Bravo Top Chef Just Desserts: Surprise & Delight Goals & Objectives of Campaign/Initiative: BRAVO is a known market leader in the social entertainment space – reaching its passionate audience of digital early adopters through innovative programs that connect viewers with original programming and drive true BRAVO brand loyalty. Following a successful debut season of Top Chef Just Desserts, BRAVO wanted to get fans excited for season 2 and drive tune-in for the premiere episode on Aug. 24, 2011. The key objective was to generate premiere awareness in a way that resonated with the network’s uniquely socially-savvy audience of digital natives. The established success metrics were buzz volume, community growth (Facebook & Twitter) and tune-in. Time Period of Campaign/Initiative: Top Chef Just Desserts premiered on Aug. 24, 2011, with promotions beginning on Aug. 17, one week before the debut episode. Target Audience: The target audience for this campaign was BRAVO’s key “affluencer" target -- comprised of educated & influential digital early adopters -- as well as foodie fans and dessert lovers. BRAVO also wanted to reignite interest among Top Chef fans from previous seasons and generate buzz among people new to the Top Chef franchise. Research: Through research, BRAVO has found that its viewers are uniquely digitally savvy and apt to interact via mobile and social channels. In fact, more than 75% of BRAVO viewers own smartphones (compared to 33% of the general population of US adults, according to the Pew Internet Project). This insight has informed much of the network’s overall marketing strategy, which grants viewers the ability to connect with their favorite original programming and Bravolebrities at virtually any time and any place. Accordingly, BRAVO and 360i’s approach to promoting Top Chef Just Desserts Season 2 focused on engaging a group of social media power users eager for new ways to connect with the brand. Strategy/Execution: Our approach was to invite people to celebrate the sweet things in life with BRAVO and Top Chef Just Desserts through a “Surprise & Delight" campaign based on reaching our fans in fun and unexpected ways. We wanted to raise awareness without simply broadcasting tune-in information to our fans and followers. Instead, we inspired our passionate community to join in the conversation themselves. By evolving people from potential viewers to fans, we sought to build brand affinity that would outlast the premiere episode and live on throughout the entire season. We used social media as a means to create an emotional connection with people, weaving in brand messaging throughout and building buzz leading up to the premiere. The campaign employed a variety of tactics in the social space to surprise and delight potential viewers. We captured attention and built excitement by providing people with unexpected, delicious content across the Web, enabling our fans to experience the tasty, fun side of the show themselves. 1. Mysterious Display Ads & Free Desserts for a Month In one execution, consumers encountered an unbranded dessert graphic on a strategically selected websites, such as Grub Street/MenuPages, or Food Buzz. Upon clicking the ad, a user was redirected to the BRAVO Facebook page, where s/he had the opportunity to win free desserts for a month, watch a preview clip and learn more about the show. Fans were eligible to win free desserts by officially entering the sweeps on the Top Chef Just Desserts Facebook page. 2. Twitter Delights & Sweepstakes BRAVO mined Twitter conversations and proactively rewarded people discussing the sweetest moments in their lives and their favorite desserts. Bravo tweeted four questions a day pertaining to desserts (e.g. “Brownie or Blondie?" and “Are cupcakes over?") and asked users to answer with the #justdesserts hashtag. Followers who participated were, for the most part, unaware that they are actually entering a sweepstakes. Twenty users were selected every day to win iTunes credit, movie passes, cupcake kits, Top Chef cookbooks, and a variety of other prizes. 3. Celebrating with Digital Influencers For special occasion surprises, 360i’s Digital Word of Mouth (DWOM®) team compiled a master list of influencers and did some digging to uncover any life events that called for celebration. These milestones ranged from adopting a new pet, to getting a promotion, and even just taking a vacation. We sent unexpected giveaways, like cupcakes from Baked by Melissa, to their day job offices for them to share the sweets with their friends and colleagues. This activity was targeted more toward bloggers and influencers in the pop culture/entertainment space. A second group of giveaways aimed to earn some lasting awareness and affinity with the food and baking bloggers. By sending them higher value giveaways including Top Chef University memberships and KitchenAid Stand Mixers, we not only gave them a reason to turn their TVs on to Top Chef Just Desserts and see where the gift is coming from, but we also provided them with tools that would fuel their passion. Evaluation of Success/Results/ROI: This campaign was widely successful in building buzz, enhancing fan loyalty in social spaces and driving tune-in. In just ONE WEEK, our campaign achieved the following results: Twitter: • More than 3,500 - tweets sent @BravoTopChef with more than 8 million second-degree impressions from mentions and re-tweets • Over the course of the 10-week season, @BravoTopChef gained 12,000 new followers • 3,500 – # of times people used the #justdesserts hashtag in one week Facebook: • 18,000 - # of new people who joined the Top Chef Just Desserts community over the course of the 2-week campaign • More than 3,000 - # of sweeps entries via the Facebook tab (to win a month of free desserts from BRAVO); the tab itself saw 49,000 impressions Digital PR: • More than 10 million ¬- # of impressions secured by Digital Word of Mouth outreach, which included coverage on nearly 50 blogs • Tune-In: More than 1.1MM people tuned in for Season Two of Top Chef Just Desserts. Versus the prior four week time period average, Top Chef Just Desserts Season Two premiere was up +93% among P18-49, up +79% among P25-54, and up +83% among total viewers. Source: Nielsen, 08/24/11, Live+Same data.