With Halloween fast approaching, we set out to infuse the holiday with a scary amount of fun that our Nickelodeon fans could take part in!
We'd seen in the past that our fans on social media loved making their own Nickelodeon creations at home (like slime) and in 2016 we had created a very successful series of shortform videos outlining how fans could create their very own Halloween treats. We knew we had a winning formula on our hands, but wanted to take it to the next level. In 2017 we set out not just to cook up a new, and improved, batch of Halloween DIY videos, but also get Nickelodeon actors involved in tasting these wickedly delicious creations!
We started by reviewing the DIY videos we had made previously to gain audience insights into what had worked best and ensure we didn't have overlap with our prior creations. After determining what had worked in the past and concepting several new recipes, we set to work cooking up our frightful new foods.
We came up with 5 new recipes:
-Zombie Tacos
-Maggot Cupcakes
-Stuffed Cockroaches
-Pickled Rat Tails
-Fruit Monsters
A longform How-To video was created for Facebook and YouTube containing all five recipes, and then we chopped that video into several smaller videos for use on Instagram and Twitter
Lastly, we gathered a couple of our brave Nickelodeon actors together to taste test these creepy creations, all while making sure we had a camera on them throughout the entire process. Utilizing our talent this way helped tie these freaky foods even closer to the brand and created a "React To That"-style experience for our fans. This was a twist on the Instructional Video format that we hadn't seen in the past.
When it came to posting, we scattered these videos all throughout our social platforms during the month of October to give them higher visibility. The one date we specifically focused on was October 16, which also happened to be World Food Day. This was the perfect opportunity to combine our ghastly goodies with a large international holiday!
Taking the Instructional video format one step further by having Nickelodeon actors taste test the creations proved a huge success! While fans loved all the videos, watching them over 1.8MM times across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, it was the Taste Test reactions to these these freaky food concoctions that proved to be a viewer goldmine!
On Facebook, our Actor Taste Test video reached over 70% more fans than our average October 2017 Facebook post, while on YouTube the video racked up over 1MM views with fans commenting on whose reaction they loved the most.
