Dexter Morgan is resurrected from the lifeless… actually.
Showtime’s sequel collection Dexter: Resurrection takes place just a few weeks after the occasions of Dexter: New Blood, which aired from 2021 to 2022. This time, Dexter runs off to New York Metropolis after surviving a near-fatal gunshot wound, chasing down his son.
The sequel collection premieres with two episodes on July 11 on streaming and on-demand for the Paramount+ Premium plan and airs on broadcast on July 13, with the remainder of the season premiering weekly.
Whereas the forged options Michael C. Corridor reprising his position because the titular character, it additionally stars returning actors like Jack Alcott, David Zayas, and James Remar. However there’s additionally new expertise being added to the primary lineup, together with Uma Thurman and Peter Dinklage.
To get followers excited concerning the new collection, the Showtime and MTV Leisure Studios advertising, social, and communications crew launched an intensive 360 advertising marketing campaign throughout totally different cities like London, Mexico Metropolis, and New York Metropolis with numerous inventive components.
“The marketing campaign feels multidimensional, so you may expertise the Dexter universe in so many alternative methods,” Amy Campbell, chief advertising officer, Showtime/MTV Leisure Studios & Paramount Media Networks, instructed ADWEEK. “I’m lucky to work with some crew members who’ve been engaged on Dexter for a lot of seasons, and it’s so thrilling as a result of we’re additionally followers. It’s thrilling to have the ability to put a lot vitality into it.”
An immersive multi-room activation debuted in London from July 8 to July 13, the place followers had the chance to stroll into numerous rooms impressed by the present. In Mexico Metropolis, a Dexter: Resurrection takeover befell at Comedian Con, the place the trailer was proven to followers throughout a panel that includes Michael C. Corridor and different forged members. A separate immersive expertise will launch at San Diego Comedian-Con later this month.
In New York Metropolis, sports activities followers and theatergoers alike have been met with customized sponsorships of the Mets-Yankees Subway Collection and Shakespeare within the Park.
On the day of the world premiere on July 11, the Empire State Constructing was lit up in crimson in honor of the present’s bloody theme. The premiere itself was additionally sprinkled with numerous interactive components, together with a choir, which was introduced onto the crimson carpet earlier than and after the screening of the primary episode.
In the meantime, Showtime debuted customized audio spots in numerous cities, together with Chicago and Los Angeles, which have been narrated by Corridor in Dexter’s first-person monologue model, dynamically focused with customized messaging that modifications based mostly on a person’s location, time of day, and present climate.
Showtime additionally partnered with Amazon throughout Prime Week for customized, restricted version packing containers that characteristic the present’s branding.
Although the marketing campaign formally kicked off in April, Campbell mentioned the seeds for the marketing campaign have been planted almost two years in the past, when the Dexter social media crew reactivated the franchise’s social channels, whereas additionally debuting new TikTok and YouTube accounts and gaining 2.2 million new followers. Cumulatively, the franchise’s social footprint has surpassed 14 million followers throughout platforms, which, in response to Showtime, is the most important amongst any of the community’s mental properties.
Showtime beforehand reported that the final season of Dexter: Unique Sin drove 343 million social views and 16 million engagements, whereas the collection finale delivered a 27% improve in viewers over its premiere episode. In the meantime, the latest trailer for Dexter: Resurrection introduced in 52.7 million views in its first week and reached No. 4 on YouTube Trending inside 24 hours.
“We’ve been seeding their needs with content material, compilations, and fan edits, and that’s been our technique alongside the way in which,” Campbell mentioned. “We have now these fandoms we create across the franchises, whether or not it’s Dexter, the Yellowstone universe, or Yellowjackets, the place we actually tremendous serve them with content material in every single place that they’re, and social is a crucial a part of that.”
Campbell additionally mentioned that Corridor himself and government producer Clyde Phillips partnered intently along with her groups by means of loads of technique, planning, and inventive classes to make sure the marketing campaign was reflective and celebratory of the present.
“They’re so engaged, grateful, and fantastic to work with, and it simply makes it a pleasure,” Campbell mentioned. “It’s such a gem of a present as a result of it’s so well-loved. The forged is unimaginable. The chief producers are superb, and my groups are actually in lockstep round each single factor that we’re doing.”
Going ahead, the marketing campaign for Dexter: Resurrection will probably be prolonged on social with platform-intentional movies, episodic publishing, compilations, and user-submitted fan edits. Moreover, each episode will probably be supplemented with an official YouTube after-show, Dexter: Remaining Lower.
Campbell mentioned that, on the finish of the day, it actually ties again to the Dexter fandom and the way loyal they’re to the present in spite of everything these years. She added that they even labored intently with Paramount’s analysis crew on the marketing campaign to grasp what’s driving followers.
“Individuals love Dexter,” Campbell mentioned. “Dexter has followers of various generations, and I feel the one factor all of them love is Michael C. Corridor. He’s simply so iconic to these followers, and holding them on the coronary heart of what we’ve been doing has been thrilling.”
