Deadpool’s marketing campaign has been masterful..

From the TV and cinema ads, to the off beat Instagram posts, unusual partnerships and inventive use of social media this has been a masterclass in how to build buzz for a film release.

Below are some of the best fourth wall breaking, hilarious and interactive bits from the campaign.

Deadpool and The Red Devils

As much as it pains us to say; Manchester United are the biggest club in the world. The red shirt is instantly recognisable across the world, with some of the players household names in the far reaches of the planet. Manchester United, in partnership with 20th Century Fox, appeared in an advert for ‘Deadpool’…

“I had that weird Wayne Rooney dream again.” Tongue in cheek, very funny, over one million views on YouTube and a load of chat on social mean that the first part of our roundup is a hit.

Deadpool: The Romantic Comedy

It’s Valentine’s Weekend; a time for couples to cuddle up on the sofa, head out for a romantic meal or maybe go to the cinema to watch a romantic film. Even those in the early stages of wooing might think a trip to the cinema is the ticket to romance. Deadpool’s release proximity to Valentine’s Day wasn’t lost on 20th Century Fox, and so a new campaign idea was born:

A little bit of photoshop and a great idea can go a long way; this rebranding of Deadpool as a romantic comedy struck a chord with social media users the world over as Ryan Reynold’s shared the images via his Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The Emoji Billboard

This is something that agencies think a lot about. “What about a living billboard?” “Why don’t we use a billboard by a massively busy road?” The idea behind it is a simple, but effective one; take a simple, striking campaign and get a load of eyes on it. But what if your image is a little more difficult to understand?

For those not au fait with emoji speak that reads “Dead Poo L.” Ryan Reynolds, when asked about the image, said “I remember saying to FOX’s marketing ‘You don’t have the balls to put that as a billboard’ Evidently they have a very crowded sack…” The brashness of the image proves that nothing is off the table when it came to the promotion of this film, but the success speaks for itself.

Testicular Cancer Awareness

Yes, you read that right.

In what is perhaps my favourite element of the campaign (if such a thing is allowed) Deadpool encourages gentlemen all over the world, aided by an enormous amount of puns, to check their testicles once a month for any abnormalities or unusual lumps. It’s a great cause and a hilarious video – proof, if any was needed, that these big budget campaigns have the power to do a little good as well.

Personalised Trailers

The Deadpool campaign demonstrates a number of things but, perhaps more than anything else, that the team behind the campaign understand both news and social media. Making people feel included, making them feel part of the campaign is the holy grail – and they accomplished it with aplomb:

@Sarahsaur81 You made #Deadpool happy, so he made this for you. #ILOVEDEADPOOLpic.twitter.com/b87xs9KTqp

— Deadpool Movie UK (@DeadpoolMovieUK) February 10, 2016

It’s a great, simple piece of content that adds to the noise of the campaign.

Fan Art

Continuing the theme of ‘audience participation’ the team have taken some unusual fan art for Deadpool and giving it centre stage on Ryan Reynolds’s Twitter and Instagram pages:

With Reynolds free to post whatever he likes with regards to the film to his 2 million Instagram followers, and include as many of the fans as possible, the good will that the film and its star are generating is worth more than any standard campaign.

Australia Day

Not to be accused of being America-centric, the people behind the campaign started to look at events further afield to give the Deadpool twist to. Even those thousands of miles away weren’t safe:

Self deprecating of both Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds’s own career, with a few cheeky digs at Australian culture meant that the video has almost 2 million views and has initiated the kind of faux social media controversy that some brands can only dream of.

So there you have it; at times controversial, at times educational, but innovative, tongue in cheek and hilarious throughout.

While it might seem a scattershot approach to the uninitiated what’s crucial here is the ‘Deadpool Voice’ is present in every single aspect of the campaign.

The strategy is clear and masterfully executed; a demonstration of a campaign and a team at the top of their game.

update: The movie set a new record for a Friday in February with an estimated $47.5m from 3,558 cinemas in the US, easily smashing Fifty Shades of Grey’s previous record of $30.3m this time last year.

@TaylorHerringUK Took an incredible £13.8m in UK over its 5 day weekend the biggest February opening doing it without 3D surcharges

— paul ferrer (@paullferrer) February 15, 2016