Jack Reacher

Reader data revealed that franchise love is driven by an active (borderline obsessive) fandom for Reacher’s heroism. They love his charisma, confidence, and stature.

Our mission became clear: we needed to hero our hero more than ever.

To refocus attention on what readers loved most, we built our campaign around the platform “No-one is bigger than Jack Reacher”.

And who better to square up to than James Bond?

With the releases due to coincide, we planned for Reacher to address Bond.  Through a partnership with Everyman cinemas and bespoke creative, Jack would speak directly to cinema audiences before Bond screenings and exclusive content would be distributed in cinemas to kick start excitement.

But all good thrillers have a twist. It’s the element of surprise that keeps a hero on their toes.

With cinemas suddenly shut at our launch, and Bond delayed to 2021, the heart of our plan was pulled from under us.

We channeled our inner Jack Reacher. Thinking on our feet, we flipped our campaign and embraced the thrill of the unexpected.

Pivoting our partnership with Everyman, we instead stole the platform Bond had planned to dominate: we put Reacher’s name in lights.

Starting with the silver screen, we took over the readograph on Screen on the Green for 3 weeks, announcing The Sentinel and encouraging people to ‘Stay home, Read a Book’. Online, a competition via CRM and socials gave Everyman’s audience the chance to win the book.

Next, we hijacked the other places Bond had left vacant. Intel surfaced an opportunity to jump on availability with Bus Supersides and a YouTube video masthead takeover elevating Reacher to cinematic heights, and positioning him as Q4s most daring hero.