Queen of the South

challenge

Queen of the South is USA's English adaptation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s best-selling novel La Reina del Sur. The story first came to Hispanic TV households in 2011 in the form of a Telenovela that became Telemundo's biggest hit.

USA sought to generate the same level of success as Telemundo, but their efforts seemed to be doomed from the start. Unlike the Telenovela, the drama featured a Brazilian actress playing a Mexican heroine and was set in the United States instead of Spain. The inconsistencies with the original story enraged viewers and generated a lot of negative sentiment on USA's social handles. Show creators became nervous, and the brand pulled back on its marketing support, bringing a $2MM Hispanic Media budget down to $150k.

Objective

To combat negativity, the team employed a social influencer strategy that leveraged key Latino entertainment voices. We maximized the small budget by co-creating over 270 pieces of content to drive buzz.

#YasQueenOfTheSouth

Influencer Campaign

Micro Influencer Campaign

Watch Party

Editorial

Results

Campaign efforts generated over 22MM impressions, 43K engagements, and a social reach exceeding 6MM. Fast forward to the 3rd episode where Queen of the South became and remained the #2 & #3 cable program of the night across all adults and the #1 cable show among Hispanics.

awards & Accolades

1500 Reasons to Believe - May 2015
Best Media Plan, Group M

Given the success of our #yasqueenofthesouth campaign, Group M awarded the team with a 1500 Reasons to Believe award for Best Media Plan.