Objectives

• Drive tune-in to Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Miracles of Christmas movies through a strategic and creative social media campaign in Q4 2020.
• Position Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies as the ultimate destination to celebrate everything “Christmas” and the “holiday season” all while driving tune-in to the movies.
• Tap into a creative new Pinterest Collections ad format to breakthrough the clutter of the Christmas movies and remind fans to tune in to Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies Mysteries new movies, while providing them ideas for the Ultimate Viewing party.

Strategy and Execution

In December 2020, the Crown Media social media team collaborated with Pinterest to tap into a new Pinterest Collections ad format, which enables advertisers to include up to four or five images within the center key image, called the,  “hero image” with the idea to tell different stories on Pinterest.  Fans can click on the hero image but can also scroll through the other smaller PINS and swipe to see the full images. (Please refer to images included in the image section).

For the Pinterest Collections ad campaign, we created a weekend premiere graphic of the all new Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel on Saturday and Sunday and on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries on Saturday and Sunday with date and time prominently listed. For the supporting PINS, we also looked at this as an opportunity to bring awareness about our three-time Daytime Emmy® nominated Hallmark Channel original lifestyle series. "Home & Family" which airs new original episodes Monday through Friday featuring recipes, cooking segments, DIYS, and about our Hallmark Channel inspired products available on Hallmark.com such as socks, mugs, totes and more. The supporting Pins used to create the “Ultimate Watch Party” included fun recipes ideas for hot chocolate or cookies from Home and Family, Hallmark Channel #1 socks to get comfy, Hallmark Channel Bingo Game, DIY heart warmers or DIY candles from Home and Family to create the Christmas ambience and Hallmark Channel branded Mug to pour your hot chocolate in while you snuggle in and watch Christmas Movies on Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies &Mysteries.

The ad creative not only included direct tune-in but also provided fans creative ways to make the ultimate viewing party for the Christmas movies. Pinterest being a social platform for ideas for recipes and DIYS, this ad performed really well reaching a large cross section of the audience and secured optimal likes and repins from our fans.  

Results

• With the breadth and depth of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries brand offering of Christmas movies, the Pinterest Collections ad unit tied everything together making it a one stop shop for a movie night-in with Crown Media Network channels.
• The new Pinterest Collections ad format, which launched over the summer, helped guide prospective customers/viewers from initial inspiration to action.
  • The hero image of the Collections ad (weekend graphic) helped viewers plan their weekend with Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries based on the upcoming all new Christmas movies. Upon clicking the unit, Pinners uncovered additional Hallmark products that could help them complete the movie viewing experience like recipes, comfy add-ons and more.
• Hallmark Channel was one of the first entertainment companies to tap into a relatively new Pinterest ad format that is typically used by e-commerce advertisers and found it be successful.
• Additional stats included :
• Impressions: 10,471,606
• Reach: 5,047,455
• Engagements: 143,735

Media