Derry Girls is a sitcom set in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1990s about a group of school friends at a Catholic girls’ school. We needed to launch the third and final series, cut through and excite audiences about the show’s return. The series had a cult fan base from series 1+2, so the brief was to build on that and tap into the retro 90s nostalgia trend that was gaining ground in the UK amongst our target (youngs: 16–34), making the series unignorable and an unmissable hit.

We brought back Smash Hits! iconic magazine for 90s teens – for a one-off, bespoke special. 28 pages of specially shot and written and designed articles and pieces, from 90s fashion shoots starring the Derry Girls, to how-to dance moves, advice columns and record reviews, all featuring – or in the voice of – the characters from the show. Working with the 1990s editor of Smash Hits! we created an authentic version of the magazine – looking and feeling exactly like it did 25 years ago, just very,very Derry Girls.Copies were handed out across the UK and given away free with Heat magazine.We turned the cover into posters across the UK, and updated the classic mix-tape / magazine giveaway by partnering with Spotify to create a digital version you could create and share with your mates. All supported by a Tik-Tok hub where you could join the cover gang.

Derry Girls is a mainstream comedy series, so the audience was big and broad, but we knew we had a strong fan base from previous series who loved the main characters in particular. We needed to put them front and center in a warm, fun way that made it easy for people to reconnect with them after a three year break since the last series. Our key target was 16-34, female skewing, with the older segment of this audience loving the show for its opportunity to reminisce about their own childhoods. Married with a 90s trend in fashion and visuals happening across the demographic, it made strong strategic sense to leverage this era in the most engaging way possible.

OOH –

6 sheet roadside print posters & rail D6s - 28th March – 11th April

Roadside D48s - 23rd-27th March & 12th & 13th April

LFOOH Roadside London Sites - 23rd March – 13th April

Print - Smash Hits Magazine

100,000 magazines nationwide via brand ambassadors and released a further 40,000 bagged up with issues of Closer and Heat magazine - 5th March – 11th April

Social –

FB & Instagram & YT – 22nd March – 26th April

Tik Tok – 8th – 13th April

Spotify - 29th March – 23rd April

Stunt –

Mural change – Live from 13th April

Launch Clips –

21st March – 13th April

Our launch of the final season of Derry Girls achieved Channel 4’s biggest comedy overnight in over a decade, with 16-34 share being more than triple the slot average and Episode 1 became our second biggest comedy episode ever on All 4. Awareness of the show was also at 65% of all UK adults on the day of the first episode, way above the average for a returning series. Our two key objectives were channel attribution and sustaining our share amongst young viewers from the success of the previous season. In terms of channel attribution, we achieved an impressive 61% (vs. Netflix 2%), as well as a 16-34 share of 29.1%, the best of any series; up +39% on series 2 and +28% on series 1.