Romany Malco's Tijuana Jackson
addressing racial injustice through a mockumentary film
Situation Analysis
With the release of his first feature-length film and directorial debut, actor Romany Malco had much more than profits and fame on his mind. Through the film, Tijuana Jackson, Purpose over Prison, Romany delivered with humor and authenticity a critical and timely social message to his audiences regarding systemic racism, the mass incarceration of communities of color, and the complexity of respecting all black lives in a nation that has consistently rejected these values.
Our team was brought on board to support the project by providing Romany with targeted, high-level strategic positioning and specific outreach to media on his role as a fresh and engaging spokesperson for these issues and on the message and meaning of the film.
Solution
Our team was specifically tasked with quickly coming on board to support Romany in communicating his personal advocacy and socio-cultural vision behind the digital launch of Tijuana Jackson, Purpose over Prison. We developed a strategy, media pitches, and talking points aimed at elevating the complex issues that the film addresses through its main character, Tijuana Jackson.
Although Romany has been communicating to audiences directly on social media through the voice of Tijuana Jackson for many years, Our efforts were focused on positioning Romany firmly as a thought leader and a new national media spokesperson related to these issues. We developed talking points to support his media conversations and interviews; developed a thoroughly-researched list of qualified, top-tier media contacts whose coverage focuses specifically on the intersection of media/entertainment and issues surrounding racism in America; and pitched this targeted contact list with tightly tailored email and phone pitches. These pitches were customized for each contact and appealed to what would matter most to their audiences as it applies to the film and a discussion with Romany.
Results
We were able to secure top-tier stories in print, online and broadcast media that- for the first time in his career- positioned Romany as a serious director and thought leader in the national conversation surrounding civil discourse and racial unrest. Our targeted, message-focused media outreach efforts resulted in more than 38,491,803 impressions through feature placements in markets spanning from Miami to Los Angeles.
The coverage focused specifically on Romany’s goal in creating Tijuana Jackson and his vision for it as a gateway to the education and humanization of all black lives, including those entrenched in our country’s judicial system. The highlight among these earned media placements includes a full feature in the LA Times, secured by our team and supported by the talking points we provided, about Romany and Tijuana Jackson as a film created for the “anti-racist audience”- an audience term we helped to coin and that first appeared in this article.
Following this coverage and within two weeks of its, Tijuana Jackson was among the top downloaded films on iTunes, ranking #7 in comedies, #8 in indie films, and #23 overall in all films downloaded on the digital platform. Tijuana Jackson also ranked #17 in all digitally accessible films at that time, and was featured on the homepage of Amazon’s Prime Video section as one of the top new releases at that time. It was also one of the top streaming movies on Fandango throughout the first month of its digital launch.