Duck season? Rabbit season? For Warner Bros. Discovery’s Looney Tunes, 2022 has been TikTok season.
Looney Tunes set up shop on TikTok March 1, and the account soared past 1 million followers by July 28.
The momentum continued through the third quarter, as the account @looneytunes picked up more than 868,000 new followers during the period, up 84% versus the second quarter according to the company, now tallying over 1.6 million. The account has garnered more than 13.3 million likes to date.
“With this channel, we can support a new film or series, or we can quickly tap into a trend that’s a good brand fit, but above all, we can bring the wacky humor of the Looney Tunes to fans who love them and fans who just are getting to know them,” Warner Bros. Discovery Global Brands and Experiences head of NFT commercial development and senior vice president of animation franchise development Josh Hackbarth told Adweek. “TikTok has cultivated a platform where we can creatively and consistently share the Looney Tunes’ irreverent humor through snackable, short-form content and provide fans an always-on opportunity to engage.”
Warner Bros. Discovery has been collaborating with social media agency Movement Strategy since 2020, and they created the ACME Intern, a fictional intern who runs the Looney Tunes social accounts while managing its cast of animated characters. The goal of its TikTok strategy is to reach new, younger audiences, driving awareness and keeping the characters top of mind.
The core team at Movement Strategy working on TikTok includes account director Kemy Acacia, art director Patrick Adley, associate director of project management Giang Luc, community manager Jake Moody and associate creative director Roland Park and. While the team shoots for one post per day to align with best practices, their monthly output usually averages roughly 23.
“Seeing each animated moment being discovered and rediscovered by audiences on the platform—who then put the content in new contexts—makes us fall in love with the Looney Tunes all over again,” Movement Strategy CEO Jason Mitchell told Adweek. “We’re honored to help this brand evolve and remain the cultural touchstone it’s been for more than 80 years.”
Movement Strategy said that with each TikTok video, it strives to maintain a balance between concisely told jokes and beloved character archetypes.
Examples include Sylvester Karma, which has tallied more than 81 million views to date, with over 180 accounts creating Duets with the video. A Bugs Mountain Climbing video, posted June 7 and totaling over 7 million views, struck a chord thanks to the combination of a “concise and relatable joke” and “chaotic editing techniques,” making it perfect for TikTok, the agency said. Video Bacon Clip, with its irreverent humor, resulted in more than 622,000 engagements.
TikTok’s video replies feature was also put to good use, as responses to a comment on the Master Escape Artist video propelled it to the top five on the account, with over 3.8 million views, partly thanks to a Pride post that featured a Duet with DJ, drag performer and model Aquaria.
One of Movement Strategies’ goals with the @looneytunes account this year is to boost its presence globally. As of the third quarter, roughly 60% of the account’s audience is based outside of the U.S., the agency said.
“Our TikTok strategy feeds into our larger goal of connecting audiences of all ages with the Looney Tunes,” Hackbarth said. “With TikTok, we saw an opportunity to connect with younger, Gen-Z fans in an authentic way that differs from how we are reaching older fans on other platforms. Looney Tunes deftly balances the hilarious and absurd, and we know ‘funny’ works on TikTok, so for us, it was a win-win.”
