Roku and T-Mobile Get Weird Ahead of Biopic Premiere

Things are getting Weird at Roku—and T-Mobile is on board. Roku’s biggest original is just a few days away from premiering. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe, debuts on The Roku Channel on Nov. 4, and Roku and T-Mobile partnered in the connected TV company’s first 360 activation. The activation is both on- and off-platform, including elements such as a fan experience on the service, tagged vignettes with Al Yankovic and sponsorship of Tuesday’s live premiere in New York. Roku and T-Mobile first began conversations prior to the company’s NewFronts negotiations. Roku walked T-Mobile through its entire slate of originals and its capabilities, and T-Mobile was drawn to Weird, which Katina Papas Wachter, Roku's head of ad revenue strategy at The Roku Channel, attributed to its fourth-quarter release, Roku’s investment in marketing the biopic and the company's desire to elevate the Roku Originals brand. “It’s truly a 360 activation. Having this IP and having the Roku Original brand opened us up to a lot of new opportunities, and we’ve never really done a 360 campaign before where we had the brand supporting on-platform, the key art, the pause ad. T-Mobile is also doing a tagged vignette with Al himself, and that was all new to us,” Wachter told Adweek. “Not only is T-Mobile owning all of the assets, which is very closely tied to the actual Weird movie itself, but they wanted to broaden it and have always-on messaging throughout the music experience as well,” Wachter added. “It's extending the lifetime value that T-Mobile is bringing as part of the sponsorship in a very cool way.” Roku Wraps Largest Upfront Ever, Surpassing $1 Billion in Ad Commitments A big part of the sponsorship is The Roku Channel Music Hub, a destination that includes premium content, curated playlists, experiences and additional live linear music channels. T-Mobile is sponsoring the hub and is curating playlists for different genres and different audiences, and Wachter said Roku would be able to measure brand awareness and other KPIs that T-Mobile could be interested in. “One of the things I'm excited about this campaign is how our strategy is going beyond the promotional element and going into what I like to call marketing utility,” Sweta Patel, vp of growth marketing at Roku, told Adweek. Patel is thinking about that in a couple of ways: how Roku is using its promotions and marketing to integrate the product to make the fan experience accessible and then partnerships and shopability. “It's bringing it all together and going beyond just promotions, but integrating it into our product. That's the biggest thing that makes this so much more exciting than an off-platform campaign or an on-platform campaign,” Patel said. There will also be T-Mobile branding on The Roku Channel's marketing assets running across social, connected TV and online video. In addition, T-Mobile is sponsoring the native ad that viewers will see on their Roku home screen. “We’re constantly looking for culturally relevant ways to connect with new audiences. And Weird Al and Daniel Radcliffe both have these massive, passionate fanbases, so this was a great opportunity for us to show up big as a brand and get visibility at this scale," said Kari Marshall, vp of media at T-Mobile. “Collaborating at this level with Roku was a first for us and a natural extension of where we see value.” A new fan experience Roku is also bringing back its fan experience for the second time, first used alongside the House of the Dragon premiere. From Oct. 31 to Nov. 6, customers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Mexico can access a plethora of Weird content from the home screen. That includes the Weird trailer, backstage content, free music videos and more. In the U.S., there’s going to be the chance to win an accordion from the official production of Weird, as well as a 6-series TCL Roku TV. Also, in the U.S., fans can check official movie shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies available through a partnership with Hot Topic. “This really opens up possibilities for Roku that we didn't have in the past, and because of the strength and scale of The Roku Channel, not only does it create a strong media offering, but we are so thrilled to have brands that want to learn alongside us,” Wachter said.

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Roku and T-Mobile Get Weird Ahead of Biopic Premiere

The 360 activation is the connected TV company’s largest to date

Mollie Cahillane

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Mollie Cahillane