Group 4 - Round Table Media

Case 14-1: Viral Promotion

Problem Statement: The CW’s show Gossip Girl has lost live viewers, which decreases the value of the advertising spots available during the show. The network seeks to increase live viewership by incentivizing viewers via a creative, viral campaign to watch Gossip Girl live instead of recording the show and watching it later.

Critical Factors: A. The primary target market for this campaign is women, 18-24 years of age. The CW is the only network capturing women in this target. The secondary target market is college males. B. Increased use of digital video recorders, websites streaming television shows, and services like DirecTV and Tivo means that viewers are choosing to record shows and watch them later, and can fast forward through commercials.1 C. The CW has requested this campaign be a non-traditional and outside-the-box publicity and promotional campaign. The CW network executives highly admired Jack in the Box’s “Hang in There Jack” campaign and its use of non-traditional media. D. The CW Network has fourteen weeks to launch a viral Gossip Girl media campaign before the next season premiere, then the campaign will continue while Gossip Girl airs. E. Gossip Girl emphasizes fashion and technology, and is influential in these industries. F. The success of the promotional campaign will be measured by changes in ratings during the time of the campaign, and hopefully will result in a significant increase in ratings. G. Gossip Girl is one of The CW’s most popular series, so it is understood that we are working with a large budget.

The Campaign: Gossip Girl’s campaign will consist of two parts, the first is Summer Break, which occurs before the Gossip Girl season premiere. Summer Break will include Visual Gossip, which will include traditional advertising, E-Blasts, which is our method of connecting fans to the world of Gossip Girl, and In the Spotlight, which is a guerilla tactic that will garner live and online attention. During and after the season premiere we move into the next phase of our campaign, The Show Must Go On. This will consist of Gossip Girl University, a watch party at major college campuses, and Wanna Be a Gossip Girl? shopping spree contest, meant to engage live viewers and encourage active participation with Gossip Girl throughout the entire season.

Summer Break (Pre-Show): ● Visual Gossip: We will begin the campaign using traditional advertising starting mid July. Television commercials will air during prime time shows on The CW that have a similar viewing audience as Gossip Girl. We will also put banner advertisements on major entertainment websites such as E! Entertainment, IMDB, and Rotten Tomatoes to advertise to fans when the next season of Gossip Girl begins and how they can get sneak peeks into the new season.

○ Pros: ■ Our target audience is highly invested in prime time television shows on The CW, so they will be very receptive to traditional advertising. (A) ■ Beginning with traditional advertising will be a strong foundation for the campaign. (A) ○ Cons: ■ The CW would prefer to use viral media instead of traditional advertising media. (C) ■ This involves using one form of media to direct viewers to another form of media may be overall confusing. (A)

● E-Blasts: We will give Gossip Girl fans an opportunity to live in the Gossip Girl world, and, and get exclusive content online about the next season. We will launch a website will have limited content for regular users, and premium content that only subscripted users - called “The Gossip Group” - can unlock with a passcode sent to them via text by Gossip Girl. Regular users will be able to see fashion tips and trends, emerging technology, and social media networking, but subscripted users will unlock content like teaser trailers, sneak peek photos, and a forum to discuss Gossip Girl, fashion, and technology.

○ Pros: ■ The website and texting aspects of this part will unify the primary and secondary target audience and keep them involved during the four months before the season starts. (A, C, D) ■ The texting phase will connect our campaign to the plotline of Gossip Girl, and make users feel as if they are part of the Gossip Girl world. (A, C E) ■ Allowing users to discuss Gossip Girl with other fans on the forum will generate word of mouth buzz among devoted fans and the entertainment community. (A, C) ○ Cons: ■ The forum is open and monitored, but negative comments may not be taken down as soon as they are posted. (D) ■ “The Gossip Group” could share content with fans that have not subscribed to the Gossip Girl campaign. (A, B)

● In The Spotlight: Four weeks before the Gossip Girl season premiere the Gossip Girl account will tweet about an opportunity to see a sneak peek of the upcoming season in , Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston with the hashtag #xoxo(city). There will be a projection on a public building in each city that will air a teaser clip of the first episode on a loop throughout a single day. Each week of four weeks before the Gossip Girl season premiere, a different clip will air in one of the four cities. We believe these clips will quickly go viral on social media and YouTube, creating more excitement and anticipation for the season premiere of Gossip Girl. ○ Pros: ■ Each city will have a different clip, which encourages viewers to film the sneak peek projections on their phones then share it to social media and YouTube, so fans will have to search online for the other sneak peeks. (A, C) ■ This would an interactive event, where fans can interact directly with other fans while getting an official sneak peek into the new season of Gossip Girl. (A, C) Cons: ■ The guerilla experiences are limited to only four cities for one day, so only a small amount of fans will see it live. (A) ■ Setting up a projection on a building for a day will be difficult, and require legal permits, media projection professionals, specialized equipment and software to complete. (C, D, G)

