MATLOCK

Senior Social Producer | Creative Strategy & Campaigns

CBS ENTERTAINMENT

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CREATIVE STRATEGY

AUDIENCE POSITIONING

CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT

TALENT CREATIVE DIRECTION

360° ACTIVATION

HOW DO YOU MARKET ANOTHER REBOOT WITHOUT THE INTERNET SAYING, “OH GREAT. ANOTHER FREAKING REBOOT. HAS HOLLYWOOD OFFICIALLY RUN OUT OF IDEAS?”

THE CHALLENGE

  • Matlock had two very different audience problems.

    Older viewers knew the original and could easily dismiss the new series as another lazy reboot. Younger audiences had little or no relationship with Matlock at all.

THE STRATEGY

  • I stopped marketing Matlock and started marketing Kathy Bates.

    Instead of asking audiences to immediately accept Kathy Bates as the new Matlock, I deliberately referred to her as Kathy Bates across the creative.

    For longtime viewers, she was an acclaimed actor they already knew independently of the original series. For younger audiences, she gave us a recognizable personality who didn't require any knowledge of Matlock to understand the content.

  • That distinction became the foundation of the launch creative.

TURNING THE GENERATIONAL GAP INTO THE CONTENT

  • Instead of hiding the age difference between Matty and her younger coworkers, I used it.

  • A scene of Matty meeting her colleagues became:

    POV: GEN Z MEETS THEIR NEW BOOMER COWORKER

  • Then I started playing with one of the property's most recognizable pieces of nostalgia: the original Matlock theme song.

    “Me in my grandparents’ living room when the Matlock theme came on.”

    I had the cast dance to it, turning something longtime fans remembered into a joke younger audiences could recognize, share and make their own.

TURNING A PLOT TWIST INTO A SOCIAL CAMPAIGN

  • The pilot had a major reveal we couldn't spoil, so I turned the secret itself into the campaign.

  • I developed #KeepItMatlocked, pairing clips with Kathy Bates asking viewers to protect the twist and give everyone else a chance to catch up.

    If you know, keep it Matlocked.

  • Existing viewers got to be in on the secret. Everyone else wondered what they were missing. AKA, FOMO.

SOMETIMES, THE STRATEGY STARTS WITH NACHOS.

  • A colleague from the CBS Sports creative team and I were grabbing nachos after work when Los Angeles Chargers defensive lineman Scott Matlock appeared on the TV.

    We looked at each other. We already knew what the other was thinking.

  • That thought became a national broadcast spot bringing Kathy Bates and Scott Matlock together, connecting CBS entertainment and NFL audiences through one very convenient last name.

THE RESULT

  • 7.74M
    Live+Same Day premiere viewers

  • 10.67M
    Multiplatform viewers within three days
    +38% lift

  • 15.8M
    Multiplatform viewers within the first 30 days

  • CBS’S MOST-WATCHED SERIES PREMIERE IN FIVE YEARS

    The momentum continued beyond premiere: Matlock became CBS’s #2 non-sports program early in the 2024 fall season and earned a second-season renewal within its first month.