Plants vs.

Zombies

Valeria Franco, María Paz Sierra, Sofia Sanín & Julián Camilo Ávila
May 2022.

Universidad de La Sabana
Cundinamarca
Media Economics
Copyright © 2022 by Valeria Franco, María Paz Sierra, Sofia Sanín & Julián Camilo Ávila.
All rights deserved.
 Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Re - Definition of the idea................................................................... 1

Chapter 2: Dual Product Market........................................................................... 2

First Layer............................................................................................... 2.1

Second Layer............................................................................................2.2

Third Layer.............................................................................................. 2.3

Chapter 3: Media Value Chain............................................................................... 3

Packaging............................................................................................. 3.1

Distribution and Exhibition...................................................................3.2

Chapter 4: Industry and product release.................................................................. 4

Product ......................................................................................... 4.1

Value proposition ..........................................................................4.2

Expenses ........................................................................................4.3

Revenue ......................................................................................... 4.4

Chapter 5: Demand curve................................................................ ............... 5

Chapter 6: Market structure.......................................................................................... 6

Chapter 7: Four forces................................................................................................... 7

Regulations........................................................................................ 7.1
Chapter 8: Marketing Plan.............................................................................................. 8

Audience............................................................................................. 8.1

Social Aspects...................................................................... 8.1.2

Hofstede insights.................................................................. 8.1.3

Marketing...................................................................................................... 8.2

Marketing Calendar........................................................................................ 8.2.0

Paid social media................................................................... 8.2.1

Paid Video.............................................................................. 8.2.2

Influencer Marketing .............................................................. 8.2.3

Radio........................................................................................ 8.2.4

Out of home ............................................................................. 8.2.5

Promotion.................................................................................. 8.2.6

Premier.................................................................................. 8.3

Chapter 9: Competitors................................................................................................... 9

Black Summer.............................................................................................. 9.1

Z NATION................................................................................................... 9.2

Stranger Things Season 4............................................................................. 9.3

The Wilds...................................................................................................... 9.4

Obi-Wan Kenobi........................................................................................... 9.5

References..................................................................................................................... 10
 List of Tables

Table 1: Distribution of the streaming series’ episodes.................................................... 3

Table 2: Ranking of urban quality of life in Spain............................................................. 8

Table 3: World economy and politics................................................................................ 8
Table 4: Spanish Box Office Weekends for 2022.............................................................. 8
Table 5: Spain Hoftede Insights......................................................................................... 8
Table 6:Ranking of the largest music stations in Spain, monthly average.......................... 8

List of figures

Figure 1: Streaming series’ media value chain................................................................... 3

Figure 2: Horizontal Poster................................................................................................. 3

Figure 3: Vertical Poster..................................................................................................... 3

Figure 4: Traditional Demand Curve.................................................................................. 5

Figure 5: Long Tail Economy Model.................................................................................. 5

Figure 6: May Marketing Plan Calendar............................................................................. 6

Figure 7: June Marketing Plan Calendar............................................................................. 8

Figure 8: Instagram Advertising......................................................................................... 8

Figure 9: True view in stream............................................................................................. 8

Figure 10: Bumper ads....................................................................................................... 8

Figure 11: Discovery Ads – In search................................................................................ 8

Figure 12: Luc Loren’s Instagram..................................................................................... 8

Figure 13: Pol Granch’s Instagram.................................................................................... 8

Figure 14: Ester Expósito’s Instagram................................................................................ 8

Figure 15: Culata.................................................................................................................8

Figure 16: Mupi.................................................................................................................. 8

Figure 17: Map of Street Gran Vía, Madrid....................................................................... 8

Figure 18: Map of Avenida Diagonal, Barcelona............................................................... 8

Figure 19: Design of cart fence.......................................................................................... 8

Figure 20: Eneryeti promotion; can design........................................................................ 8

Figure 21: Adversitising for Eneryeti Promotion................................................................ 8

Figure 22: Black Summer’s Poster..................................................................................... 9

Figure 23: Black Summer’s realease date poster................................................................. 9

Figure 24: Z NATION’s Poster........................................................................................... 9

Figure 25: Z NATION’s Poster 2....................................................................................... 9

Figure 26: Stranger Things' poster...................................................................................... 9

Figure 27: Stranger Things’ poster 2 .................................................................................. 9

Figure 28: The Wilds’ poster................................................................................................ 9

Figure 29: Obi-Wan Kenovi series poster.............................................................................9

 Chapter 1
Re-Definition of the idea

Plants vs. Zombies is a streaming series that narrates the trip of a group of youngsters that

travel to Ibiza, Spain, searching for the party of their lives. Unfortunately, once they arrive to the

party, all of them are deceived differently, and end up consuming some hallucinogenic

mushrooms. What seemed the night of their dreams, now has turned into their worst nightmare:

the mushrooms create the illusion of a zombie apocalypse. While they escape from the zombies,

some characters decide to stream everything live through the social media Instagram, thinking

that... if they die, they should at least do it while they get famous.

The worst of it all is that, without knowing certainly why, all the zombies look very similar

to Albatross, the most acclaimed DJ of the party (interpreted by Tom Hardy). Ironically, at the

beginning the characters were freaking out to meet him, but now they run away from him to

survive. As everything happens too quickly, all the characters take refuge in the club where the

party was going on. In different ways, they all protect the house from the zombies and find comfort

in Angeles (interpreted by Zendaya); besides of being the owner of the club (with Carlo, interpreted

by Fabricio Luchini), she also provides the characters with shelter, food, and protection from the

zombies.

