Heading into its 10th season, RuPaul’s Drag Race faced a unique challenge: how do we celebrate a decade of drag for die-hard fans while still engaging newcomers? Simple. By creating the fiercest, 360-campaign in herstory with a message that encouraged America to be a perfect “ten.” In a world full of nines, every element needed to be elevated, turning Thursdays into a total drag. We set out to stay loyal to our fans while attracting new ones by dragging them into the phenomenon.

Our tagline, “In a world full of nines, be a ten” was the foundation of our campaign. By leaning into key themes - pride, confidence and eccentricity - we built a campaign that inspired America to embrace who they were at their core and show it off to the world. We saw our challenge as an opportunity to be more ambitious than ever, reignite the loyal Drag Race fan base, get in front of eyes that were new to the show and drag them into the phenomenon. We wanted to solidify Drag Race’s move to VH1 and its place in the limelight of pop-culture, where it rightfully belonged.

In order to rise above the noise of network television, each element of our campaign needed to be turned up to a ten. Our target audience was P18-49. To maximize our creative efforts, we segmented this demo into two groups: Devoted Loyalists who’ve been on this ride since the very first lip sync; and ‘Newcomers’ – those who were curious about the show but had never watched an episode. Our media approach was to build upon the legacy of RuPaul’s Drag Race to deliver an explosive campaign with unconventional thinking. We went big, loud and broad to raise awareness, push tune-in and amplify buzz. At its core, drag is a visual art form, one that requires seeing to believe the fantasy. As a result, we wanted this campaign to be bold, beautiful and in front of as many eyes as possible.

Beginning months before launch, we created over 180 unique content pieces. On-air we kicked things off with our larger than life neon-runway promos, directed by the legendary David LaChapelle. Socially, we doubled down on turning Thursdays into a total drag. From an Emmy-nominated “Queen Ruveal” on Facebook Live to infiltrating the dating app Grindr, no corner was left untouched. Digitally, we covered every outlet possible - original YouTube/Instagram series, Vulture takeovers, Pandora ad placements and iHeart Radio reads, just to name a few. Outdoors, we dominated gay meccas across the country: West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Times Square, taking over billboards, kiosks and subways. Fans and newcomers alike were dragged into the phenomenon all season long. From viewing parties across the nation to our float in the NYC Pride parade, we offered pieces of the fantasy to help celebrate the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent the show is known for.

+ The premiere was the #1 non-sports cable program in the time period with P18-49, W18-49, P18-34, and W18-34

+ The premiere was the most social show of the night

+ The campaign generated over 20.7M total views across digital, up +213% from season nine

+ The premiere launched to a 0.58 P18-49 LSD rating, up +20% from the P4W Thur 8P-9P time period

+ 28% of viewers were new to VH1 prime

+ This season was the highest rated and most watched of the series with P18-49 and P2+ for Live+7

+ The success of this season helped earned the show its first Emmy win for Outstanding Reality TV Program