Best Use of Event Marketing (Five or Less Venues)
Agency: Hill & Knowlton
Campaign: 24 Marathon and Fan Fest
Client: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
Interest in the TV show 24 dropped significantly when it was announced that season 8 would be the final season. Maintaining fan engagement from the grand finale episode to the availability of the DVD set was both critical and challenging for Twentieth Century Fox because fan bases had dispersed and media interest was nearly non-existent. Leading actor Kiefer Sutherland was unavailable to support the DVD launch, and the $350 price point for the box set was significantly higher that single-season DVDs. They also had to break through the clutter of thousands of other title launches to reach both existing and new fans, generally 18-34 year old males who were competitive and adventurous.
They decided on a one-time stunt to break the Guinness Book world record for Longest TV Viewing Marathon and appeal to the audience’s adventurous nature. On Dec. 2, 2010, 100 ultimate 24 fans entered a custom-built Plexiglas theater in the middle of the Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, California. Fox Home Entertainment offered $10,000 to the fan who could last the longest. Within the first 12 hours of announcing the competition, more than 500 fans had RSVP’d. One hundred would be accepted and would try to stay awake for 3+ days.
A kick-off party was held and attended by available 24 talent as well as up-and-coming stars and socialites. Facebook and Twitter were used to create buzz, and a national and local media blitz was launched. In the end, three people set the new world record and were crowned the ultimate 24 Fan. Fox Home Entertainment awarded all three winners $10,000 each.
After the event, the winners guested local morning shows. The story generated in excess of $23 million in advertising value and 160 million media impressions, including 90% of the top 10 traditional DVD print/online review columns, as well as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters and The Today Show. It also garnered global publicity as far as Australia.
Fans uploaded nearly 1,000 24 fanfest photos from the photo booth outside the marathon theater. The Facebook page received 20,000+ ‘likes’ and 8,100 comments, YouTube videos garnered nearly 130,000 views, and the Twitter hashtag #24marathon was used 37,064 times and reached more than 15,000 users.
As a result, the 24 box set was one of the studio’s top five all-time best-selling TV-on-DVD titles for 2010.
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