THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

ACME Fools

Finalist in Organic Promotion, Short Form Video

Entered in Single Post or Activation

Objective

THE YEAR WAS 1923 
From its enterprising roots in the once-new art of motion pictures, Warner Bros has become a global entertainment icon in its first 100 years. They needed an attention-grabbing celebration that felt like it was a century in the making—and they needed it for their centennial anniversary, which happened to fall just days after April 1st. This called for a celebration that could honor their monumental history and scale. Who could lead the charge in a delightful, new way?

 

IN 2023, IT WAS TIME TO GET LOONEY 
This campaign-able idea needed to amuse, excite, and engage social users of all stripes. It needed to be as big and iconic as WB itself, leverage the best of the WB catalog, spark brand engagement, and ideally, create a repeatable brand moment. Who better than the Looney Tunes to rally the troops? The perfect opportunity presented itself in ACME Fools, which paved the way for a content mashup that took over April Fools’ Day. 

Strategy

Every April Fools’ Day, consumers are inundated with faux products, partnerships, and more. We knew this oversaturation would be a big obstacle, so we decided that we didn’t want to create another cynical, to-be-expected, brand prank play. We wanted something that fans could genuinely appreciate, share, and see their favorite moments represented in.

We celebrated WB’s 100th anniversary alongside the studio’s most beloved films and TV for a takeover that celebrated our rich history—but with a Looney Tunes twist.

We linked arm-in-arm with the vast catalog of Warner Bros’ 100-year legacy to produce an explosive 12-hour content series on social, using clips from the most iconic titles. The voices of actors were replaced with the same script, but read verbatim by Looney Tunes characters thanks to Emmy-winning Voice Actor, Eric Bauza and Chandni Parekh, the voice behind Lola Bunny.

The end product was 23 clips, deployed every half-hour on April 1st, bringing unexpected mania to people’s timeline. We shared every video on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok and co-authored as many posts as possible with partner handles belonging to the IP we were parodying.

Results

The whopping success of our April 1st takeover extended to the rest of the month with reach and visibility that exceeded our expectations. Our community response was resoundingly positive, with countless memorable interactions taking place between the Looney Tunes, fans, and our partners. ACME Fools has already been green-lit to become an annual event and set the bar for how a legacy brand like WB can create new content and conversation on social.

50K New Followers

8M Total Video Views

500K Total Engagements 

See the full story here!

Media

Video for ACME Fools

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Movement Strategy, Looney Tunes

Link

Entry Credits