The Show Must Go On (During the Show): ● Wanna Be A Gossip Girl?: At the end of each episode there will be a text-blast from Gossip Girl that will be either a riddle or question about the latest episode that viewers will have to answer, via text, in the next 30 minutes in order for a chance to put their name into a raffle. The Grand Prize is a $2,000 shopping spree in New York City with a Gossip Girl star of the winner’s choice. This opportunity will only be available to viewers who watch the show live and participate. ○ Pros: ■ By setting the competition rules for involvement at the end of each episode, this will ensure that viewers are watching the show live. (B) ■ The grand prize will combine the fashion and technology aspects of the show and be large enough to motivate people to participate. (E) ■ The contest will reach both the primary and secondary target audience. (A) ○ Cons: ■ There is a possibility that people will get their friends to send in their answers for them and find a way to participate without watching the show live, or people watching the show live will share answers with others who recorded the show. (A, B) ■ People may become disinterested and stop participating in the contest and watching the show live. (B) ■ Allowing a viewer to spend the day with a star and have an entire shopping spree is expensive. (G)

● Gossip Girl University: We will air the season premiere of Gossip Girl at five major colleges, including Ohio State, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M at College Station, The University of Central Florida, and Michigan State.2 One Gossip Girl star would be at each campus to introduce the season premiere, take pictures with fans, and update their social media about the event. Students will have a plus one to bring a friend who may not go to that college. Gossip Girl University will make watching Gossip Girl a social and interactive event. ○ Pros: ■ This tactic would directly hit our primary target of 18-24 year-old females and secondary targets of college males, and reach other friends and fans who attend the event. (A) ■ Gossip Girl University will encourage fans to watch the season premiere live and with friends, which is a trend that will continue after the watch party. (A, B) ■ Attending an event with friends and a major star will encourage Gossip Girl fans to post about the event and their experience on social media or online. (A, C, E) ○ Cons: ■ Only certain college campuses will be selected, limiting the audience to viewers at those college campuses, so other viewers who can’t attend a watch party might continue recording Gossip Girl. (A, B) ■ Live viewership can still decrease without further incentive to keep watching Gossip Girl live. (B)

Conclusion: We believe implementing one large campaign that will begin 10 weeks before the season premiere of Gossip Girl and continue throughout the season would be the most effective way to increase ratings and gain live viewers. Summer Break will begin with traditional advertising to inform a large audience quickly, and engage fans with E-Blasts. E-Blasts will make fans feel as if they are in Gossip Girl by giving them inside information about the upcoming season, and gives them an opportunity to discuss their love for Gossip Girl with other fans. Next, In the Spotlight provides a creative opportunity for the campaign to go viral and build anticipation. During The Show Must Go On, Gossip Girl University will encourage college age fans to watch the season premiere live, bring friends, and interact with Gossip Girl in person and online. The Wanna Be a Gossip Girl shopping spree contest will be a strong incentive for Gossip Girl’s fashion-guru audience to tune in each week. Overall, we believe this campaign will create so much anticipation among our target audience, that they won’t be able to wait to watch Gossip Girl each week.

Additional comments/recommendations: ● The success of this campaign will be determined by measuring the hopeful increase in ratings for Gossip Girl from the previous seasons to the current season. ● This is a very expensive campaign; however, we believe that all of the tactics we have proposed for Gossip Girl are worth the large expense. ● We did not feel the need to address competition as a critical factor or issue. The CW is the only network that has a primary audience of women age 18-353, which captures Gossip Girl’s audience also. However, other networks might try to capture part of this audience, so The CW should continually check other network’s programming. ● Keep in mind to check the weather before the building projections, the shopping spree, and campus watch parties. Bad weather could greatly affect the impact of these events, and if they go poorly they could generate negative publicity about Gossip Girl.

References

1 “TV viewing at 'all-time high,' Nielsen says.” CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/24/us.video.nielsen/

2 “10 Universities With the Largest Undergraduate Student Populations.” US News Education. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2014/09/25 /10-universities-with-the-largest-undergraduate-student-populations

3 “The CW Builds Over Year Ago in Target Categories. The Futon Critic.” http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2009/10/13/the-cw-builds-over-year-ago-in-target- categories-33069/20091013cw01/#IGl95mFhI1TITmVZ.99