Frenzied Waters is a transmedia experience which brought the visceral terror of a shark attack directly to its audience creating an environment of frenzied excitement to launch Discovery Channel’s 2009 Shark Week.
We approached Frenzied Waters as though it were a horror movie, crafting fictional attacks in the first person casting the viewer as the victim.
We engaged entertainment industry influencers, giving them their own stories to tell and harnessed the resulting buzz through combining a powerful digital experience and an innovative application of Facebook.
All of this resolved in a strong drive to tune-in that created the most watched week on Discovery in 2009.
Click here for more information on Frenzied Waters.
On September 7, 2008, HBO premiered True Blood, a new series about vampires from creator Alan Ball (Six Feet Under). In the show, a synthetic blood beverage called “Tru Blood” allows vampires to walk among humans. HBO faced some specific communications challenges marketing True Blood. Primary among them was creating awareness, building buzz and ultimately driving tune-in.
Also, since the vampire genre skews quite young, they needed to identify and attract a new, harder-to-reach demo. We responded to the challenges by launching an integrated event-level marketing campaign designed to explain the back story behind how vampires discover, market, and ultimately use “Tru Blood” to integrate with society. By leveraging all available promotional platforms to generate wide-scale awareness and broaden the audience of a “genre” show, we enabled a deeper engagement with the show from the outset and built an early and loyal audience.
For more information contact Simone Oppenheimer at soppenheimer@campfirenyc.com or 646 837 0340.
PITTSBURGH GETS ROCKED BY AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS ON AND OFF THE MUSIC STAGE.
In 2008, American Eagle Outfitters created The New American Music Festival in Pittsburgh.
The Advance Guard developed a marketing strategy that included influencer outreach, custom design and on-site blogger attendance
Results: a sold-out concert with exclusive online video and crowd sourced photos.
Pittsburgh is probably best known for The SteelersPrimanti Brother’s sandwichesand Heinz Ketchup. What they are not known for is being a tour stop for most major musical acts.
American Eagle Outfitters (whose headquarters are located in Pittsburgh) set out to change that in the summer of 2008 with the creation of The New American Music Union, or NAMU.
A two-day summer music festival, with acts carefully selected by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and with a college band showcase on a second stage, the goal of the festival was to provide an unheard-of line up at a price that anyone – especially American Eagle’s younger target – could afford.
“Music is a defining influence in our customers’ lives. said Kathy Savitt, Chief Marketing Officer for American Eagle Outfitters. “We’re excited to offer AE them the opportunity to see today’s best musicians—both professionals and college acts—at a price that’s unheard of for a summer festival of this caliber.”
Realizing that, to be successful, they had to attract the attention of more then just local fans, American Eagle set out to build buzz around the festival nationally. Working with social media agency of record, The Advance Guard, a three-phased marketing and communications strategy was developed that began with casting a wide net of buzz generation, narrowing down to a secondary level of contact that included a ticket give away to key pop culture blogs, and finally organizing an innovative on-site program for local and national bloggers at the concert itself.
From the day of the initial press release, every major blog or podcast that focused on music, entertainment or pop culture was sent of the show with links to a specially-designed Social Media Press Release which provided easily-accessible facts links, graphics and quotes. This combined with traditional PR activities to create intense interest across the country. “It’s exciting for Pittsburgh,” says Melissa Franko, marketing director for WYEP-FM. “I think it’s going to bring some national recognition to the city.”
Meanwhile, The Advance Guard began to design the NAMU web site – a constantly evolving beach head for information surrounding the concert. Starting with the line-up announcements, ticket information and purchase links, it would evolve to include full bios and song samples for all the artists. Once the lights dimmed on the concert stage, exclusive performance videos from the show would be posted to the site.
With a line up that included The Raconteurs, Spoon, Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys and Bob Dylan on the main stage and a second stage with fifteen of the top college acts vying for a major prize, it was an impressive and eclectic mix. Anthony Kiedis summed it up by saying, “My experience tells me that concerts can be life changing. That is how I approached putting this lineup together.”
Ticket sales began strong and – with the team creating listings on major music social networks such as Last.FM and integrating promotions into the AE Facebook Fan Page – it didn’t take long for concert to sell out completely, exceeding all expectations.
A block of tickets had been held in reserve specifically to offer to a select list of blogs and podcasts that had reacted positively to the initial outreach. . Knowing that each site editor knows their audience better then anyone, they were encouraged to run a contest that fit their style and their readers. Some asked Pittsburgh Trivia, while others decided to do a good old-fashion raffle to give them away. One wanted to hear the most desperate plea for tickets in order to determine a winner.
