HOW WE HELPED MAVERICK
TURN AND BURN
Marketing Campaign
THE MARKETING MISSION:
HIT MACH 11.
As Paramount’s “wingmen” on Top Gun: Maverick, the flight plan was clear: deliver a campaign befitting of the long-anticipated return for this iconic franchise. The result was a series of live-activation stunts, unmissable content, and partnerships that helped Top Gun reach new heights — and earn its place as the #1 film of the year.
Top Gun brings together the best of the best, and our campaign had to be no different. Honoring the franchise’s heritage while activating it for a generation of new pilots, we set out to deliver manuevers that executed against the following mission parameters:
- 1) Capture the iconic action and heart of the original, all while priming fans for the franchise’s newest flyby
- 2) Embrace Top Gun’s airborne action without losing radar-lock on important themes of teamwork and family
- 3) Deliver the payload: tailor-made moments, content, and partnerships that deliver a broad blast radius on social
After ideating and identifying our campaign’s “flight path,” we took off, delivering partnership-led content activations, live event takeovers, social challenges, OOH flybys, holiday social moments, and much more.
Here’s how we helped Top Gun: Maverick turn and burn.
Client Paramount
Project Top Gun: Maverick Marketing Campaign
What We Did
- Social Content
- OOH/Event Actiavtion
- Brand Partnership
- Influencer Livestream
- Livestream Event
- Social/UGC Challenge
A FLYBY AT THE BEACH
Evoking the first film's signature beach volleyball scene, we executed a Top Gun takeover at the Manhattan Beach AVP Volleyball Tournament. Our five-plane squadron scrambled to the skies, typing out "TALK TO ME, GOOSE" and recreating the logo into 5-mile long visuals at 10,000 feet.
The mission continued on the sand, where we integrated into the competition and broadcast: in-stadium signage and an announcer wearing a branded flight suit (and aviators, of course) introduced the planes flying overhead — all as Top Gun's iconic soundtrack and trailer played through the stadium.
TOP GUN PILOT TRAINING
Working with the celebrity gym and lifestyle brand Dogpound, we created a 4-week #TopGunTuesdays fitness challenge. This began with a competition between Dogpound’s celebrity trainers, pitting pairings of LA and NYC “wingmen” against one another to see which trainers were ready to be called the top of their class.
From there, we developed a specialized Top Gun workout class, channeling authentic training and fitness regimens for the world's best pilots. All month long, fans took classes in-person and online while voting to decide which of the world’s preeminent trainers would be crowned the best of the best.
TOP GUN TAKES OVER HALLOWEEN
The fun extended into fall with our "Top Gun Pumpkin Carving School," a snackable social series where we taught aspiring carvers to create fun Top Gun: Maverick-inspired jack-o'-lanterns for Halloween. Hosted on the brand website and activated on social, fans printed out custom stencils, with the best carvings hosted alongside influencers' creations as UGC.
And with Top Gun pilots being a popular costume, we invited fans to dress the part and submit their flight suit photos to be featured on social throughout the Halloween holiday.
WINGMEN LIVESTREAM: BUDDHA AND BLAU
Everyone wants to be Maverick... but what happens when they actually get in the cockpit? To find out, we challenged iconic gaming streamers Buddha and Blau to grab the throttle and fly Microsoft Flight Simulator’s Top Gun: Maverick missions.
In this exclusive co-stream on Twitch, Buddha and Blau adopted their callsigns, donned their aviators, and competed across six missions plucked from the film to see who would emerge with the higher score and earn “ace pilot” status. On social, we supported the stream with cross-posts between the brand's pages and streamers' own platforms, with support from Microsoft's social, as well.
FRANCHISE FLYBY
Top Gun: Maverick didn't just put Maverick back in the cockpit — it also returned fans to some of the first film's most nostalgic moments.
Honoring the franchise, we compiled a 10-part video retrospective, counting down scenes that the new film paid homage to. Not only did this help reactivate legacy fans who loved the first film, but it helped drive awareness among new fans toward a Top Gun film bundle at retail.
Top Gun: Maverick nailed its landing.
Celebrated by fans around the world, Top Gun: Maverick hit “Mach 10” in every metric, going on to become one of the most successful films of all time.
- $1.5 BILLION Global Box Office
- #1 THEATRICAL RELEASE Of The Year
- #6 HIGHEST-GROSSING FILM Of All Time
- #1 DIGITAL TITLE ALL-TIME In 1st Week of Release
- TOP 20 Best-Seller in Digital History
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