On Christmas Day 2025, Marty Supreme — starring Timothée Chalamet as shoe salesman-turned-table tennis phenom Marty Mauser — hit theaters, earning critical acclaim and beating box office records.
In the process, its campaign became a standout example of the strength of culture-first marketing, in which promotion and messaging is rooted in current cultural conversations and trends rather than solely in the product or service advertised. For film studio A24 and Marty Supreme, this strategy came in the form of strategic celebrity influencer activations, surprise moments, and fan-focused content.
We used Explore+, Meltwater’s enterprise-grade intelligence platform, to analyze the global Marty Supreme conversation and uncover lessons for marketers and brands looking to create their own highly engaged, cross-platform cultural moments.
How big was the cultural conversation around Marty Supreme?
Our Explore+ analysis found that Marty Supreme’s end-of-2025 promotional campaign helped the film generate 743,000 mentions and 61M engagements across social, digital, and traditional media from October 1 to December 31, 2025.
Some of the campaign’s most talked about moments drove visibility by engaging with the cultural conversation already swirling around the film’s star.
For example, one of the most successful pieces of Marty Supreme content ahead of the film’s theatrical release addressed a fan rumor that Chalemet is actually British rapper EsDeeKid. On December 19, a music video featuring the film star rapping alongside EsDeeKid put those rumors to rest. Chalemet’s corresponding Instagram Reel, featuring him rapping the words “Marty Supreme”, has generated over 3.2 million likes and counting. Even though it is only tangentially related to the film, it was the most engaged social media post about Marty Supreme in the lead up to its premiere.
Similarly, the film’s merchandise — windbreakers by luxury streetwear brand Nahmias — leaned on Chalemet’s celebrity network to make it a coveted item. As covered by major fashion outlets like Vogue, a slew of Chalemet’s famous friends, including Kid Cudi, Tom Brady, and even Susan Boyle, wore the jackets in social posts and out in public. The Hollywood in-group positioning paid off. About 7% of Marty Supreme mentions and 6% of overall engagement were just about the jackets.
In the end, both the EsDeeKid and windbreaker activations boosted the film’s visibility beyond just cinema lovers (or ping pong enthusiasts) to Gen-Z fans of hip-hop, luxury fashion, and pop culture. But how well did it work?
How well did Marty Supreme’s marketing campaign do?
For marketers, the buzz around the Marty Supreme campaign begs the question of whether or not its tailored approach was a success. To learn more, we sized it up against another buzzy film of 2025: F1: The Movie.
Focusing solely on the three days following each film’s domestic release date, our analysis found that Marty Supreme generated about 5 times the conversation that F1: The Movie did, but only about two-thirds of the engagement.
| Film | Mentions (first 3 days in theaters) | Engagements | Engagements per Mention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marty Supreme | 155,000 | 3,700,000 | 23.9 |
| F1: The Movie | 31,000 | 6,000,000 | 193.5 |
For F1: The Movie, official and high-profile brand partnerships, including those with Mercedes-Benz and Scuderia Ferrari, drove engagement across social media. As touched on above, Marty Supreme’s marketing relied more heavily on a pop-culture-first approach, with limited-edition partnerships with Nahmias and Wheaties.
In the end, F1: The Movie’s auto-focused brand partnership strategy came out ahead of Marty Supreme in terms of engagement.
The biggest Marty Supreme moments ahead of its premiere
Beyond Chalamet’s EsDeeKid feature and designer merchandise, a few key moments helped build buzz for Marty Supreme. First, the film’s surprise global premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 6, 2025, resulted in a nearly 3,000% increase in mentions according to our analysis.
The previous mystery surrounding the film, as well as its dramatic reveal at the festival, helped drive the buzz around the moment and build anticipation among wider audiences. As with the December EsDeeKid reveal, Marty Supreme marketers used secrecy, starpower, and cultural relevance to build and capitalize on hype.
Another screening on December 9 drove the movie’s second-largest conversation spike, thanks in part to Chalamet’s red carpet appearance with partner Kylie Jenner in matching, orange custom Chrome Hearts outfits. Harkening back to Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears’ infamous, matching denim outfits at the 2001 American Music Awards, Chalamet and Jenner’s striking ensembles solidified their status as Hollywood’s latest “It couple”.