At the end of the series, the hallucination ends (and so does the apocalypse); all the characters

wake up confused and with a mayor hangover. Later, when they check Instagram, everything starts

to make sense.
 Worth mentioning that everything happens in just one night, but each episode is narrated from

the perspective of a different group of people (see the details in 3.1 Packaging); even though each

group of characters is the protagonist of each episode, all of them are connected and depend on

each other (the episodes are interconnected). These episodes show everything as the characters

perceive it, meaning that the audience may think at the beginning that it (actually) is a zombie

apocalypse, and the story is more of a thriller (combined with a little bit of humor).

On the one hand, the first episode (the pilot) contextualizes the audience to what the story

is going to be about; it shows a little bit of the life of each character before the party. On the other

hand, the last episode is the recompilation of all the live streams made through Instagram by

different characters. These videos show the reality of what happened (they reveal the story without

hallucination); in this episode, the suspense of the story is replaced by comedy.

 Chapter 2

Dual Product Market

2.1 First Layer

Considering that our product / service (Plants vs. Zombies) is a streaming series which will

be broadcast on the HBO max platform, for the first layer of the dual product market, is meant to

be an intangible service, since the public cannot interact physically with the product.

2.2 Second Layer

When broadcast on the HBO max platform, people will be able to access the content as

many times as they want, therefore, for the second layer of the Dual Product Market its unlimited

consumption.

2.3 Third Layer.

When displayed on the HBO max platform, the public will have to pay a monthly

subscription. This is, in order to access the content, they will have to pay with money; in Spain

specifically €8.99 per month. For the third layer of the Dual Product Market, these are direct sales.
 Chapter 3

Media Value Chain

Before detailing the Packaging, Distribution and Exhibition of our streaming series, it

seems convenient to first introduce the orientation model. To enhance our competitiveness and

penetrate new markets (Warf, 2007, p. 90), we chose a horizontal strategy that will guide the value

chain. In the first place, “[…] by giving firms a foothold in horizontally related industries”

(Albarran, 1996, p. 156), we are not just engaging in economies of scale that trigger the growth of

our audiovisual product, but we are also maximizing our market share. Namely, building strategic

partnerships with companies that own complementary resources allow us to access quickly and

way cheaper to new markets, which gives us opportunities and a competitive advantage (Pardo,

2013, p. 484-485).

In the second place, horizontal integration enables us to achieve our biggest goal

concerning the organization of the value chain: to reach diversification. We aim for this to fulfill

the so-called Martini’s culture desires: “What you want, when you want, where you want and how

you want.” (Pardo, 2013, p. 330). We must adapt to our public if we want to attract our target

audience and differentiate ourselves from our competitors; diversification is an efficient tool that

will guarantee and enable us that adaptation. Now, the intentions that build up this horizontal

integration are the foundations to understand how Packaging, Distribution and Exhibition will

work (also, the way our media value chain will be distributed can be seen in Figure 1).
Figure 1: Streaming series’ media value chain

3.1 Packaging

The packaging of the streaming series will be managed by Vancouver Media. We chose

this producer as they are highly acclaimed throughout Spain, especially for their recognized and

talented experience with producing fictional series (such as Money Heist). As they put it, their

main objective is to “create fictional series that really differentiate to others” (Vancouver Media,

n.d.). Nevertheless, what interested us more is the commitment and inspiration they hold for the

construction of compelling and identifiable characters (which is one of our biggest narrative

strengths).

As it can be seen in our teaser trailer, our packaging will aim to differentiate us from our

competitors through the diverse (but coherent) usage of contrasting audiovisual genres, and

through the enforcement of current trends (the excessive use of social media and live streams to

capture the world. The whole pilot trailer shows what seems a story full of suspense; nonetheless,

right after the credits roll in, we show a quick clip that causes humor rather than horror, and which
is reproduced through a known social media (Instagram). The public now will be interested in

discovering how it is possible for two contradictory genres to fit in the same production.

Even more, we are not just attracting a generic audience, but we are engaging directly with

our target audience, as the trailer and posters embrace some of their mainstay characteristics:

preference for zombie apocalyptic and fictional worlds (see figures 1 & 2); Zendaya, Timothée

Chalamet, Tom Hardy, and other cast member fans; people who enjoy spending time in social

media; Hans Zimmer fans (composer of the original soundtrack); HBO users, people who

recognize Vancouver Media, in others.

Something worth mentioning about the packaging is how the episodes of the series will be

presented to the audience. As was mentioned before, the whole story happens in one night, but

each episode is narrated from a unique perspective, as the following table illustrates:

Episode Title Duration

One A night to remember, a night 45 minutes

to forget

Two Ester and Alejandro 45 minutes

Three Raquel 45 minutes

Four Pedro 45 minutes

Five Luke and Lorenzo 45 minutes

Six Angeles 45 minutes

Seventh Let’s go live stream! 1 hour

Table 1: Distribution of the streaming series’ episodes

 And, finally, the following are the posters that were designed for the incoming steps of the

value chain (especially, advertising).