August 14th 2008. The parking lot two blocks from American Eagle’s headquarters had been transformed into a stage and, as the artists began to arrive for the show, so did the press and blogging communities. Publications including Paste Magazine and Blender Magazine were invited to attend, and – alongside the traditional press – local new media creators were given all-access passes.
In the photographer pit at the front of the stage, it was no surprise to see a blogger with an iPhone shooting beside a seasoned veteran from Getty Images. A Flickr Photo Pool under a Creative Commons LIcense was set up so that all the photos from the day could be shared by all, and it was a photograph from this pool – shot by The Advance Guard’s CC Chapman – that was used as a full-page ad in Rolling Stone congratulating the winning college band, The Black Fortys.
For all those in attendance – both audience and media – the concert was an amazing event. Paste Magazine wrote “The festival as a whole was a great success… Seeing these bands without even needing a video monitor was a nice change of pace. To have this (level of access) with the caliber of bands Kiedis and AE attracted is truly remarkable.”
To maintain the enthusiasm generated from the stages, exclusive video from the performances were quickly edited together and posted to the web within 48 hours of the last fan leaving the venue. Everyone who had covered the concert to date was contacted again with links to the videos. Fan sites of each band were also notified with links directly to their favorite artist’s videos.
Ultimately, Pittsburgh showed that it could be the host for a major music festival, made possible by the vision of American Eagle Outfitters. By transforming their local parking lot into a venue into the hottest concert venue with thousands of appreciative fans singing along, they brought a world-class music festival to Pittsburgh, and national and new media attention to the City of Bridges.
FiOS is Verizon’s fiber optic connection that delivers jaw-dropping Internet speeds and a truly digital home. Verizon asked Campfire to communicate this idea in a way that went beyond speed tests, tech jargon, competitive ads or online banners. The resulting campaign used TV, Web and events in new ways, to tell the story of five families experiencing a 2.0 transformation. Campfire re-appropriated “paid programming” to launch an original technology makeover show, “My Home 2.0,” then supported it with block parties that energized entire neighborhoods along with a website which let viewers enter the story, and chart their own path to 2.0 living.
USA Network’s The 4400 is a serial sci-fi drama that began its fourth season on June 21st, 2007. USA retained Campfire to excite the existing 4400 fanbase while also creating interest among non-fans and lapsed viewers. The challenge, of course, was finding a way to create a compelling marketing story that would engage an audience already schooled in The 4400 mythology without chasing away potential Season 4 fans who might see the first three seasons as an imposing barrier to Season 4 viewership.
USA Network had ambitious expectations for Season 4 of The 4400. They needed it to stand its ground against stiff Sunday night competition and maintain interest among men from 25-54. The network also wanted to engage women at a higher rate than they’d been able to previously since the show, though thoroughly a sci-fi genre program, had plot elements and characters that should appeal more highly to women.
The 4400 universe is a complex mythology. There are plotlines and characters woven into and out of episodes that require hours of viewing to fully understand. We needed a simple hook that would allow us to simplify the fundamental issues of the program and not have to rely on existing characters and plotlines to deliver us. Enter Promicin.
Promicin is a fictional pharmaceutical taken straight from The 4400. It’s a drug that either kills the user or gives him a superhuman ability. At the end of Season 3, Promicin was being distributed to the general public. In Season 4, we will find the characters dealing with the repercussions of a world overcome with Promicin use. So, we built a bridge in the story that would generate excitement for the season premiere without divulging too much of the new season’s plotline.
For the campaign, Campfire created an atmosphere that paralleled the most heated political debates, with an issue (Promicin distribution) with connotations toward the gun control battle, women’s reproductive rights, or drug legalization issues. We developed the debate from all sides, with a pro-promicin destination, an anti-promicin website, and a neutral watchdog site to monitor activity and host the debate. We invited our audience to pick a side on the Promicin issue and defend it. We also gave users the chance to create their own characters, take Promicin, and explore the imagined limits of their powers.
Pontiac has engaged consumers in a series of innovative experiences, including Pontiac’s Motorati Island, built around a “Power to the People” strategy.
We’ve been extremely sensitive to the Second Life culture. Our insight was there was little “second-generation” experiences in Second Life — ongoing entertainment experience provided by brands.
We created car culture in Second Life with virtual Pontiac cars and car-related entertainment businesses, pursuing a “Fusion” strategy with Pontiac supporting Second Life’s rapid development.
There are three elements to Motorati: 1) Six islands with free land given to 30 specially chosen auto entrepreneurs 2) sales of a virtual Solstice GXP sports car which consumers modify 3) multiple events to draw audience to Second life and Motorati Island.
