Paramount used an authenticity-promoting platform to market its upcoming “Scream 6″—the first studio to officially do so.
According to the Financial Times, BeReal has grown 10,000 daily active users exceeded 15 million last year, and is valued at $600 million. That growth has propelled TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat to start copying BeReal Features. Yet even with all this adoption, Hollywood is wary of jumping in.
“Especially with productions, where there’s a lot going on, you have to make sure there’s nothing on the wall behind someone, or that there’s a costume reveal or a character or talent reveal that needs to be hidden. It happens,” said a digital marketing executive from a rival major studio, who spoke on condition of anonymity to assess Beryl openly.
TheWrap reached out to a wide range of major Hollywood content studios, including all five major movie distributors and large streamers, to determine whether anyone has used BeReal for marketing, as many have seen in emerging markets such as TikTok and Snapchat. did in the early days of platforms. Apparently, only Paramount reported trying the app; Almost everyone else either declined to comment or told TheWrap that they had barely given any thought to it.
The exec who spoke on the background said his team isn’t quite sure yet how to use BeReal as a marketing tool — and that’s exactly what the French app wants. According to the Financial Times, the platform is also considering paid features to block advertising.
The photo-sharing app alerts users once a day, at an undisclosed time, to “get real” and post a photo within two minutes. When users take their BeReal, it captures an image from both the front-facing selfie camera and the back-facing camera, and displays both. That kind of spontaneity — and the short two-minute turnaround time — is what makes it tough for Hollywood.
BeReal users can post outside the allotted two minutes, but the post will be considered “late” and will display how long it took. Another catch is that users can’t see their friends’ posts unless they post themselves. There are two tabs on the app: “My Friends,” a feed of only friends’ posts, and “Discovery,” which displays posts from users around the world.
There is no way to “push” content to more users, or to improve rankings – yet; Every eye on BeReal must be earned. But that didn’t stop Paramount, a pioneer in innovative digital marketing in the mid-2000s.
Danielle De Palma, EVP of Global Marketing at Paramount Pictures, told TheWrap, “We always strive to use new platforms and new technology in our marketing and have executed a series of first from the market initiatives on the previous ‘Scream’ campaign. give.” “With BeReal being one of the fastest growing apps, we thought it would be a great way for the franchise to tap into new fans and share authentic, unfiltered behind-the-scenes moments from the cast during production “
So how did Paramount do it?
Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Media Group are in the early days of marketing “Scream 6,” the latest sequel to the comedy-horror franchise, which hits theaters on March 31, 2023. Courteney Cox, Jasmine Savoy Brown and Hayden Panettiere all star in the new film, which wrapped production last week.
Since there is no official trailer or even a title yet, Paramount used fans’ interest in early details about the film as behind-the-scenes material shared via BeReal. – which was later expanded to other, more established social platforms.
In the first of three BeReal posts shared on August 6, Savoy Brown appeared in the selfie scene with the focus on Panettiere, the first of the 2011 “Scream 4.” Kirby returns as Reed. While it appears the pair are not on set during this post, “Scream” superfan @jakelubb on TikTok noted that Panettiere’s short haircut from “Scream 4” may be back.
From there, Lubb documented the franchise’s positions throughout production and kept track of any other easter eggs. And although BeReal posts disappear about 24 hours after posting – they found something.
The second known “Scream”-related BeReal post, taken on August 8, was a bit more revealing. Cast members Barrera, Ortega, Mason Gooding and Savoy Brown appear in a subway station looking at a map of New York City, leading Lubb to believe that the next installment of the horror franchise will follow in the Big Apple subway.
Following this, a BeReal post from August 15 gave a glimpse on the set with Samara Weaving, Tony Revolori and Savoy Brown and Gooding can be seen in the selfie scene.
The effort sparked speculation about the latest installment, particularly its location, which was lengthy. Rumor to be New York City and apparently Confirmed After August 8 BeReal.
However, this exclusive content is only available to BeReal users who are “friends” of the film’s account (@screammovies, in this case). Since there is no function to follow some accounts on BeReal, if a user wants to see posts, they must “friend” the account, allowing the studio to see their own posts as well.
To increase visibility, the studio also posted screenshots of its BeReal messages on the film’s Instagram and Twitter accounts.
But while the “Scream” experiment garnered fan interest, other studios seem reluctant due to the app’s unfiltered nature and untapped effectiveness. “You really need someone to work on set to pull it off,” the social executive said. “From a branding perspective it doesn’t make sense for us to spend advertising dollars just to be able to in the Discover settings of the app.”
Still, the growing popularity of BeReal has prompted execs at this studio to test it out in person and see how other brands are using it before considering making their play on the stage. The insider said, “We want to have a strategy behind it. “We don’t want to rush the stage. We want to make sure it’s an informed decision.”
While BeReal hasn’t announced any plans to expand its features, the exec expects the app to have video soon — given that vertical and short-form video are a staple on TikTok and Instagram Reels. went.
“There’s a lot of earned media potential right now, especially with the app being new,” she said. “I think it’s a really cool, unpolished way to look at things behind-the-scenes, if you can get that access and approval.”