Figure 2: Horizontal Poster

 Figure 3: Vertical Poster

3.2 Distribution and Exhibition

This part of the media value chain will be coordinated by the streaming platform where

Plants vs. Zombies will reach its audience: HBO Max. This streaming platform is one of the

greatest competitors of Netflix in Spain; together, both are the most influential streaming platforms

in the country (Rastreator, 2022). In the first place, HBO Max was chosen for its inevitable and

exponential growth…, moreover, in front of an audiovisual titan like Netflix.

In the second place, this platform helps us to directly engage our target audience, initially

due to the cost of its subscription: 8.99€ monthly (being able to watch content up to 4 screens

simultaneously, is cheaper and more appealing than 17.99€ monthly on Netflix (Rastreator, 2022).

The cost of the platform appears more accessible to the medium socioeconomical level we are

aiming to in our target audience.

Secondly, the “personality” this platform portrays through its catalog (especially, regarding

the known movies and series of our cast members), totally matches the Plants vs. Zombies vibe;

this means, that HBO Max tends to attract a younger audience (young adults), more than a full

four quadrant audience (like Netflix), which helps us reach our target audience easier and

effectively. In a few words, HBO Max’s catalog benefits the distribution and exhibition of our

streaming series, as it transmits the same style and identity our product has; this is, movies and

series such as Euphoria, Dune, The Batman, Shameless, Joker, etc.

 Chapter 4

Industry and product release

Business Model – Direct Fee

4.1 Product

Our project consists of making an online streaming series called “Plants vs. Zombies”. As

mentioned before, the story narrates the survival of a group of young adults that went to Ibiza

searching for the party of their lives… but ended up in their worst nightmare (only to realize, in

the end, that it was all a hallucination. The series’ name was inspired after the original idea was

created: the power of the mushrooms vs. the horror/falsehood of the zombies.

4.2 Value proposition

Although there are multiple series and movies about apocalyptic futures that include

zombies, the series will have a couple of differentiating elements: location (one of the first zombie

movies in Spain); a controversial use of cultural trends, as we seek, in the meantime, to generate

conscience towards nowadays use of social media, inspiring ourselves a little bit in the known

movie Don’t look up (2021); we possess a really talented cast crew: Zendaya as Angeles, Fabricio

Luchini as Carlo, Eiza Gonzalez as Ester, Liam Hemsworth as Alejandro, Lady Gaga as Raquel,

Timothée Chalamet as Pedro, Chris Pratt as Luke, Daniel Radcliffe as Lorenzo, and Tom Hardy

as DJ Albatross.

Additionally, this series is an audiovisual content developing more than one contrasting

genre, because the supposed apocalypse its narrated as a thriller (with hints of humor and drama),

and the revelation of the true reality is exposed with comedy and sarcasm. This is not the classic
fight between zombies and humans, our heroes will find a very particular way to face the horde.

Unbelievably, social media will be their ally in the battle, and a night club full of wasted people

will be their refuge and place to protect.

4.3 Expenses

The expenses that we must consider for this project are based on the quality of actors that

we have for the series, special effects since the series requires it, recording and production

equipment, crew members, art and costumes (makeup). In addition to the entire marketing

campaign that will be carried out to advertise our product.

4.4 Revenue

The main source of revenue for the exhibitor will be from subscriptions to the streaming

platform HBO max, whose monthly fee is approximately 8.99 euros. On the other hand, our

income will be based on the rate of the reproduction license that for the moment, will be exclusive

to HBO max, taking into account that this is the platform with greater growth in Spain, which also

accommodates the interests of the streaming series "Plants vs Zombies".

Taking all of the above into account, the business model we have chosen is the Direct Fee,

it means a Subscription Model. This model consists of selling products, services or content to a

client portfolio on a recurring basis, in exchange for the payment of periodic installments, which

are normally monthly.

As the producers of the streaming series, we will position our product on the strongest

platform at the moment in Spain, and also the one that goes more according to the type of content

and theme that provides our streaming series "Plants vs. Zombies".
 Chapter 5

Demand Curves

Demand curve

Starting from the fact that our series will be broadcast on the HBO Max streaming platform,

any change in the cost of the subscription will affect the number of people who are willing to pay

for it. This is the traditional demand curve (see figure 4), that means that the higher the price, the

lower the demand, just as in the opposite direction, the lower the price, the higher the demand.

Figure 4 : Traditional demand curve.

Position on Long Tail Economy curve

 The streaming series "Plants vs Zombies" will be located in the section of specific categories,

since it is not a generic content, but also not a very specific one. In this way, it can involve as

many users as possible, and appeal to likes such as action and adventure genres, and audiovisual

content with zombie theme (like The walking dead and I am legend).

Figure 5: Long Tail Economy Model

 Chapter 6

Market Structure

The audiovisual product of the streaming series Plants Vs Zombies would be established

as an oligopoly. An oligopoly is characterized by being a form of market in which a small number

of large sellers dominate the industry, so in Spain we would be in a market where audiovisual

titans manage the market, and determined consumer tastes that affect our way of approaching and

engaging our target audience.

The product would be entering this market where more than two production companies

lead the industry…, companies that have experience in stories based on the popular myth of

zombies, or undead which attack humans to eat them or to turn them into other zombies. We can

see similar products on various streaming platforms and theaters; content that already exists like

The Walking Dead, Dead Set, Kingdom, Z Nation, among other zombie-themed series. Or also

movies and series that use social media to narrate their stories, like Don’t look up, Spree, Nerve.

Or even stories based on endless and extreme parties in heavenly European destinations, such as

White Lines, Ibiza, XOXO, We are your friends, etc.

