Photo by Jason Bell

Amazing Data From The Knights’ Broadway Social Bromance

Kicks the stuffing out of Oreo on Twitter, beats Coke on Facebook

Feature Article by Christopher Heine, AD WEEK

If anyone has had more fun promoting a Broadway production than Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart it must have included a hearty diet of adult beverages and illegal drugs.

The pair of legendary actors wowed social media users while pushing their No Man’s Land/Waiting for Godot twinbill, which ran from Oct. through March. It’s worth noting that—outside the occasional usage of a #twoplaysinrep hashtag—the duo’s marketing was unusually subtle. They certainly didn’t cheesily hold up “No Man’s Land” signs or don “Godot” tee shirts, instead focusing on goofing around like chums. Though their digital shenanigans racked up a whopping 600 million impressions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, per exclusive data from Shareablee.

During the six-month period, said the social data company, Stewart tweeted 105 times, garnering about 500,000 retweets and favorites. For sake of comparison, Oreo—widely considered a social branding juggernaut—received some 46,300 Twitter retweets/favorites during the same period, according to Shareablee.

Click here to read the entire feature.

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart starred in a limited run of Harold Pinter’s NO MAN’S LAND and Samuel Beckett’s WAITING FOR GODOT with Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley, directed by Sean Mathias on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.  Previews began October 26, 2013; opening night was November 24, 2013 and it played through March 30.

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