Overview 

To drive excitement ahead of the release of The Black Phone 2, the highly anticipated follow-up to Blumhouse’s breakout horror film, Universal Pictures partnered with Discord to activate a first-of-its-category multi-Quest campaign. By sequencing multiple Video Quests and a Mission Quest, the campaign sustained momentum from trailer through ticketing, driving measurable brand lift and deep engagement with horror fans on Discord.

Problem 

Horror fans don’t want to be marketed to, they want to be pulled in. Universal Pictures needed a way to launch The Black Phone 2 on Discord that drove awareness and intent through participation – not passive exposure – especially in a crowded horror landscape.

Solution

To meet this challenge, Universal Pictures and Discord partnered to launch the first theatrical multi-Quest campaign, transforming The Black Phone 2 from a traditional film release into an engaging horror experience. The campaign combined three distinct experiences into a single, connected campaign journey.

The rollout began with a Video Quest designed to build early awareness through the film’s trailer. From there, users were invited into a Discord Mission, a fully immersive, custom-built interactive game experience that drove deeper engagement and time-spent with the IP. We dropped users into the cold world of Alpine Lake, tasking them with solving a puzzle in order to escape the villain from the film, The Grabber. The campaign concluded with a final video Quest focused on ticketing, seamlessly guiding users from fan engagement to action.

By layering multiple Quests and a Mission, Universal Pictures kept audiences engaged leading up to the film's release. With significant increases in engagement time from the trailer to the Mission,  we see that multi-part Quests drive stronger, more durable outcomes for entertainment brands on Discord.

Reward

Trailer and Mission participants earned Orbs, while the ticketing Quest unlocked a custom Avatar Deco of the iconic Grabber mask from the film, giving fans a tangible, expressive reward tied directly to participation.

Results

Running a multi-Quest strategy delivered measurable results for Universal Pictures. By sequencing multiple Quests, Universal built awareness, strengthened favorability, and drove intent, while a single Quest activation would leave performance on the table.

• ‍Engagement (Secondary KPI):
  8-minute average engagement time and 78,000 hours played, signaling deep excitement and engagement. ‍
• Brand Lift (Primary KPI):
  90% statistical significance across all measured Kantar Brand Lift metrics, including lifts in awareness, favorability, and intent. The campaign delivered meaningful impact across the full funnel. Top-of-mind awareness increased by 1.9%, ad awareness by 30.7%, brand favorability by 4.8%, and action intent by 2.7%

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