Doctor Who needs to relearn the 2005 relaunch's greatest trick - viral marketing. Marketing for Doctor Who season 13 was needlessly secretive; weirdly, in the build-up to the first episode, the BBC seemed to think new companion Dan's surname Lewis was a major spoiler. Unfortunately, matters aren't improving in the build-up to the Doctor Who Spring Special, which will feature the return of classic monsters the Sea Devils.

It's generally believed the Spring Special, "Legend of the Sea Devils," will air over Easter. The BBC appear to be focusing all marketing on the weeks immediately prior to release, with some details given to a British sci-fi magazine and April's Doctor Who Magazine expected to give further information. The problem with this approach, of course, is that both magazines are aimed solely at those heavily invested in both science-fiction and Doctor Who, meaning the marketing will reach a limited audience. In the meantime, incredibly, the BBC only confirmed the Spring Special's release date just under three weeks before it aired. It's the exact same kind of approach the BBC followed with Doctor Who season 13 (aka Doctor Who: Flux), and - looking at the viewing figures - it didn't particularly work there either. The BBC's decisions this time round have been even more inexplicable, given March 26 was the anniversary of the 2005 Doctor Who relaunch, which would have been a perfect day to give some actual news; instead, the BBC waited another two days.

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The BBC would do well to look back at Doctor Who's historic marketing back in 2005. Then-showrunner Russell T. Davies' intended audience was wider than simply trying to bring in old-school Doctor Who viewers - he wanted to build up interest in the show, appealing to people who'd never heard of it before. From March 8, 2005, the BBC began to air 10-second teasers focusing in on the different characters, so viewers had a sense of what to expect. The main trailer, called "The Trip of a Lifetime," aired on March 15 in which Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor invited viewers to join him on his adventures; another trailer began to air on CBBC, focusing in on new companion Rose Tyler. The BBC put tremendous effort into ensuring everybody knew Doctor Who was coming back - and making it feel like a real event.

Christopher Eccleston and Rose Tyler played by Billie Piper in Doctor Who stand in front of a Tardis and look up.

The Doctor Who 2005 relaunch was accompanied by a viral marketing campaign that, in a sense, foreshadows the approaches typically taken by the biggest film studios and TV shows today. Doctor Who's website got a rebrand, and ahead of every episode a handful of images were released - with a fully-fledged gallery published almost as soon as the episode had aired. There were interviews galore, exclusive clips, and dedicated trailers. Marketing embraced Doctor Who's "Bad Wolf" arc, dropping clues online - including in tie-in websites released to support the episodes. Some of the websites were interactive; a website for an organization called UNIT could be accessed using a password, so those who found it could pretend they were firing missiles at Downing Street in London. Some episodes were supported by entire games, with the best accompanying the episode "Dalek," following a Dalek escaping the prison cells of wealthy American industrialist Henry van Statten. Needless to say, all this generated intense discussion online, and while this was before the age of social media, many fan groups were thrilled, passing on passwords and clues they'd discovered.

Doctor Who's history makes the paucity of the show's modern marketing seem all the more underwhelming. All these ideas were tremendously effective back in 2005, but in the modern world they'd surely go viral, ensuring everyday viewers - people who wouldn't normally tune in to Doctor Who - would hear about what was going on and be tempted to tune in. The absence of such an approach at present is quite striking, suggesting the BBC is currently only aiming at hardcore fans and sees no need to reach beyond them. Hopefully, Russell T. Davies' return as showrunner will see Doctor Who regain its sense of ambition - and embrace a better marketing strategy to boot.

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