Doctor Who marketer sold ‘the sizzle and not the sausage’ to reposition new series
Now in its 11th season, British sci-fi television program Doctor Who has unveiled Jodie Whittaker as its first ever female doctor. For the launch, the BBC took a marketing strategy which saw it “sell the sizzle and not the sausage” for the series to stand out in a crowded entertainment marketplace.
Speaking at Mumbrella’s Entertainment Marketing Summit, Sally de st Croix, the global franchise director of Doctor Who at BBC Studios, said the franchise “took the perhaps radical move of going completely quiet after our last episode which was a regeneration episode, and didn’t communicate at all with the audience or respond to any press speculation”.
The Doctor’s regeneration takes place every few years with the introduction of a new actor in the starring role. The show sees the Doctor and his band of (usually) human companions travelling through time and space, saving the universe.
De st Croix said establishing Whittaker as the new doctor was just one of four major goals for Doctor Who’s rebrand and campaign.
“We also needed to introduce our new ensemble and cast of friends… and build connections to the audience so they felt like they knew them.
“But nobody knew who these people were, they also needed to generate mass awareness, buzz and noise and ultimately viewing figures for the series.
“In fact the series viewing numbers had been dropping series on series.”
De st Croix said the franchise also needed to reposition itself and launch in emerging markets.
“We wanted to build a creative campaign and think boldly and differently, and we wanted to embrace change and we also wanted our audiences to do that too,” the global franchise director told the room of marketers.
To tackle the multiple challenges it faced, the Doctor Who franchise used a “phased approach” to its marketing because in the “fast paced and ever changing media landscape” you can’t be “complacent”, de st Croix said.
“Doctor Who is competing in a crowded entertainment franchise world filled with other make-believe characters.
“That is before we consider the SVOD platforms pumping out over 400 original scripted pieces of content every single year.”
For the launch of the Doctor Who season 11 campaign, the franchise “wanted to cast the net out to the audiences”, introduce the characters and “connect authentically”, the global franchise director continued.
This was identified the first stage of the campaign.
“As part of this phase the reveal journey of the doctor presented us with the campaign’s biggest moment.”
After receiving 30 million views across Facebook alone and obtaining data which found 86% of reactions to the reveal were “overwhelmingly positive”, Doctor Who went quiet again.
For the second phase of the marketing campaign, the franchise had a launch at the global comics convention, Comic-Con.
“Then having teased the world, we went quite again.”
The final phase of the campaign conducted by the Doctor Who franchise, was to release the campaign across owned, earned and paid media and deepen the audiences engagement.
As de st Croix explained the marketing process the franchise undertook, she acknowledged the competitiveness of the entertainment marketing sector.
“The competition, as we all know, amongst these entertainment franchises is extremely intense and it is a fierce as any FMCG brand vying for space at a local supermarket.”
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Re Dr Who…
I’m in my mid 60s. So have been watching Dr Who for a very long time…
Got nothing against the new Dr and like all Drs she will grow on us, but in my honest opinion. Your new stories lines and content are in one word… CRAP…as well as, tame, boring, and quite possibly a Dr Who Series Killer.
maybe your new writers need to take a trip down memory lane and get some storyline ideas from some of the great writers of the past.
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A new gender for the Doctor is a bold move and one to be applauded – if the stories in each episode fit the general expectation of the viewer – a Science Fiction series. The episodes we have been shown so far tend to be morality lessons on shameful episodes of Earth history. If they were going to move away from Science Fiction then they should have indicated this to some degree. Having a female Doctor does not necessarily mean that you have to take away the core of the show – the Doctor is an alien time-traveller, moving in time and space. This series has taken place mostly on Earth and any time-shifting has been minor in either direction. There are lots of shows available that are not about the adventures of a time-travelling being and his/her crew – please do not turn Doctor Who into one of those shows. Embrace the unique story arc that has been established – don’t throw it all away.
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Hear hear my opinion also. Boring and crappy, and what’s with all the unitellagable over excited Northern accents!
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As everyone is saying, the story lines are total crap. You can’t blame the cast for the failure of the latest series. They only do what they’re told. There’s no cliffhangers, genuine excitement and too much reliance on that stupid sonic screwdriver.
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The new doctor who is political social engineering crap. Lifetime Dr Who fan mortified at the social just propaganda. Good by my old friend. Not even a new tardis can save this one
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What gets me is the exposition dumping in characters lines. With adventures that are mentioned off screen the new TARDIS crew should be used to time travel. So why do they risk exposure in stupid ways in lieu of giving us half assed backstory. The Rosa Parks episode made the Doctor highlight the importance of blending in so that time didn’t freak out, so why do our companions do so at every opportunity. The Kablam episode again goes this, the cover that they try to create is nearly ruined from the get go by Ryan. The Punjab Demons episode was another nearly attempt at minimising effect through character lines. It everywhere and it needs to get better or stop.
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