We are entering the market in which big companies dominate all these types of content,

that’s why we need to study in detail our possible competitors and the market they dominate. In

this case, the most popular and successful streaming platforms in Spain are the following: Netflix,

Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Filmin, HBO Max. Netflix is one of the most powerful ones,
leading the fixed price for the subscription (7,99 euros to 15, 99 euros approximately), but in the

recent years HBO Max has reached Netflix’s popularity, due to the diversification in its content

(they’ve extender their portfolio).

Evidently, this market’s competitiveness barriers are extremely high, so choosing a great

player to distribute and exhibit our product was crucial for the success of our revenues; that’s why

HBO Max was one of our first options, as it is a well-positioned company in the streaming platform

market in this country.

 Chapter 7

Four Forces

Regarding the four forces of economy, we must talk about technology, globalization,

regulations and social aspects. For social aspects we are not going to talk about it in this part as it

was something we already deepened when we specify the demographics of our target audience,

their psychographics and lifestyles.

In first place, regarding technology, we are going to use VOD platforms to exhibit our

streaming series. This means the series won´t be on movie theaters or on regular TV, the audience

would be able to access to our content only through HBO+, so it´s necessary to have internet access

to watch the show. Taking that into account, cellphones, computers, TV and tablets will be the

main devices that can be used to watch the content. Also, based on previous research, people from

Spain prefer mobile friendly apps more than computer interfaces, and over 60% of the population,

over 15 years old, spend at least one hour on their smartphone every day on 2019 (Statista research

department, 2020).

Secondly, we have globalization. This concept describes how the world is more

interconnected and how frontiers are disappearing, but it can get a more specified description

depending on the area where you use the term. For example, in economy the term “refers to the

increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border

trade of commodities and services, flow of international capital and wide and rapid spread of

technologies” (Shangquan, 2000, pg. 1).

 As social media is a “must” in our project, we focus on how our product can grow with

these new networks, as an active element from this interconnected world. In Spain, social media

is used by 85% of the population between the ages of 16 and 65, being Facebook the most popular

one with about 22 million active users in 2019, however Instagram is currently gaining popularity

(discovery that impacts greatly in our marketing strategy, and in Instagram’s involvement in the

story). Also, 95.8% of businesses promote their products and services through these platforms.

Considering that, this is the force we would focus on more as we can get great benefits

from it. Thanks to globalization our project can be easily promoted and accessible to a vast number

of people. It´s important to clarify that the fourth forces of economy work together so what we do

in globalization will have an impact on the other forces and vice versa. Everyone with access to

the internet and a subscription can watch the content, and even if they do not have this last one,

they can interact with our project or get to know it in social media. Besides that, our cast for the

series consists of well-known actors that already have a fan base all over the world, increasing our

project's reach and impact.

7.1 Regulations

Finally, we must talk about the regulations that can impact on our project. As our project is

going to be released in Spain, we check what kind of legal measures they have for audiovisual

content, streaming series, marketing and social media. Some of them are:

• Spain Audiovisual and Media regulations are based on the European policies or the

Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), as the country is a member of this

community. On their objectives, they look to protect minors from content that may be

inappropriate for their age. Our age range is from 16 to 35.

• 30% of the content on VOD Platforms must be European. International content is

considered, but the priority is to highlight their own content.

• The Royal Decree is Spain’s policies for producing movies.

• For advertisement there's not a specific law that governs it, each method has some rules as

well as each city.

• Law 29/2009 - The Act of Unfair competition and Illegal advertising (telephone

advertising). "The law defines telephone advertising, in Article 29, as an aggressive

practice offering unwanted and repeated proposals by telephone, fax, e-mail and other

distance communication media."

• There are laws for using influencers on social media ads. When dealing with an influencer

to promote a movie or product it´s mandatory to explicitly state that the content is a

sponsorship or an advertisement.
 Chapter 8

Marketing Plan

8.1 Audience

8.1.2 Social Aspects

Genre

This is intended to be a content for both men and women, at a rate of 50 50 (Male 50% -

Female 50%). For the male audience, the genre of action that is classic in audiovisual content

referring to Zombies, will be used. For the female audience, the genre of drama will be used, in

addition to the themes of female empowerment that will be addressed in the plot.

Age

The series “Plants vs Zombies” will be aimed at an audience between the age range of 18

and 35 years. Considering that due to issues of violence, drug use, and humor for adults, it is not

recommended for all four quadrants (it is not family friendly). In Spain specifically, this

classification is R - Restricted-, children under 17 years old require to be accompanied by a parent

or adult guardian. This is because it can include adult topics, adult activity, aggressive language,

intense or persistent violence, nudity of sexual orientation, drug abuse or other elements.

Socio – economical level

The socioeconomic level of our target audience is the medium and high socioeconomic

level, this mainly because it is necessary for the audience to have the purchasing power of first,
access an internet plan either from their mobile phones or directly at home, and second, be able to

pay the monthly subscription of the HBO max platform.

Education level

A specific level of education is not necessary, since it is not a very specific content for an

area that requires prior knowledge about it.

Location

For the location will be made in Madrid, Barcelona and Ibiza, mainly by the socioeconomic

indicators of these (As seen in Table 2: Ranking of urban quality of life in Spain). In the specific

case of Ibiza, in addition to the indicators, it will be for the appearance and mention of this in the

audiovisual content.
 Table 2: ranking of urban quality of life in Spain

(Retrieved from the Spanish journal “Expansión”)

Likes and dislikes of the audience

• People who like action and adventure genres.

