TheWrap.com showcases social media's role in fueling the success of God's Not Dead.
The indie that upended the Hollywood establishment to become last weekend's fourth highest grossing film on fewer than 800 theaters deployed one of the most sophisticated social media campaigns this year. It was a grassroots effort that helped the studio target and turn out sold-out crowds.
Credit for its success belongs to Ash Greyson, CEO of social media consultant Ribbow Media, which turned a similar trick with last year's conservative documentary “2016: Obama's America.”
“Social media was critical with this,” Russell Wolfe, CEO of Pure Flix Entertainment, the company behind the $5 million film. “Ash is creative, he's innovative, he came up with fantastic ideas and he was able to give a lot of value for the money.”
Greyson got results by drilling down into data, excavating not only Christians, but likely Christian moviegoers and then peppering them with promotional materials for the film. Greyson's team went deeper, teaming with companies such as Pandora to identify people who listened to Christian music and particularly to the Newsboys, a Christian pop group featured in the film.
“The problem historically has been that people think because someone is a Christian, they're more likely to go to a Christian movie,” Greyson said. “They may be more likely to go to a Christian movie than a horror movie, but they still may never go to the movies.”
When it came to choosing his online advertisements, Greyson told various platforms that he wanted their most disruptive products. Instead of banner ads, he asked for spots that started playing instantly or that stopped and restarted if a person took a break from using a service at mid-point.
It also meant shunning television nearly entirely save for a few spots on the popular Christian broadcast “The 700 Club” and on UP. Greyson believes that television spots are too broad, offering limited bang for the buck.
“We're not buying a demographic, we're buying a committed audience,” he said. “It's all about peeling the onion.”
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