With an entirely new social landscape and an eight-year gap since the last film, it was our job to spark nostalgia amongst prevailing and dormant fans, while attracting a new generation of fans to fully reignite The Hunger Games fandom for the theatrical release of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. To do this, we were tasked with building a fan ambassador program that would:

- Streamline, formalize, and centralize communication & asset distribution between Lionsgate and superfan accounts

- Activate these fans in advance of key campaign beats, to ensure widespread social amplification & maximum conversation volume

- Super-serve & celebrate the highly dedicated, long-term fans of a franchise

- Provide superfans with the tools/assets and encouragement to create their own content which can infiltrate popular culture, providing relevance to the brand and bringing casual and dormant fans along with it

- Contribute to group diversity & global reach

At its zenith, the fan community around the Hunger Games was one of the most active groups in history, however 10 years later, and with many of the original leaders becoming dormant, we birthed a special program to reignite this group, targeting original leaders and new alike. The group would become the pinnacle of community conduits between brand and fan - gaining advance access to materials, consulting on elements of the campaign, and in return galvanizing a fandom that was ready to reignite.

The strategy with The Gems of Panem was to target not the largest but the most active members of the community with the most engaged audiences. We also prioritized those who had already participated in building true community, creating connections, friendships, and collaborations with other Hunger Games fan creators.

The Hunger Games fandom is a positive, inclusive, and diverse group, and the makeup of our ambassador program needed to reflect that, not just in terms of gender, age, and race but also new and old fans.

A major goal for us was to fan the flames of The Hunger Games renaissance we were beginning to see on TikTok, so it was important that the mix of our group allowed us to reach audiences on all platforms, and that we had authentic voices to connect with Gen Z on TikTok, particularly where the SAG-AFTRA strikes limited traditional opportunities on the platform.

Securing the Gems:

Potential ‘Gems’ were extensively vetted for brand safety and each member had to be a genuine, connected member of the fan community that had an engaged active audience on at least one priority platform (IG / TT). We also ensured that they displayed positivity, passion and knowledge for the franchise and looked for those who had a recent, regular posting on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Setting the Channels of Communication:

Both communication channels with Lionsgate and output channels for the Gems were established to ensure timely, efficient communication and sharing of assets.

A private WhatsApp and email address were set up to share exclusive assets, and monitor and support this affiliate community.

The Key Marketing Beats:

- TRAILER LAUNCH - FIRST LOOK EXPERIENCE IN VEGAS

- NY COMIC COM

- NYC LIVESTREAM

- COUNTDOWN GRAPHIC SERIES

- LA PREMIERE

- PRESS & PRODUCT SUPPORT

The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes debuted at number one at the U.S. box office and was one of just 15 movies from 2023 to surpass $300MM at the worldwide box office.

The fan ambassador campaign boasted:

- 15.4% engagement rate on campaign posts from the ‘Gems’

- 1.96M followers reached across 22 fan accounts

- 15.57% follower increase for the ambassadors from April-November 2023

- 37.6M+ estimated total reach

- 40.1M+ estimated impression

- 1,623+ total in-feed posts

- 5.81M+ estimated engagements

The Gems of Panem program invited a fandom to truly drive a blockbuster film campaign in a first-of-its-kind, all-encompassing experience. What started as a strategy to engage the fandom’s community leaders evolved into an increasingly vital element of The Ballad Of Songbirds & Snakes campaign - as the SAG-AFTRA strike limited traditional marketing tactics, the Gems were able to keep the flame alive.