In anticipation of The Many Saints of Newark, HBO and HBO Max launched a multi-platform social media campaign aimed at getting people excited for the Sopranos prequel film. We reignited the passions of longtime Sopranos fans through new and relatable content, including a roadmap for the ultimate rewatch. Meanwhile, we created an opportunity for new fans to finally discover and binge the whole series prior to the release of the film, lest they suffer from more FOMO than they already have.

THE LAUNCH

As the #BadaBinge commenced, we gave our fans a homework assignment: 6 weeks, 6 seasons – and we let everyone know across all of our social channels.

THE #BADABINGE BEGINS

It was a daunting task, but we took it one week at a time. We created weekly check-ins and exclusive content throughout the binge. Including IGS quizzes to test their knowledge.

Checklists on Twitter

Weekly Kick-Off Instagram Stories

Weekly Instagram Story Quizzes

Results

THE SOCIAL PUSH

It wasn’t enough just to get people watching though. We wanted people thinking about The Sopranos 24/7 – so we created a 360-degree social media campaign aimed at giving people as much Sopranos content as they could possibly handle. And it’s safe to say we delivered.

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Judging by our Jersey-centric, mobbed-up content across the big three platforms, you might’ve found yourself wondering if you’d been sent back to the early 2000s in the midst of The Sopranos’ reign. But more Sopranos is never a bad thing, so we didn’t hear any complaints.

TikTok

A younger audience meant countless new fans, so we made a strong push to craft/collaborate on engaging new Sopranos content specifically for TikTok – and our efforts paid off. In total, we garnered close to 4MM views and more than 290K engagements across all our TikToks.

Influencers joined the binge, creating a First-Time Watch Vlog and re-enacting their favorite moments.

YouTube

Everyone's favorite thing about The Sopranos is actually watching The Sopranos, so we made bite-sized clips for YouTube, as well as custom video pieces celebrating the historic series.

Throughout the campaign, we also posted fan-favorite clips and created compilation videos featuring some of the best moments from the series, totaling almost half a million views.

THE 6 DEGREES OF SOPRANOS C+R

It’s one thing to give people what they want, but it’s a whole other beast to get people talking! In the final week leading up to the premiere of The Many Saints of Newark, however, we decided to do just that. We put out a Call + Response prompt on Twitter, challenging fans to name an HBO actor – any actor! – that they didn’t think we’d be able to connect back to The Sopranos in six degrees of past roles or less. Needless to say, we simply couldn’t be stumped.

The Original Tweet

The Best Replies

The Talent Joins In

THE SATRIALE’S TWITTER TAKEOVER

And it gets better. On the eve of The Many Saints of Newark premiere, we transformed the @HBO Twitter handle into the “official” account of Satriale’s, the beloved pork store frequented by Tony and company in The Sopranos.

We crafted original content, engaged directly (and in character) with fans, and held a limited edition T-shirt giveaway that launched us to No. 3 on Twitter’s U.S. trending list. Over the course of the day,our tweets accumulated more than 2.2 million impressions and 12.1k engagements, as well as 1,500 entries in the #SatrialesGiveaway

The Kick-Off Tweet

Select Takeover Tweets

Satriale’s Takeover Results

CAMPAIGN RESULTS

In short, people #BadaBinged. Throughout the length of the campaign, HBO Max streams of The Sopranos increased by more than 200% when compared to the average monthly views of 2021 leading up to the film premiere.

And thanks to the #BadaBinge, viewers were primed and ready for The Many Saints of Newark to the staggering tune of 1MM streamers in the first weekend alone.

Hell, even Carmela was impressed – and Carmela is one tough customer.