Promo - May 2008 - (Page 58)

“PROMOLAND” OLAND” A Midtown Castle for “The Tudors” To provide the right ambiance for its premiere screening of “The Tudors” second season, Showtime commissioned a castle for midtown Manhattan. The premium cable network didn’t actually have one built. But it did the next best thing: it had the Sheraton Towers Hotel “wrapped” as a medieval castle, complete with turrets. The objective for One Source Visual Marketing Solutions was to bring the full flavor of Henry VIII’s England to New York City in a vivid visual re-creation. “We were trying to bring the authenticity of that period to fruition so that people could believe what it was like back then,” says Michael Frank, vice president of creative and strategic marketing for One Source Visual. The mesh vinyl used to convey the illusion of a castle on 7th Avenue was topped with polyfabric banners emblazoned with “The Tudors” to make the marketing message clear. Burgundy wrapped boards and columns continued the impression in the lobby of the hotel, which was also adorned with posters of the historical drama’s cast on velvet “walls” constructed for the occasion. Costumes from the show were displayed in showcases in the hotel’s rotunda. The interior work was a one-night stand for “The Tudors” premiere event, but the exterior illusion was maintained for three weeks, through the March 30 debut of the series’ second season. One Source VMS also produced counter cards and DVDs to build on the visual branding campaign and designed decks of playing cards, with plans to distribute 35,000 as incentives for new Showtime subscribers. After the castle installation was dismantled, it still had a life online in a YouTube video Showtime shot to record the dramatic transformation. —Richard Tedesco PROMO EDITOR GETS INTO THE ACT All the attention in these pages devoted to guerrilla marketing prompted Promo editor-in-chief Larry Jaffee to pull off a stunt of his own. For the past 16 years he has published the Walford Gazette, a quarterly tabloid dedicated to a British television series called “EastEnders.” Although widely popular in its native U.K., the series is no more than a cult favorite on this side of the Atlantic, currently broadcast via public TV in 10 cities and a Dish network subscription. BBC America honcho Garth Ancier last summer got Jaffee’s knickers in a twist when he told an AP reporter that “EastEnders” is “peculiar to Britain The joke around the office, the lesson from that show, is ‘Life is miserable and then you die.’ ” Jaffee thought to himself, “As the Cockneys say, “Them’s fightin’ words!” He recently dropped 5,000 postcards in several waves to long-expired Walford Gazette subscribers, urging fans to send teabags (get the symbolism?) straight to Ancier’s office (one wanted to know if it should be “a used Tetley”), and subscription requests to Jaffee. Within two weeks the campaign broke even as dozens of people—many of whom hadn’t seen the newspaper (www. wgazette.com) in years—started sending Jaffee checks for $25 (one year) or $42 (two years), and teabags to BBC America, which had dropped the show in 2003. Jaffee’s no stranger to raising a ruckus. In January 2005 he led a grassroots effort that raised $35,000 in a month, reversing a planned cancellation by his local PBS affiliate. The New York Times and other press picked up the story. He’s just getting started, mate! Notable Quotes a remark garnered from the Promotion Marketing Association’s 2008 Interactive Marketing conference in Chicago last month: Sally Mueller, director of marketing planning, on Target’s dismissive response to a blogger’s complaints about a billboard ad, and The New York Times’ pickup of that dismissal: “I agree that we could have handled that differently. I think we are learning how to be more transparent, especially with the interactive ad blogging community. We’ll admit that we’re learning, and we are going to make mistakes.” 58 May 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.wgazette.com http://www.wgazette.com http://www.wgazette.com http://WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - May 2008

Promo - May 2008 Contents Editor's Note Eyeballs All the Same... NBC Makes 'Law & Order' a Mobile Game Recession Rewards Comfort Virally Toaster on Wheels Commentary Ay Caramba! The 2008 Interactive Marketing Awards Winners How Bulletproof? Q&A: What a Ride Resource Center The Agency Center Blogging 101 Index of Advertisers

Promo - May 2008

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