Bravo's "Vanderpump Rules" follows former "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" housewife Lisa Vanderpump as she goes about her real calling — co-owning and running West Hollywood restaurant SUR. Combining her instinct for business and leadership with her more motherly inclinations, Lisa works to keep her staff in line even as drama blankets all aspects of the restaurant — especially as the staff tends to date, and then break up with, one another. With four seasons under its belt, Bravo looked to build excitement among fans and new viewers alike for "Vanderpump Rules".
Season 5 of Vanderpump Rules highlights a key story arc, the wedding of two of the cast members, Tom & Katie. Bravo knew that this key milestone would lend itself to making a big impact – as fans have watched this couple's roller coaster romance over four seasons.Therefore, Bravo employed creative and unique influencer kits to leverage this moment in a fun and unique way.
With Season 5 of "Vanderpump Rules" providing a great event to use as leverage, Bravo wanted to get key influencers and celebrities (who were already diehard fans of the series) and their followers excited for the moment we have all been waiting for – Tom & Katie tying the knot.
To turn the huge event on the show into a big event among celebrities and influencers, Bravo created the "Bridesmaid Box" & "Groomsman Box" mailer. Bravo tapped their social media agency to scrub the socialsphere for high profile recipients who had at least once, socialized their love for the show. The list of celebrity/influencer fans was astonishingly impressive with Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lawrence, Seth Rogen and Liam Hemsworth, to name a few. Of course, to be authentic, Katie and Tom handwrote 30 personalized letters to each of the lucky fans. Each custom box asked the recipient to join the wedding "party" and "become bridesmaids" for Katie or to "become groomsmen" for Tom. The specialized boxes, custom made in California with custom CAD cutouts and leather finishes, included a bottle of champagne (complete with 4 branded champagne glasses) for the ladies and a bottle of single malted scotch (with 4 branded shot glasses) for the men.Both versions also included branded "Vanderpump" and SUR swag exclusive to the kits, including a wedding-themed "Will you be my bridesmaid" or "groomsman" cookie with the particular recipient's name added on in icing for an even more personalized touch, and a Vanderpump t-shirt.
Bravo knew that its slick "Vanderpump" kits would be great for influencers to share on Instagram and other social media sites, and the network was exactly right. Celebrities and others on the list took to the internet immediately to show off their "Vanderpump" swag, increasing visibility of the show for Season 5 while simultaneously teasing the wedding as its big event in a fun, creative way. Bravo also used "check your mail" tweets to engage with influencers, drop hints about what they were receiving, and give them key information about the return of "Vanderpump Rules" with a trailer link and the date and time of the premiere. That led to additional social sharing that helped spread the word about the Season 5 premiere.
Bravo's celebrity mailer engaged select influencers, which sparked sharing among each of their massive followings.
Chrissy Teigen: 3.85M followers
Spencer Pratt: 1.01M followers
Samantha Fishbein (Betches): 162K followers
Christy Olsen: 81.9K followers
Violet Benson: 68.2K followers
Dana Weiss: 62.1K followers
Molly McAleer: 50.3K followers
Claudia Oshry (Girl With No Job): 28.3K followers
Naomi Fry: 3,974 followers
Tierney Bricker (tbrick2): 4,572 followers