• People who like zombie movies (like The Walking Dead and I am legend)

• Tom Hardy, Zendaya, Lady Gaga, Chris Pratt, Liam Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Timothée

Chalamet, Eiza González, Daniel Radcliffe, Fabrice Luchini fans.

• Hans Zimmer fans (as he will be the one composing the soundtrack).

• People who prefer watching series at home than movies in the theater.

• People who like dystopian stories.

• People who like music festivals.

• Dune fans (as Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet will be acting again together, and the series

genre is really similar to the one of the movie).

Feelings and expectations about life

People who believe in an apocalyptic future, can be attracted to the zombie theme that

covers the series, to see how this hypothetical future would develop; what that world is like, how

zombies are, what were the reasons for these existed, etc.

Culture
 Since the series takes place in Ibiza, Spanish culture will be very present in the content, so

the Spaniards, our target audience, will be able to feel comfortable and identified by watching the

content.

Religion

There is no belief or religion required to watch the series, nor is there any mention of any

of these in the series.

Attitude

This type of content can reach people with an adventurous attitude, who like adrenaline

and action. That in a certain way when they see what the characters go through in the series, they

feel identified, or they want to live something similar.

Host country

Table 3: World economy and politics

 In general terms, most of Spain’s economic indicators represent a positive outcome and a

surplus economic scenario, which opens our opportunity to revenues when investing in this

country. The only negative result belongs to the Human Capital data, specifically in Consumer

Confidence; even having a high wage, people are not willing to spend it. Fortunately, the result is

just a little bit lower than half (is not that low) and, having a relatively high budget (per individual),

people’s confidence doesn’t depend, principally, in economic limitations, but rather on the things

they choose to spent their money; in order to gain (increase) that consumer’s confidence, we must

emphasize a lot in awareness and consideration, so that we engage the audience and drive them to

consume our series (conversion); if they trust our services, then they may also want to spend their

budget in them.

Box Office

Even though we investigated the Spanish Box Office for 2022 (Table 4), we consider that

these movies do not affect the impact, distribution, and exhibition our streaming series may have

on our target audience. Firstly, both are different markets and, even if the products of this medium

were a competition for us, the content is totally different (contrasting thematic and audiences).

Nonetheless, what could mean a loss of revenues for us due to our competitors success

(something similar to the competition between Box Offices in theaters), we explain it in Chapter

9 Competitors.
Table 4: Spanish Box Office Weekends for 2022

8.1.3 Hofstede insights

Table 5: Spain Hofstede insights

 All these indicators show an interesting and positive approach between our storyline and

Spain’s culture and lifestyle. As shown below for each:

Power distance, Individualism and Masculinity

In the first place, our target audience will feel identified with how the characters manage

to survive the zombies: gathering as a team and following the instructions of a leader (Angeles).

On the former, Spain is a collectivist (in comparison with the rest of the European countries),

because its score in this dimension is of 51. Also, this indicator shows a tendency for Spaniards to

work as a team, rather than alone (Hofstede Insights, 2022). As it has been mentioned, even though

all the characters go to the party in separate groups, during the series they gather as a team to

survive the zombies.

On the latter, working as a team, they are under the protection of Angeles, the lady who

guides them and commands them what to do (how to survive). Spaniards will agree with this type

of leadership as Spain’s score on Power Distance is 57, meaning that Spain has a hierarchical

society; this indicates that the culture is dominated (partially) by inherent inequalities, subordinates

expect to be told what to do and people are always expecting someone to assume the leadership

(Hofstede Insights, 2022).

This leads to the third indicator: Masculinity. Knowing the worst conflict is between them

and the zombies, they stay together…, recognizing it’s the only way for them to survive the enemy;

not by fighting among themselves and trying to face everything on their own. Similarly, a pillar in

Spain’s society is the consensus; polarization and excessive competitiveness are not embraced in

this culture. That’s why Spain scores 42 in Masculinity.

 Spaniards avoid standing out or to create a dominant presence. In “Plants vs. Zombies”

most of the antagonists (like Carlo and Lorenzo) tend to register everything in social media,

believing themselves to be superior to others; as expected, Spaniards will hate these characters

because they are the ones that tend to break the peace and the consensus among the team. Besides,

the majority in the group develop a sense of empathy for the weak ones; those who feel stronger

are the most dauntless and the ones whole team. Spaniards really identify with this type of

interaction because (as the Masculinity’s indicator demonstrates) there is a concern for weak or

needy people that generates a natural ability for sympathy (Hofstede Insights, 2022).

Uncertainty avoidance and Long-term orientation

In “Plants vs. Zombies”, the characters have no idea of what may happen in the future, but

neither they care in the least; as they are hallucinated, they are just focused on the present, and

have no care for “tomorrow”. They’re minds are so absorbed by what’s happening in the present,

that they follow every rule without hesitation.

Undoubtfully, Spaniards will identify with this way of acting and thinking because, in the

first place, their long-term orientation is extremely weak (with 48 in the indicator). Spanish people

just like to live in the moment, without a great concern about the future. Their approaches to life

(in the long term) tend to be relaxed and trustworthy (Hofstede Insights, 2022).

