STAR TREK: PICARD

SEASON 3 CAMPAIGN

The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard reunited the iconic cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for an epic sendoff. An event with sky-high fan expectations required a social media strategy to match. The goal from the beginning was clear: signal to all fans that this was a perfect place to join the adventure–even for those who hadn’t seen other seasons of Star Trek: Picard–and lead the charge in celebrating this moment by highlighting the biggest thrills and mysteries as they unfurled throughout the season.

Results:

  • Social conversation grew 98% vs. the previous season

  • Over 100M impressions and 7M engagements across the entire campaign

  • One of the most engaged posts ever on the @StarTrekonPPlus social accounts

Star Trek Logs

Leading up to the season premiere, we updated the ongoing Star Trek Logs Instagram, an account designed to give fans supplemental content from the Star Trek universe. After determining which characters and locations to highlight, I consulted on the scripts and directed actress Amy Earhart in person during the voiceover recording. Additionally, I was the central touchpoint between the Paramount+ internal design team who established the look, the creative agency who executed the creative, and stakeholders from across the company who reviewed each post.

Enterprise-D Roll Call

To celebrate the return of the Enterprise-D, the ship originally seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, we shot a custom video with actor Jonathan Frakes and invited fans to comment for a chance to get a reply with their own rank and assignment aboard the iconic vessel. This resulted in over 25,000 comments from fans across FB, IG, and X.

Buckle up, because this next part gets pretty nerdy.

Anticipating the sheer volume of comments, we enlisted colleagues throughout the Paramount+ social team to help reply to comments from our @StarTrekonPPlus social handles. Understandably, not everyone on the team was fluent in Trek jargon, so I created a reply generator to streamline the process.

First I drafted custom reply fragments using authentic Star Trek technobabble and references. For example, I made a list of locations on the ship, a list of actions a Starfleet officer might carry out, etc.

I then wrote a spreadsheet formula to automatically shuffle those fragments into a coherent sentence, spitting out unique replies that members of our team could simply copy/paste. This allowed us to engage with hundreds more fans than we would normally be able to, and the members of our team who weren’t Star Trek initiates didn’t even have to learn Klingon to participate.

Explore the Enterprise in 360

Using 360 photography captured on set, we created an immersive Google Maps Street View of the Enterprise-D bridge. Additionally, this was linked to the Google listing for Star Trek: Picard’s actual filming location at Santa Clarita Studios. The experience allowed audiences to explore one of their favorite Star Trek locations, providing a close look at the craftsmanship that went into faithfully recreating the set.

Fan-Forward Content

A major pillar during this season of Star Trek: Picard was to honor the legions of fans. Because Jean-Luc Picard’s original crew holds a special place in audiences’ hearts, we leveraged the distinguished cast who graciously participated in a series of premium social concepts.

Among these ideas, we recorded fans at New York Comic Con as they shared what Star Trek has meant to them. This footage was cut together with messages from the cast, thanking the fans for their support throughout the years.

In another concept, we worked with a Star Trek fan group to carefully identify select members and invite them to our studio. There, I interviewed them about how the returning characters of Star Trek: The Next Generation had positively impacted their lives. During the discussion, a Star Trek cast member would step out, surprising the fan in a heartfelt interaction. Watch the full video on YouTube.