Activations have included Gatwa and new co-star Millie Gibson appearing at a ceremony alongside other members of the production team and cast for the Christmas episode, where they switched on lights at the London Eye accompanied by the series’ iconic blue police box-shaped time machine, The Tardis.
Addressing the difficulty of catering to the broad and dedicated audience base that Doctor Who already has, appealing to fans aged seven through 70, Aylott said the marketing team’s approach cannot try to hit everybody, which will then, in turn, hit nobody.
Bringing back fan favorites Tennant and Tate to appeal to lapsed fans of the series, while presenting them with the much higher production scale they can expect going forward, was the first aim, Aylott added. However, it is now about widening that to appeal to “affinity audiences” to include fans of other genre franchises such as Harry Potter and Star Trek, as well as embracing the appeal of the young leads to build the next generation of fans, too.
At the heart of growing the appeal of the show is the fan base, whose enthusiasm and promotion of Doctor Who attracts others, meaning that the distribution of content through owned channels would galvanize them and drive awareness of what was to come.
Brand Partnerships
The return of the series and the resulting hype has been attracting brands to get on board with BBC Studios, working with brand activation agency Lime to source potential partners.
“Doctor Who is pretty unique in its ability to dovetail just as easily with the narrative of brands that align with its ‘Britishness’ and classic heritage as it can with partners that are aligned more with the forward-facing positioning of the brand and brands that are marketing to the next generation of Doctor Who fans; the all-important Gen Z audience,” explained Lesley Hasson, CEO of Lime.
Recent partnerships included airliner British Airways, which saw the unscheduled arrival of The Doctor’s deadliest enemy, a Dalek at Heathrow Terminal 5, to promote the launch of a dedicated Doctor Who in-flight entertainment channel featuring 13 episodes for customers traveling on long-haul flights starting in November.