But, on the second place, they like to have rules for everything that refers to the present

moment, which makes sense actually… because they like to avoid changes and chaos, due to their

fear of conflict. Evidently, Uncertainty is the highest indicator (with 86) as Spaniards run from

confused, turmoiled and ambiguous situations (Hofstede Insights, 2022). As it has been explained,
as the characters face uncertain situations, the only relief they have for the present moment is to

stick to the rules stated by them and by Angeles; also, they are so involved in the present moment,

and they’ve been so consumed by the hallucination, that they don’t even bother thinking on the

future.

Indulgence

Being under the hallucination (without knowing yet), the characters often feel ashamed and

guilty for something they can’t seem to comprehend. Later on, the audience (and also the

characters) understand that they felt bad for consuming the mushrooms and for blaming Angeles

for being the one who caused the hallucination, when Carlo was the responsible for all the chaos.

Once again, Spaniards may feel connected with the story because, according to this indicator,

Spain is not an Indulgent society, having a low score of 44. Societies with a low rate in this

dimension tend to cynicism and pessimism; in contrast to indulgent societies, restrained societies

control the gratification of their desires. Spaniards may feel as if dedicating time for themselves

(like the characters with the live streams in social media), or even having a good time, may feel

somewhat wrong (Hofstede Insights, 2022).

8.2 Marketing

Our main objective in choosing the following platforms for our marketing strategy is to

create a great impact within our target audience through creative and striking posters, and by taking

control of the most important and dominant marketing platforms in Spain. Likewise, the versatility

of these platforms will help us to reach our specific target audience with a well-balanced frequency

(one that engages the receptor, without triggering and saturating him).
8.2.0 Marketing Calendar

Figure 6: May Marketing Plan Calendar.

Figure 7: June Marketing Plan Calendar.

8.2.1 Paid Social Media

 Considering that our streaming series’ storyline involves a lot of social media content and

is targeted to a “young-adult” audience, some of our leading marketing platforms will be Instagram

and Tik Tok. Before explaining the marketing strategy chosen for both, first it’s necessary to

explain why these platforms.

In the former, Spain has 22.85 million Instagram users, which are equally divided into

female and male individuals (55.2% female and 44.8% male); this benefits our marketing reach,

as we are seeking to the same extent both genders. As well, Instagram’s Ad reach is 48.9% of

Spain’s total population, a statistic that’s even higher than Facebook’s 43.2% Ad reach (one of

Spain’s most influential social media). But most importantly, Instagram’s influence in our

streaming series narrative (mentioning that there is a lot of product placement of this social

network, using its interface in some frames of the series) guides us to also aim our marketing

towards users of this platform (DataReportal, 2022).

In the latter, our secondary paid social media will be Tik Tok, as its 13.73 million Spanish

users are mainly young adults, and its 35.4% of Ad reach aims directly at them; this way, we reach

our target audience even more effectively (DataReportal, 2022).

Now, the strategy chosen for both platforms aims to increase the precision in the reach and

the frequency (as seen in the reasons why we chose those social media), through the effectiveness

of the impressions. To fulfil this goal, our marketing will be exposed between Instagram stories,

and among both social media feeds (in the For You’s Tik Tok and Instagram’s main feed), using

the following buying models: CPM and CPC.

In the first place, CPM guarantees us the impact of impressions, because this model

measures the number of views an ad receives by being in a feed. Also, this model is very useful to
exhibit and present a product for the first time. And here it's when CPC steps in: once our

impressions have caused awareness in our users and, due to the interesting and creative design of

our ads (posters), their consideration of our offerings is what drives them to click the ad; no matter

the social media, the users can click in the bottom of the ad (where it says “Sign up”), and this will

take them to an external page where they can sign to HBO Max (of course, the page will not only

be designed by HBO Max’s interface, but also the poster of the streaming series).

Figure 8: Instagram Advertising

8.2.2 Paid Video

YouTube will be part of our marketing strategy’s core, as it is the most powerful digital

tool Spain possesses (in terms of advertising). Firstly, the platform has 40.70 million users,

meaning that its ad reach is equivalent to 87.1% of Spain’s total population; this is, 92.7% of

Spain’s total internet user base. Approximately, from this ad reach, 51% of its audience is female
and 49% is male, which fulfills the balance we are aiming to in our target audience (DataReportal,

2022). However, although gender classification in this platform benefits our target audience, we

do not have much control on the age of the users that are engaged by our ads.

Taking into account this information, our YouTube’s marketing strategy consists in

increasing our number of impressions, through the ease by which reach, and frequency are

achieved (due to YouTube’s great scope over Spanish population).

To accomplish this, first we will use True View In-Stream to promote the streaming series

with our pilot trailer. This ad will be used during the first weeks of our advertising schedule, as

we’re introducing a brand-new series, and (for now) we are just seeking the audience attention and

awareness (that’s why we are using CPV); since we are communicating (for the first time) the

story, we’ll need more than 15 seconds to engage the audience. As it can be seen in Figure 8,

besides the video, it will be a little ad with one of our posters; if the user clicks it (CPC), a new

page will appear with new information regarding the streaming series and the subscription to HBO

Max (just as with Instagram’s and Tik Tok’s CPC advertising).

Figure 9: True View In-Stream

 A few weeks later, when the audience understands and recognizes the streaming series,

Bumper ads will start to appear in YouTube videos. By showing a non-skippable teaser of 6

seconds, we will increase the impression’s frequency, so that the audience now encourages to take

the next step: the conversion that will drive them to subscribe to HBO Max, because they really

desire to watch the new series. As well (like it’s shown in Figure 9), besides this Bumper there

will be a little ad that will direct the consumer to the subscription page with the streaming series

poster.

