Table of Contents

I. Current Situation

20th Century Fox will release the new movie X-Men Apocalypse on May 27, 2016. The movie is the ninth in the X-Men series; the first, X-Men, grossed $54.5 million on opening weekend and $157 million over its US theater run, but the latest—and most profitable—in the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past, grossed nearly $263 million over its opening weekend and $747 million over its theater run.

While the returns have undoubtedly been very strong, the recent success of 20th Century Fox’s record-shattering Deadpool indicates that “superhero fatigue” is not yet a reality, in spite of the flood of superhero movies that have been produced over the last decade. Moviegoers continue to be enthralled by the cinematic adventures of fictional superhumans who live among us.

II. Challenge

To capitalize upon our continued fascination with superheroes and grab a larger market share, 20th Century Fox is challenged to further differentiate its X-Men series from its rival franchises—Avengers (owned by Marvel), and DC comics, in order to refresh fan interest and drive ticket sales.

III. Proposal

The X-Men are different from other superheroes. Most of their powers are attributable to genetic mutation, rather than alien origins, scientific experimentation, or radiological disasters.

Their mutations make them outcasts from society, driving both internal and external conflicts onscreen. At the heart of our fascination with the X-Men is their skewed humanity. After all, isn’t a superhero just a regular person with a blip in his genetic code?

Fabl proposes to develop the idea of real life superheroes by leveraging recent scientific research on genetic mutation within the human species. Fabl will develop an interactive story about the possible future existence of real superheroes, following from the scientific facts of genetic mutation. The story will be promoted through partnership with 20th Century Fox’s media partner, National Geographic.


Though the story will be strongly rooted in science and data, the thought leadership and solid reputation of National Geographic will bring additional perceived credibility to the piece, while simultaneously driving inbound traffic to the National Geographic site.

IV. Impact

The proposed native content campaign will be distributed and promoted on cross-channel native content solutions including Outbrain, Quartz, Sharethrough, Taboola, Facebook, and Instagram. These activities will target professed fans as well as potential customers, according to the demographics established by 20th Century Fox. Across its 21-day campaign, the published native story will drive a projected 20M impressions; the conversion target of 2M measurable engagements will include story reads and social shares in addition to ticket purchases via Fandango.

The Fabl platform uses immersive content that is proven to increase reading time and decrease bounce rates. The average reading time is 1:30; an opportunity to view the official trailer and reserve tickets will be embedded before the 1:15 mark, with another at the conclusion of the story.

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Social share buttons will be embedded at notable quotes and infographic, and will give readers the option to share news of ticket purchase on Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, and encourage group viewings of the movie; the enhanced shareability has the added benefit of boosting SEO rankings in popular searches.

V. Scope

The proposed story will be built on the Fabl platform, and will be created with journalistic text, infographics, images, and photographs that support the thesis of the story. Project scope extends only to creative concept and development; client retains ownership of implementation, cross-promotion, media buying, and all other related marketing efforts and associated costs.

A. EDITORIAL

Fabl’s brand journalist will use the data gathered in interviews with principal investigators and compiled from secondary research to develop a 5,000-word article with the working title, “Superhumans—Only a Matter of Time?”
B. MULTIMEDIA DESIGN

Fabl’s design team will graphically represent the evolution of human beings to date, with projections for future evolution/mutation, as suggested by the scientific data gathered.

C. STORY BUILD

The story will be created on the Fabl platform, which will accommodate the short timeline leading up to the film’s release. (Content may be published instantaneously to media partner sites.)

D. NATIVE CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

Fabl will manage Quartz, Outbrain, and Taboola campaigns for native news discovery. Client will retain responsibility for fees generated by these outlets.

VI. Investment

Solution Proposed Investment
Content Creation and Publication $ 22,000
Native Content Distribution $ 32,000
Subscription to Fabl Platform $ 48,000/12 months
CONTENT CREATION AND PUBLICATION

Includes identifying and vetting academic and private sector researchers and scientists for inclusion; interviewing and fact checking; professional photography; two rounds of client review and approval. Travel expenses, if incurred by agency staff while fulfilling tasks within the project scope, are handled by the agency. Any other travel will be the responsibility of the client.

NATIVE CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

Agency will develop and manage campaigns for native content distribution, and will deliver reports at milestones denoted below (Section VII).

Price of paid promotions are invoiced separately, from individual providers; agency receives 10% commission from any media buys that it transacts on behalf of client.

SUBSCRIPTION TO FABL PLATFORM

We recommend that the story be kept live on the Fabl platform for at least one year, to fully support the digital and DVD releases as well as the theatrical release, and to establish and reinforce creativity and prestige during the 2017 awards cycle. The client has the additional option of maintaining the story for perpetuity; left in place, evergreen content such as the proposed story offers increased traction for related products (games, merchandise) in the whole franchise, including possible sequels, for many years to come.

VII. Timeline