Looney Tunes Social Revival
Warner Bros. wanted to make Looney Tunes a notable account worth following that’s just as hyper-relevant and clever as its cartoons.
But it needed to feel NEW.
They wanted to expand their reach, gain followers, increase fan engagement, and generate hype for their brand as part of the long run-up to the 2021 release of the new Space Jam film starring LeBron James and the new Looney Tunes cartoons on HBO Max.
Introducing
The ACME Intern
To fully integrate into today’s ever-changing social climate, where brands speak like people, and people want to be their own brand, we knew we had to do something that has never been done before.
We created a character for social media, specifically an intern, completely changing what the social handles of Looney Tunes were about, giving people a first person point of view into the legendary brand.
My Roles
Every month, I briefed the team with creative and strategic insights for the upcoming month’s content. From there, I’d lead two brainstorms and then conceptualize 20-30 social posts with the Sr. Art Director, all while keeping monthly and yearly KPIs in mind.
Content Strategist
Social & Community Manager
Once all was created and approved by our client, I was the publisher and community manager of the content. Creating witty remarks, timely captions, scheduling posts, being on call outside of normal work hours and more were all a part of the job while trying to make Looney Tunes break the internet.
Overall Big Thinker
While working on the social revival of Looney Tunes, we were able to not only create monthly content but work on decks and projects for other initiatives. This included the release of the Space Jame 2 logo by LeBron James, HBO Max Looney Tunes debut, 2022 planning for WB, and more.
With ZERO paid media budget, we reached the following accomplishments in only 6 months.
SEE HOW WE DID IT.
To fully build out our intern we had to figure out who he really was.
22-Year-Old Male
Because the demographic breakdown of Looney Tunes followers was majority male, we decided that our intern would be more relatable to our followers if he was a 22-year-old college graduate.
Evolved.
He’s evolved and progressive, a champion for people of all walks of life. Curious and always learning.
Clever
Whatever the post, he always finds an unexpected way in, adding flavor with the point of view. He just *gets it* when it comes to internet humor and social trends, which is why he got this job in the first place.
Uninhibited
He isn’t afraid to pontificate, share his honest feelings, or generally ruffle some feathers—all in good fun.
Off the Cuff
He’s not afraid to shoot from the hip or speak from the top of his mind. He’s discovering things in real-time just like the rest of us. He doesn’t have a master plan—he’s giving us a peek behind the curtain and sharing on the fly.
Wry
His humor is suggestive and understated, pointing in a comedic direction and respecting the intelligence of the audience to do the rest.
Planned Content Buckets
Intern Life
We drew inspiration from Space Jam when thinking about how to show the characters in our real world. By doing this, not only did we give fans fun images to view, but we were able to personify and building out the personality of the ACME Intern.
Looney Antics
We asked ourselves how would the Looney Tunes do things that we do on a regular basis? This spawned a whole content bucket of the characters participating in a variety of modern events, situations and tropes, with a looney twist of course.
Fandom
People follow our pages to see the Tunes, and we didn’t want to deprive them. But to make it less elementary, we pushed boundaries (sometimes too far) and cranked up the edginess, internet-y references and all-around “wtf” inducing content.
The Intern Comes to Life
Getting a Little Looney
Fun for Fans
Community Management
For the brand to win on the internet, we had to be EVERYWHERE. Luckily for Looney Tunes, because of the classic film Space Jam, the characters had been integrated into an intersection of sports, hip-hop, art, entertainment, celebrities, pop culture, and more.
We used that to our advantage to pop-up in conversations and react to all over the internet.
Even where you’d never expect.
#CallHerGranny
When some drama went down online between the hosts of the Barstool Sports podcast Call Her Daddy that had the internet buzzing, and the future of the wildly successful podcast was up in the air. So naturally, Looney Tunes got involved with some unexpected commentary and an unconventional idea to fill the void.
By doing this, I was able to flex how “ear-to-the-ground” I am across social communities while connecting with just the right amount of edge.
This resulted in our highest performing tweet at the time.
Shea Serrano Reaction
Looney Tunes is all about pushing boundaries and seeing what you can get away with—and it paid off. This quote tweet during the NBA Playoffs earned a huge reaction.
I was able to react to this tweet 20 minutes after it was posted because I was on my personal account while watching the NBA Playoffs, so I understood the context of the tweet.
By posting this, I knew there was a chance that Shea himself would retweet the tweet. Because his following is the perfect mix of sports fans and pop culture fans, it was easy to assume his following would love to follow Looney Tunes, because the original Space Jam was likely a big part of their childhood or young adulthood.
As the main social manager on the team, it was my goal to keep our pages fresh and undeniably must-follow, with planned content, reactive content, and community management.
Through hard work and a nose for the internet, I was able to put the ACME Intern in the right place at the right time, which ultimately grew his own fanbase. Clearly showing once and for all, that you can’t spell “internet” without “intern.”
