On March 24, 2015, Fox announced that The X-Files would return in the form of a six-episode miniseries, with stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprising their roles as Mulder and Scully.

This was a full ten months before The X-Files’ premiere date, which is this Sunday, January 24, in the plumb post-NFC Championship Game time slot.

Fox has been marketing the show ever since its announcement. In this age of too-much TV, a long-range marketing campaign becomes even more essential, even for a show so recognizable and popular,

It all began, as these things are wont to do, with a gif.

This tweet teased the first footage from the show, arriving during the week of San Diego Comic-Con.

It also launched the ultimate binge on Fox’s website, “201 Days Of The X-Files,” a one-a-day X-Files marathon that would take fans or newbies all the way from the beginning to the end of the show in advance of the upcoming event series.

From there, the show’s social media (especially its Twitter) fanned the flames surrounding the Mulder-Scully reunion from creator and showrunner Chris Carter.

The show’s marketing campaign truly got rolling during New York Comic-Con in October, with a panel and a special screening of the premiere episode for the raucous crowd, sparking a huge reaction.

Fox also screened the first episode at MIPCOM, and in December, began peppering the internet with teasers, first looks, trailers and behind the scenes goodies, including the following 20-minute plus featurette.

In January, Fox staged several screenings, including its glitzy premiere at the California Science Center.

This past weekend, the Cinefamily Theatre in LA hosted an X-Files marathon that featured a Chris Carter Q&A hosted by Kumail Nanjiani, among other goodies.

The X-Files showed up for a panel during Winter TCA in Pasadena.

The network has also utilized Snapchat, including a touching tribute to David Bowie.

But once we reached the final week before premiere, it officially became X-Files week.

The opening scene for The X-Files was revealed.

Fox’s show website includes “Do You Still Believe?”, a companion site (doyoustillbelieve.com) that features the opening minute of the revival series, and the ability to join the conversation by uploading a photo of yourself, and sharing it to Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. I joined the army:

This week has also seen stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson gracing the cover of Variety:

On January 15, Fox teamed with Giphy, the do-it-yourself-gif factory, for show-themed camera filters, the first time the company has partnered with a TV series, according to Variety.

You can add UFOs, alien heads and the “I Still Want to Believe” slogan to any photo, or utilize any of the pre-made gifs.

As reported by Variety, Giphy will be “live GIF-ing” the premiere, creating content that can fuel fan’s social media reactions to the two-day premiere.

X-Files teamed with Threadless for a t-shirt design challenge, with the Grand Prize winner now featured in this month’s Loot Crate.

Fox’s X-Files long simmering campaign is the new normal for networks in this overcrowded TV landscape, with the network clearly benefiting from the show’s built in (and rabid) fanbase. Fox has catered to them from the start to build buzz in an effort to round up all the cynics and turn them into #XPhiles.

Fox still wants to believe in the power of the IP. We’ll find out if their belief is warranted during The X-Files’ two-night premiere January 24-25 at 10/9c on Fox.

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