How A24’s Easter egg marketing strategy for “The Drama” generated buzz, and what marketers can learn from it.
The Drama sparks curiosity by leaving Easter eggs for consumers
Collecting inspiration for your next marketing campaign
Have you seen the drama with The Drama? A24’s latest release has been a popular topic of conversation among consumers and marketers alike, sparking new conversations about how to reach and engage today’s distracted audience.
We’re used to actor interviews, billboards, and trailers to promote a new film, and while The Drama has certainly been using these classic strategies, they’re also taking more of an “Easter egg” approach to give viewers a unique experience and drive excitement for the film’s release.
An Easter egg can take multiple forms: it could be an inside joke targeted to a certain group of viewers, or it can be a hidden message or photo that someone might not notice on their first watch. The phrase was first attached to the video game Adventure, created in 1980 for the Atari 2600 console. In this game, if the player moved their cursor over a specific pixel, which the developer called “The Gray Dot,” they would see the message “Created by Warren Robinett.” This was a rebellious move toward the owners of the game, who didn’t include programmers’ names in the credits. From there, the concept has grown to secret messages in movies and TV shows, books, music, and other forms of media.
If you’re a Swiftie, you know Easter eggs all too well (wink, wink). Taylor Swift has popularized Easter eggs in the music industry, dropping clues on social media, in music videos, and even songs to hint toward upcoming releases. She’s had so many, in fact, that in 2025, Cosmopolitan pulled together a list of her 60 “most brilliant” Easter eggs, and we’re sure they had many more to choose from.
The Drama started dropping Easter eggs in December 2025, when an engagement announcement appeared in the Boston Globe for two people named Emma Harwood and Charlie Thompson, with a photo of Robert Pattinson and Zendaya attached. The wedding date? April 3, the movie’s release date.
Of course, Robert Pattinson and Zendaya are two very recognizable actors. The marketing team knew this would spread like wildfire while also making consumers feel like they discovered a secret Easter egg.
Next, engagement photos of the two actors were featured on Norman and Blake, a real wedding photography account on Instagram. There was no mention of the actors’ names or tags to their Instagram handles, just wedding photographers sharing content like they normally would. Followers and scrollers who came across the post picked up more of the film’s Easter eggs, piquing interest in the project that would later come to light in a more obvious way.
On Valentine’s Day, A24 launched “charlieandemmaforever.com,” a makeshift wedding website sharing information about the “couple’s” wedding day, complete with FAQs, things to do in Boston, and details about Charlie and Emma’s story. Wedding websites are a popular avenue real couples take to give in-depth information about their wedding day. Not only was A24 in tune with this, they knew that their target audience would engage with it.
This organic approach allowed A24 to stir excitement, and even a bit of confusion, about the film. These tactics didn’t tell viewers what the film was about, instead playing with consumers’ natural curiosity to get people to go see it, regardless of whether or not they saw a trailer.
By spreading these Easter eggs in the months leading up to the film’s release, A24 created a story in viewers’ heads, leading to a $14.4 million accumulation at the box office during the film’s opening weekend in the United States. It ranked number three among new releases that weekend and came out on top of A24’s 2025 release “Materialists,” which made $11.3 million when it first opened. The film also received high ratings from audiences and critics, with reviews on Rotten Tomatoes reaching a 77% critic score and 78% audience score 10 days post-release.
More than the numbers, The Drama has inspired marketers inside and out of the film industry to get creative and see how we can use similar tactics to drive traffic.
Ready for a new approach that stands out without feeling stale? Here are a few ways to incorporate an organic feel to your next marketing campaign:
The Drama is an example of a clever marketing strategy that takes viewers through a series of emotions in order to draw attention. At its core, A24 didn’t reinvent marketing with this campaign, it remembered what good storytelling feels like. In an era where consumers are bombarded with ads, the campaigns that cut through aren't always the loudest ones. Sometimes they're the ones that whisper just enough to make people lean in. Next time you’re planning a marketing campaign, consider how you can share a story with your audience. It may be just enough to get them to bite.