How AMC is marketing The Vampire Lestat: concert, original songs, more

Sam Reid isn’t a rock star, but he plays one on TV. Although anyone who attended the June 2 premiere party for “The Vampire Lestat” at New York’s Beacon Theater could have sworn that Reid was the real deal.

In full character as the show’s vampire-turned-rocker Lestat de Lioncourt, Reid performed six original songs by series composer Daniel Hart over the course of a 30-minute concert, moving with swagger and owning the stage just as a rock star would. “It was just a great demonstration of why he was the right person for the job,” said one participant Variety.

AMC’s ‘Interview With the Vampire’ has a new title and a new story for Season 3 – as it is now based on ‘The Vampire Lestat’, the second book in Anne Rice’s vampire franchise. That’s why the cabler is treating this as if it’s a brand new series launch — and in many ways it is: “The Vampire Lestat,” as the series has been renamed, has a different tone and focus as the action shifts to the character’s transformation into a rock star.

“It’s one of the best promotions I’ve ever seen, and honestly necessary,” the visitor said. “The change in tone is shocking this season. Instead of downplaying it, they put on a great rock concert and leaned in.”

That premiere event was the culmination of AMC’s music-heavy marketing campaign, designed to transition the show into its new form — and perhaps attract a few new fans along the way.

“Interview With the Vampire” already had a solid fan base, but for those who hadn’t watched before, Kim Granito, chief marketing officer for AMC Global Media, was realistic: “People have usually decided by the time a show’s third season rolls around that they’re probably not going to try it.”

But in the case of “Lestat,” which premieres Sunday on AMC and AMC+, “this is a brand new story told from a completely different angle, from a story and atmosphere perspective,” she added. “So giving it its own title and a moment to relaunch the series felt like the right thing to do… If people could find Season 1 or 2, and it wasn’t for them, then this is a whole new angle.”

“Interview With the Vampire” also received additional samples through Netflix, helping them build a larger audience as they move into the new Season 3 era, she added.

Part of the strategy was the idea of ​​marketing Lestat as a real character and musician. The series has spawned twenty songs, five of which have been released to date on music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. Through Lakeshore Records, AMC recently posted songs including “Long Face,” “All Fall Down” and a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself.” They all appear on the “Vampire Lestat” artist profile pages on various music services.

“The performance of the songs on Spotify and all the platforms we release them on has been really interesting to watch,” Granito said. “On Spotify it’s like three and a half million streams so far, which is not a rock star, so it’s pretty impressive. Then it was a no-brainer for us to do something in the world and bring this character to life. So the Beacon was the perfect venue for that. When we announced we were going to do it, we posted the link for the tickets at midnight a few days later, and they sold out immediately. The company that manages the ticketing process for us told us that it was ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ level of excitement and response.”

AMC also did a Rolling Stone cover, and “The Vampire Lestat” will get some primo space at the Sphere in Las Vegas. (It probably doesn’t hurt that AMC and the Sphere are both in the Dolan family.) Via Amazon Music, “Vampire Lestat” will also appear on the Times Square billboard.

Other partnerships during the season of “The Vampire Lestat” include Pom Wonderful, Fender Musical Instruments Corp. and Spanish designer Palomo. Reid, as Lestat, will appear at Pom Wonderful spots, while Hart played a custom Fender Stratocaster at the recent Beacon Theater concert.

In addition, AMC has also hired renowned rock photographer Frank Ockenfels 3 to photograph this season’s most important artworks.

“It wasn’t just about the execution and where it shows up, it’s about tone and atmosphere and staying true to what the audience wants, but also how a rock star would show up in the world,” Granito said. “One of the things we’re really trying to do, especially with the genre content that we have, is not looking at marketing as pure promotion and really looking for participation and experience. What happened Tuesday night was kind of a perfect execution of that.”