How-To: Building Buzz for a New Television Series
5 Tips from DEI Worldwide's David Reis
When Showtime launched its new series "Weeds", the network knew that 60 percent of consumers research entertainment choices online. Executives approached DEI Worldwide to build buzz around the premiere of the show.
Based on his work with Showtime, DEI Worldwide's CEO David Reis shares five tips on how to build buzz.
Tip #1. Create compelling creative
Over a two month period, David worked closely with Showtime to design compelling marketing messages that supported and complemented Showtime's other marketing efforts. Messages were tailored to best match the interests of each audience (African-American, gay, marijuana enthusiasts, general cable viewers, etc.).
Tip #2. Choose venues carefully
DEI developed an extensive list of chat rooms, message boards, and Instant Messenger message delivery locations for the campaign based on Showtime's desired target audience.
Tip #3. Prepare in-house team for one-on-one conversations
David wanted DEI's in-house marketing associates to engage in one-on-one conversations with consumers about the show, but he knew they needed to have the ability to educate their audience. With that in mind, the associates screened preview episodes of "Weeds" before the series aired and were trained carefully to understand and deliver Showtime's marketing messages.
Tip #4. Be flexible
Through supervision, training, and communication, DEI's team was able to provide valuable marketplace feedback to Showtime. That allowed for constant tweaking of messages and targets, and the ability to dispel negative or false perceptions in real time.
Tip #5. Provide more information
Consumers felt privileged to learn more about "Weeds" and get insider information about a "cool" new series, and David found that a link to the promo was a key to increasing interest and intent to watch the show. He made the recommendation to Showtime to provide even more 'exclusive' information to enhance future word of mouth results.
Over the course of the campaign, series viewership scaled upwards 210 percent, traffic on the show's website spiked, and awareness of "Weeds" increased from 8.3 percent to 14.5 percent -- a total increase of 62.7 percent.
More about David:
Read David's WOM vs. Ads presentation (PDF download)
