Discovery Channel’s Shark Week 2012 marked the hallmark summer programming event's 25th anniversary. The social media strategy aimed to bring viewers closer than ever before to these fascinating creatures, which have been captivating audiences every summer for 25 years. Over the last few years, fan response to Shark Week on social media has been unprecedented, and Shark Week 2012 was the most social yet, proving that the old adage is true: everybody loves Shark Week. From 10 hours of live, fan-driven commentary on air to Phil DeFranco’s nightly Shark Week Chompdown to Shark Week Bingo, social media served up something for every Shark Week fan. To bring fans closer than ever before to Shark Week, Discovery gave fans on social media control of the live broadcast by fusing live fan tweets on-air for 10 hours of primetime viewing, as well as an interactive on-air nightly Chompdown hosted by Phil DeFranco, in which fans tweets decided which item a giant mechanical Megaladon shark would chomp each night. Leading up to Shark Week, fans could tune in online to a live 360-degree shark cam, featuring daily feedings, chats with shark experts at the Georgia Aquarium, and more. As well, fans could download Shark Week Plus for Discovery Channel for iPad app, an immersive experience providing complementary content, audio-synched to exactly what viewers were watching at that time. Additionally, the social media strategy included a Thunderclap conservation campaign; interactive Shark Week bingo that fans could play with their friends on social media; a GetGlue contest with Shark Week themed-TOMS and perhaps most importantly, heavy fan engagement through the @SharkWeek Twitter feed. The result was the most social Shark Week ever, with more than 1.6M tweets that took over 35% of all cable-TV social chatter that week. Fans took to Twitter in droves, professing their love of Shark Week, and hoping to see their tweet on-air. On its first night, check-ins for Shark Week eclipsed the check-ins for the Summer Olympics Closing Ceremonies, proving that even at the ripe old age of 25, Shark Week continues to be the cultural zeitgeist of summer programming on all screens.
https://www.facebook.com/sharkweek http://twitter.com/sharkweek http://socialcam.com/u/a2jyjWJ8 http://pinterest.com/sharkweek/ http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL195E8D52CE045238&feature=plcp