Figure 10: Bumper Ads

Lastly, throughout all these weeks destined for advertising, the ad In Search will always be

used; taking advantage of the users interested in our competitors’ content (specified at the end)

helps us to reach effectively and more easily our target audience. This ad tool does not aim for

number of impressions and frequency, but just for effectiveness in our ads reach. Thus, when users

search for content of The Wilds, Stranger Things, Black Summer and Z Nation (our competitors),

our teaser trailer ad will appear as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 11: Discovery Ads - In Search

8.2.3 Influencer Marketing

As mentioned above, social media is an important topic within the plot of the streaming series

"Plants vs Zombies", so the influencer marketing in addition to working to promote the series,

plays an important role in bringing this theme from fiction to reality, to somehow make the viewer

feel part of the universe of the series. On the other hand, the strategic selection of Spanish

influencers that have thousands and millions of followers, (Luc Loren (Influencer and Dj) (See

figure 12), Pol Granch (musician and actor) (See figure 13), Ester Exposito (Actress and

influencer) (See figure 14)) will help to reach a target audience that will undoubtedly enjoy the

content. Since these have a power of influence, people will take everything they say as a personal

recommendation. Their performance will be measured in impressions.

 Figure 12: Luc Loren’s Instagram

Figure 13: Pol Granch’s Instagram

Figure 14: Ester Expósito’s Instagram

8.2.4 Radio

Mention

Given that “Los 40” is the most listened musical radio station in Spain (See table 6), with an

estimated audience of 3.79 million listeners every day, and because of the type of people who

listen to it, is remarkably similar to our target audience, we decide to go to this station in order to

build frequency.
 During the broadcast of the program “World dance music”, on Saturdays, it will be asked to

make a mention by the radio host Dj Nano, because this program transmits and talks about

electronic music, and because of the theme our streaming Series is related to it.

There will also be competitions for 10 people to attend the premier and red-carpet streaming

series "Plants vs Zombies", in order to generate interest and expectation. The 10 winners will be

able to meet as amazing cast as the one in this series, which features personalities such as Lady

Gaga, Zendaya, Timotheé Chalamet, Tom Hardy, among other world-famous actors.

Table 6: Ranking of the largest music stations in Spain, monthly average.

8.2.5 Out of Home

For advertising out of home, we decided to strategically choose locations in the cities of

Madrid, Barcelona, and Ibiza, in order to reach our target audience and also people with a good

purchasing level. Therefore, the main streets were chosen to locate fence cars, stocks, and Mupis,

as well as the largest and busiest shopping centers in the three cities to place advertising in

elevators and electric stairs.

Since Ibiza is a crucial point in our product, it is in this place that there will be more

advertising, especially in the most important and famous clubs, since the film will be developed in

a similar environment.

In addition to the location, they thought of a striking poster design, to attract the interest of

consumers, by giving them a small idea of what the series will deal with, as well as letting them

know the very attractive cast it has (as can be seen previously in figures 1 & 2). The idea to

specifically target these characters (Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Tom Hardy, Lady Gaga and

Chris Hemsworth), is to attract as many people as possible, since these celebrities are known

worldwide and they’re on the rise. People talk about them, they all want to see everything about

them. In other words, they’re trending. Although the cast has other important personalities, its

image will not be implemented in the promotional posters, since it is intended to leave this surprise

factor.

Madrid

Shopping Mall “La Vaguada”; La Vaguada is not only the first shopping center that opened

in the city but is also the most profitable in Spain. It is by no means the largest (it has an area of
85,000 square meters spread over 3 upper floors and 2 parking), but its commercial and leisure

offer is what gives it its importance. Besides, it only closes 4 days a year.

It also has a space for young people dedicated to new technologies, video games and e-Sports.

For these reasons, the shopping center La Vaguada, can gather our target audience in one place,

so the implementation of advertising in electric elevators and stairs, is of great help to publicize

the series "Plants vs Zombies".

On the other hand, it is intended to implement the use of Mupis and Culatas (see figures 15 &

16), in Street “Gran vía”, the Gran Vía is one of the main streets of the Spanish city of Madrid. It

begins in the street of Alcalá and ends in the Plaza de España. It is an important landmark in the

city since its construction in the early twentieth century, seen from the commercial, tourist and

leisure point of view (see figure 17).

Figure 15: Culata

 Figure 16: Mupi

Figure 17: Map of Street Gran vía, Madrid

 Barcelona

La Maquinista is the largest shopping center in Barcelona, is in the neighborhood of Buen

Pastor, in the district of San Andrés, the main north and northwest entrance to Barcelona that

directly connects the highways with the rounds that surround the city. La Maquinista responds to

a new concept of shopping center, with a wide range of commercial, leisure, catering and services

distributed in 230 establishments to which more than 31,000 m2 of surface are added destined to

open spaces. Implementing advertising in elevators and electric stairs in this mall, would mean

many impressions and reach.

Another point of interest in Barcelona for our marketing plan is “Avenida Diagonal”, it is

the longest avenue in Barcelona and one of the most important, dividing the central district in two

(See figure 18). This is why, if it is implementing a cart fence that runs along this avenue, it will

be reaching more people, without overexposing the public to advertising, since it will gain

frequency, without exceeding the ideal of 3 to 6 times (See figure 19).

