Despite its gripping performances and heavy themes, Nefarious entered the box office under the radar. With limited media support, tepid box office returns, and negative press labeling it as “propaganda,” the film’s reach was constrained from the start. It was released in fewer than 1,000 theaters, received dismissive mainstream coverage, and struggled to secure early online traction. Even on Rotten Tomatoes, the gap between critic and audience reception was one of the widest of the year. In short: the story had power, but it needed an entirely different kind of push.
We had just seven days to turn things around. Our campaign strategy focused on turning tension into traction—igniting curiosity, not controversy. The playbook included:
Mass distribution of content in short-form, high-engagement formats
Creation of new TikTok accounts to seed edits into the algorithm
Leveraging UGC, reviews, reactions, and eerie visual content
Crossposting top-performing content to larger pages
Tactical messaging that leaned into the film’s thriller edge while addressing Rotten Tomatoes’ bias
Themes focused on dark cultural forces, moral tension, and intellectual drama
We didn’t try to “sell” the film. We let the audience discover it—like a secret they weren’t supposed to find.
Our creators didn’t just share Nefarious—they inhabited it. They analyzed it like a true crime case. They stitched reactions, whispered commentary, and created unnerving edits. Faith pages. Horror pages. Philosophy circles. It spread across them all. For two weeks, the film lived simultaneously in two digital worlds: The believers. The skeptics. That tension became the campaign’s engine.This wasn’t just marketing. It was possession. And like any true possession, it didn’t knock on the door. It slipped in—quietly, relentlessly—until you couldn’t scroll past it. Nefarious proved you don’t need explosions to go viral.You just need a story with tension, conviction—and the right people to spread it.
Case Studies