Commissioned by McKinney Silver for the US launch of the AudiA3
Watch the campaign film for more info (05:03)
Challenge. In the spring of 2005, Audi of America launched the A3, a premium compact which was a new category of car in the North American market. It was loaded with innovations and retailed at a higher-than-expected price. On top of that, other luxury car companies who had attempted this before had failed. Audi faced a significant challenge.
Target. Highly affluent ($150K+), stylish, tech-savvy, web-addicted young men (ages 25-34) who are extremely active and mobile
Solution. “The Art of the Heist” embraced the target audience’s need of control over their environment and invited them into an immersive 24-hour-a-day alternate reality. This story blurred fact and fiction by concocting a mysterious storyline that involved consumers in the recovery of an A3 stolen from AudiÕs Park Avenue headquarters in New York City.
At the heart of the narrative were six new A3s containing coded plans for the largest art heist in history; however, one car contained the key to decrypting the information hidden in all the others, and the mystery surrounding the “heist” unfolded in real time over three months across the country. The Heists final chapter was played out in front of a live audience at the Viceroy Hotel in Los Angeles, where we finally discovered who the real villain was.
Media. Over the course of 90 days, consumers engage with the immersive entertainment experience through:
Television
Newspapers
Outdoor
Commuter Rail
Magazines
Websites
Blogs
Live Events
Email
Podcasts
Films
Seeding
Online Advertising
Direct Mail
Radio
Wild Postings
Voicemail
Results. In the first 90 days of the campaign: » 45 million PR impressions » 2 million AudiUSA.com visitors » 500,000 story participants » 10,000 dealer leads » 4,000 test drives » 1,025 cars sold
Commissioned by Wieden Kennedy for the launch of SEGA ESPN NFL FOOTBALL 2K4 videogame.
Watch the campaign film for more info (11:25)
Challenge. Launch a new console video football game in a market dominated by EA Sports Madden NFL football.
Target. Young men ages 12-25 who are video game enthusiasts and football fans.
Solution. Campfire created a three-month live story around one man’s battle to stop SEGA from releasing a dangerous video game, SEGA ESPN NFL Football 2K4. A beta tester for ESPN/SEGA’s new video football game, our protagonist, Beta-7, finds himself passing out and tackling innocent people randomly. Getting no response from SEGA, he launches a campaign through Web sites, message boards, blogs and other media to tell the world that this soon-to-launch video game may be hazardous to your health and well-being. And SEGA fights back…
Media. Consumers engaged with the immersive entertainment experience through guerilla web sites, viral videos, and real world events.
Results. » The campaign was launched in the middle of 2003 and ran for three months » Overall 2,225,000 people participated the elements of the campaign » Average sticky time was 10 minutes 55 seconds » Despite a late start against industry leader EA, Sega exceeded sales expectations in 2003 by 25% and doubled sales in 2004. » The Beta-7 campaign won major awards at the Andy Award’s, One Show, The Clios, The Art Director’s Club, as well as an unprecedented three Yahoo! Big Idea Chair Awards.
CAMPFIRE WINS FOUR IAB MIXX AWARDS FOR HBO’s TRUE BLOOD
Campfire’s True Blood: Revelation Campaign Wins Best Product Launch, Best Digital Integration, More.
NEW YORK, September 24, 2009 — Campfire, the New York based marketing shop, took home four awards on Tuesday night at the International Advertising Bureau’s MIXX Awards for work on HBO’s True Blood. At [...]
Yosuke Hiraishi, our intern from Dentsu of Japan attended our receptionist’s band Aviation Orange’s performance at the Crash Mansion. His account is highly visual. Check it out.
Technorati Tags: Campfire
Campfire’s own Jeremiah Rosen was recently interviewed by the Financial Times as part of an in-depth piece on our newest campaign for Season Two of HBO’s True Blood. On top of the partnership with Gawker media that is helping to redefine what an “ad buy” can be, the article also covers the brand partnerships, facilitated [...]
Campfire’s trans-media advertising campaign for the second season of HBO’s True Blood continues to gather a ton of attention. The in-story acquisition of vampire news blog BloodCopy by the Gawker network has gotten a lot of people talking and has now made its way into the Associated Press news wire. Click here to read the [...]
(whose headquarters are located in Pittsburgh) set out to change that in the summer of 2008 with the creation of The New American Music Union, or NAMU.
With a line up that included The Raconteurs, Spoon, Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys and Bob Dylan on the main stage and a second stage with fifteen of the top college acts vying for a major prize, it was an impressive and eclectic mix. Anthony Kiedis summed it up by saying, “My experience tells me that concerts can be life changing. That is how I approached putting this lineup together.”
Frenzied Waters, Campfire’s big summer campaign for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, was a huge success.