AMC gives fans of 'Mad Men' reason to get more animated
AMC put a full PR campaign behind the third season of its Golden Globe-winning show Mad Men, including a partnership with Banana Republic, events in New York, and robust media outreach.
Company: AMC
PR agency: Deep Focus
Campaign: Mad Men Yourself
Duration: July 27-ongoing
AMC put a full PR campaign behind the third season of its Golden Globe-winning show Mad Men, including a partnership with Banana Republic, events in New York, and robust media outreach. The network worked with artist Dyna Moe to create MadMenYourself.com, which allows fans of the show to make animated avatars in Mad Men-era clothes and settings.
Strategy
With a passionate fan base already following the show, the network wanted to gain a broader audience and leverage word of mouth.
“We definitely felt there was an opportunity here to do something in the social
networking space and build something that had the potential to go viral,” explains Gina Hughes, VP of marketing at the network. AMC worked with Deep Focus on digital outreach.
Tactics
As fans of the show created their Mad Men avatars, they were also able to post them as their profile pictures on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks.
AMC used a grassroots approach, spreading the word to bloggers and traditional media members, many of whom included their own Mad Men creations with final articles. In addition, the network used Facebook and Twitter to tell fans about the site.
Results
Within three weeks, more than 600,000 people had created their own avatar. “It was like wildfire,” says Theano Apostolou, AMC's SVP of PR, talent relations, and promotional events. The conversion rate was also high. “At least 90% of people who go to the page complete it and ‘Mad Men' themselves,” notes Hughes.
Future
“The MadMenYourself application will remain out there,” says Hughes. “We're exploring the idea of doing some updates to refresh the experience.” AMC will continue to incorporate online and viral elements into all of its campaigns, she adds.
