Adult Swim Rick and Morty

[an interdimensional social experience]

[the gist of it]

Listen up, brohs! If there were an award for putting the most effort into not giving a squanch, we’d have won it three years running. It doesn’t matter that we’ve only been smashing it as the social voice of Rick and Morty for a single year; what matters is that in that time we’ve pulled Rick and Morty's social media presence out from the average, raising Adult Swim’s quality of content to the level of their demographic (high AF).

But, like a sophomore with the munchies, too much is never enough. That's why Adult Swim charged us with expanding the series' reach between seasons, and by re-envisioning their entire approach to connecting with viewers via social.

[the challenge]

Rick and Morty fans come from across the galaxy. Some even seem like they come from another dimension. They’re a critical and extremely passionate fanbase that are fast to recognize authenticity, and faster still to slam anything that reeks of corporate influence.

Adult Swim had never worked with an outside agency and were wary of outsiders coming in with off-brand creative, so we had to make sure all of our content was true to the brand’s iconoclastic spirit. All posts, videos, statics, and sponsored content had to feel slyly self-referential, disruptive, and irreverent, lest our client suffer the slings and arrows of outraged fans.

[the goal]

We wanted to do more than simply drive eyeballs.
Our goal has been to reimagine Rick and Morty’s approach to social content and digital ad sales through creative that authentically connects with Adult Swim fans by tapping directly into their penchant for the weird and subversive.

Leveraging our own fanaticism for the series, we aimed to expand Adult Swim’s audience beyond its core millennial fanbase by strategically engaging Gen-Z viewers with undeniably scroll-stopping content that feels fan driven, rather than brand led.

[the strategy]

We realized Adult Swim's core millennial audience has a unique, perspective and an appreciation for the weirder things in life.

That's why we decided to chart a new course, rooting our content in a universal human experience that is as relatable to our core audience of millennials as it is to our growing fanbase of Gen-Z viewers: feeling like the weird kid in the room.

We all know how it feels to be the weird kid; everyone on our team was once the weird kid. Our research led us to connect with Adult Swim viewers by celebrating the unique, the unhinged, and the shared human experience of feeling different.

Ever wonder how the sausage plumbus gets made?

Original content imbued with insanity
Unexpected executions of popular social trends
Repositioning legacy IP to engage Gen-Z viewers
Always striving for subversive originality

Playstation Partnership Ad Unit
1/6
Wrangler Partnership Ad Unit
2/6
Oil Painting Meme
3/6
Inverted Illusion
4/6
Wendy's Partnership Ad Unit
5/6
Never-ending Portal Story
6/6

[happy mob, no more sob]

[the results]

By elevating the weird and unusual to a position of celebrated prominence, we've helped the Adult Swim brand re-envision their entire approach to social content and digital ad-sales.

We transformed Adult Swim’s social presence to feel less like marketing, and more like a natural extension of the network; a social destination for Adult Swim’s unique brand of humor.

At the end of our contract, not only did the client renew our relationship, they expanded our role to cover the brand itself, and every series under its umbrella.

We’re not flexible enough to toot our own horn, but we think the numbers speak for themselves…