Fox wasn’t about to drop Marvel money on a big game trailer for Deadpool 2, but they still wanted to get fans foaming at the mouth in anticipation of the wise guy’s return.
You don’t need a $5M ad slot to own the conversation—you need a voice people connect with. Deadpool already had it, twice over: in the Merc with the Mouth and in the surprise charm of Peter, the newest X-Force recruit and the most aggressively average superhero to ever exist.
We went full Deadpool—irreverent, scrappy, and allergic to playing nice. Instead of coughing up millions for a 30-second spot, we had the titular character live-tweet the Big Game with football burns sharper than those Katanas. Then we unleashed Peter on Twitter and LinkedIn, complete with a totally unnecessary (and totally perfect) backstory. His everyman appeal snowballed into full-blown fandom, and just like that, the most ordinary guy in the room stole the show.
With a bandolier packed tightly with hard-hitting ammunition (in the form of hilarious football-themed jokes) we made sure the Merc with a Mouth was heard—no ad spot necessary.
Deadpool 1 was all about Deadpool. It was his origin story. But Deadpool 2 brought a cast of amazing characters to the big screen for the first time and we wanted to focus on them. Well, one of them. Namely, Peter.