Along with fueling audiences’ fascination with celebrities and their personal lives, it gave fashion publications and commentators a new hook for discussion of Marty Supreme. For example, the above post from Vogue’s Instagram account featuring the looks has generated over 862,000 in just one month. Previously, fashion-focused discussion of the film centered on the exclusive merch that Chalamet gifted to stars both in and around the movie, including Jenner, Tom Brady, Frank Ocean, and, most surprisingly, British singer Susan Boyle.
Finally, and unsurprisingly, the biggest boost for Marty Supreme mentions was its December 25 theatrical release in the US. That day, discussion reached its highest volume at nearly 47,000 mentions, fueled by both promotional content and audience reactions.
Overall, across 90 days’ worth of Marty Supreme discussion, sentiment skewed positive (27%), reflecting the film’s favorable critical reception. And while celebrity endorsements and high-profile premiere moments didn’t make for record-breaking engagement, they helped make Marty Supreme one of the most anticipated and well-received movies heading into 2026.
What marketers can learn from Marty Supreme
Our analysis uncovered three key takeaways from the buzz leading up to the premiere of Marty Supreme:
- High conversation volume doesn’t always equal big engagement.
Marty Supreme generated about five times more mentions than F1: The Movie during its domestic release window, yet F1 achieved nearly eight times higher engagement per mention. This highlights just how critical high-profile brand deals are to amplifying promotional content online. - Mystery and surprise can fuel buzz.
Surprise premieres and creative tie-ins like the EsDeeKid remix helped drive both curiosity and conversation. When paired with cultural relevance, mystery and suspense can drive audience interest. - Celebrity star power drives visibility and widens appeal.
Timothée Chalamet’s personal social media, along with his collaborations and appearances with other high-profile figures like Kylie Jenner, made him the film’s promotional anchor. His celebrity connections across sports, fashion, music, and movies expanded the film’s relevance beyond just its ping pong subject matter. As a result, the film’s marketing campaign successfully drew in audiences that may not have paid attention otherwise.
With AI-powered platforms like Meltwater’s Explore+, marketers can track and measure campaign resonance across channels and optimize in real time and at scale. This is crucial for campaigns like those leading up to the Marty Supreme premiere, in which pop cultural intelligence is a key differentiator.
Learn more about how your brand can use data-driven insights to build campaigns that make a splash — use the form below to request a free test drive of Explore+.
FAQ: Marketing Lessons from Marty Supreme
How big was the cultural conversation around Marty Supreme?
Marty Supreme’s end-of-2025 promotional campaign helped the film generate 743,000 mentions and 61M engagements across social, digital, and traditional media according to Meltwater Explore+ data. Leveraging Timothée Chalamet’s star power, premiere surprises, fashion moments, and music tie-ins, the campaign shows how culture-first marketing and celebrity influence can transform a film release into a buzzy pop culture moment.
How did Marty Supreme perform compared to F1: The Movie?
Meltwater data shows that, in the three days following its domestic release, Marty Supreme generated 155,000 mentions and 3.7M engagements. Marty Supreme generated roughly five times more mentions than F1. However, F1 achieved higher engagement per mention (193.5 vs. 23.9), driven largely by official brand partnerships with Mercedes-Benz and Scuderia Ferrari.
Which moments drove the most conversation for Marty Supreme?
Meltwater data shows that key conversation drivers included:
- The New York Film Festival premiere (October 6, 2025) – 3,000% spike in mentions
- Chalamet and Kylie Jenner’s matching orange outfits at the December 9 screening
- The EsDeeKid remix tied to the film, shared via Chalamet’s personal social channels
- Celebrity sightings in Marty Supreme merchandise, including Jenner, Tom Brady, and Susan Boyle
What can marketers learn from Marty Supreme’s campaign?
Key takeaways include:
- High conversation volume doesn’t always equal high engagement
- Celebrity influence and cultural relevance can extend reach across platforms and online communities
- Data-driven insights from platforms like Meltwater Explore+ help marketers track, measure, and optimize campaigns in real time
