The French Dispatch Newsletter
Of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun
Role
Creative Director – Consultant
Client
Searchlight Pictures / Wes Anderson
Category
Email, Social & Digital Campaign
Result
1,000,000+ subscribers
The story
Covid was upon us, and theaters were dark. We wanted to pull Wes Anderson's fans together and build a community around the film before it ever opened.
Inspired by the email newsletters of publications like The New Yorker, The French Dispatch Newsletter delivered exclusive content to subscribers every week — written from the point of view of the characters in the film.
How it worked
The campaign opened with online ads across publications and social media, sending people to the website to subscribe. Every new subscriber was greeted with a welcome letter from a character in the film — Arthur Howitzer, Jr., Editor-in-Chief.
“This campaign was an absolute joy to work on. We saw it as a mission to rescue people from their locked-in worlds and give them something to look forward to every week.”
Exclusive content
Each week brought something subscribers couldn't get anywhere else. Wes Anderson's illustrated "Aline" music video was one of the most fun — launched first to the newsletter before the rest of the world saw it.
“Aline” — directed by Wes Anderson
The results
The newsletter energized the fan base and built a steady crescendo all the way to the film's opening night.