also engaging audiences and promoting the film. Our campaign required a calculated strategy to overcome the obstacles at hand, so we decided to use bold materials that connected generations and focused on a play on the word “family.” We also capitalized on audience reactions to create a “new American folk hero” in film - a brand for a film that resonated with audiences. These themes would be at the core of our comprehensive, large-scale integrated marketing campaign.

Execution

Our tactics included:

• A launch at The Cannes Film Festival.
• 5 city PA Tour with Travolta, Preston, and John Gotti Jr.
• Launching Travolta’s social media accounts by creating a viral moment for Gotti with a personalized meme created in-house.
• Orchestrated “John Travolta Day” outside of Lenny’s Pizza in Brooklyn, NY.
• Activated the #LongLiveGotti campaign through influencer parties,, wild postings in 11 cities, and a Gotti themed Venmo activation.
• Facilitated a partnership with Spotify, where Gotti took over the Film & Television Favorites playlist (830,000 followers) for 2 weeks.
• Designed owned giveaways to help drive the “Robin Hood” messaging for the film and create organic traction on owned social channels.
• Worked with regional cinemas on contests where people could win prize packs of Gotti merchandise.
• Our Adtech of the year was used to target those most interested with our messaging to control the narrative.

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• Responded to a 0% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating with a counter messaging video that went viral.

Outcome

Our campaign paid off. As a result:

• Media interviews throughout the week leading up to the June 15 release date led to 2,684,500+ online video views. These video views led to a drastic increase in user engagement.
• Travolta’s social media launch included a viral meme that generated 400,000+ views, 435,000 Instagram followers, and 500,000 Facebook followers, all in 24 hours.
• Counter messaging video generated 987 social posts, 66,271,708 potential impressions, and 45 News Domains Postings.
• Media buy generated 3,914,094 total video views, a .47% click through rate, as well as 228.42MM impressions.
• #LongLiveGotti campaign reached over 11,094,560 accounts on Instagram, 52,202 engagements, and 2,237 link clicks.
• The venmo activation generated 219,142 impressions, 1,733 engagements, and 179 link clicks.
• Gotti held 92% of screens for a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score
• Earned #1 On Demand.
• Generated $4.9M in box office and $11M in lifetime revenue on just a $2.5M P&A spend.