Figure 18: Map of Avenida Diagonal, Barcelona

 Figure 19: Desing of cart fence

Ibiza

In Ibiza there is no place for large centers overflowing with shops and franchises. Instead, the

shopping mall “La Sirena & Art” meets the commercial expectations of the island; they are the

great reference for shopping in their multi-brand spaces and have two things that make them

unique: more than 50 years of history (1964 was the opening date of La Sirena and 1966 of Art)

and its location. Always located in the urban network, they are easily accessible, and it is not

necessary to travel by car to visit them.

It is for this reason, that as in Madrid and Barcelona, placing advertising inside the mall on

elevators and electric stairs, can help reach. In addition, this shopping mall is the one that brings

together all the inhabitants of Ibiza. Moreover, it is a tourism site par excellence for foreigners (or

even Spaniards themselves) in Ibiza.

 As Ibiza is so small, we prefer not to resort to advertising on the streets, as this could saturate

people with advertising. Instead, taking advantage of the fact that the plot of our streaming series

is developed precisely in Ibiza, it will be promoted next to the most famous clubs of the place

(Ushuaia, Pacha, Hi Ibiza), benefiting both the stables and the series "Plants vs Zombies". A type

of product placement will be made, mentioning and even showing the clubs in the series;

promotion is expected in exchange within the establishments, when recommending the streaming

series, from the creation of drinks or plans, with names referring to the series.

8.2.6 Promotion

For promotion, an alliance will be made with the Spanish brand of energy drinks "Eneryeti",

since this is positioned as a benchmark brand in the market of energy drinks in Madrid and

throughout Spain (see figure 20). This brand was chosen because first, it is a Spanish brand, and

considering that our target country in this marketing plan is Spain, what better to appeal to the

nationalist sentiment of the Spanish, with a drink that they consider own. Secondly, this drink may

be related to the theme of the series.

With this alliance both parts come out won, the Eneryeti brand will be aware of the trend, and

the series "Plants vs Zombies" will be associated with a product that the Spanish public loves; this

will be done specifically with the cherry flavor drink, which is the original flavor of the brand (See

figure 21).
Figure 20: Eneryeti promotion. Can design

Figure 21: Advertising for Eneryeti Promotion

8.3 Premier

Since the series "Plants vs Zombies", will premiere worldwide on June 1, 2022, it is

intended to make an event for the premiere in the city of Madrid on May 31. A red carpet with the

entire cast of the series, and screening of the first chapter "A night to remember, a night to forget",

in front of a selected audience, composed by influencers, critics, press, and people who have won

entrance to the premier through the contest held on the radio. At the end of the screening, the

audience will be able to ask questions to the cast and filmmakers.

 Chapter 9

Competitors

The competitors that we face are characterized by having certain similarities with our theme,

that is why we present the competitors that we want to face.

9.1 Black Summer

Figure 22: Black Summer Poster Figure 23: Black Summer Release date poster

Black Summer is a drama in which the protagonists are zombies, and they will experience

the most complicated summer in history. The series focuses on the story of a mother separated

from her daughter who tries to find her by all possible means. In this quest, she must face a hostile

world with the help of a group of refugees. In addition, she must make difficult decisions because

of her brutality. All this, with a new lifestyle in the zombie apocalypse.
9.2 Z NATION

Figure 24: Z NATION Poster Figure 25: Z NATION Poster 2

The survival of humanity depends on a single survivor of the deadly virus, so a group of

special agents will have to transfer him to a special laboratory to analyze his blood and thus find a

cure. Z nation seeks to find the cure through faith in science.

9.3 Stranger things Season 4

Figure 26: Stranger Things Poster Figure 27: Stranger Things Poster 2
 As well we must consider the series and movies that are going to be released around June

the 1st as they can affect directly the consumption of our product. For example, on May 27th the

long-awaited season four of the series Stranger Things will finally be available for everyone to

watch. Even though this content won't be on the same VOD platform that our project, it is a popular

show with a buildup audience. The fans of the series have been waiting more than a year to watch

this new part of the story. These two streaming series may not talk about the same, but they both

include a group of young people who need to fight or escape from a scary monster or a dead person

who is revived.

9.4 The Wilds

Figure 28: The Wilds Poster

This is one of the most expected series to be released in May 2022, in the streaming

platform of Amazon Prime. Besides being a clear competition due to its release date and platform

of exhibition, The Wilds may be a tough player for us, as the story has some similarities and is

directed to a similar target audience. The series is about a group of teenagers that, coming from
different origins, remain trapped in a remote island; without knowing it, they will be the

protagonists of a complex social experiment. It is aimed for youngsters, specially Lost fans (an

older series); perhaps this could be one of our advantages over The Wilds: being considered almost

like a remake or tribute to an older series, therefore, it may be more difficult to engage people.

9.5 Obi-Wan Kenobi

Figure 29: Obi-Wan Kenovi series poster

Even though the new upcoming Disney+ series’ story has nothing to do with our storyline,

we perceive this product as a competitor, firstly, because of its release date: May 27th, just a few

days before our release. Despite being a four-quadrant type of content, the powerful expectation

created by all the Star Wars franchise steals the engagement of a great proportion of our target

audience. This series becomes an even tougher player to overcome when taking into account that

its exhibitor its one of HBO Max’s biggest competitor: Disney+.

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