TopTV’s innovative cinema activation, based on survival in a world full of crazed zombies, not only achieved more than one million views globally on YouTube, but also garnered two silver and one bronze Loerie Awards for its advertising agency, Johannesburg-based Ireland/Davenport.
The 2012 Loerie Awards ceremony was hosted at the CTICC in Cape Town on 22 and 23 September.
The concept promoted The Walking Dead – Season 2, a first and exclusive series on the FX channel, which is broadcast on TopTV (channel 110). The campaign message “Life goes on. Again.’ presented the perfect opportunity to integrate what viewers at the cinema were watching on the big screen with a live activation in the cinema as a blood-thirsty zombie disrupts the audience – infusing reality with fiction. The national consumer activation was executed in three cinemas across South Africa – Sandton City in Johannesburg, Gateway in Durban and Cavendish Square in Cape Town – during October last year, to promote the new season of the popular series, which launched on TopTV in February this year.
The campaign, on behalf of TopTV, was awarded a Silver Loerie in the Internet, Mobile and Interactive Communication: Viral and Community category (for the YouTube video clip), and a Bronze Loerie award in the Live Events, Activations and Sponsorship: Live Activations category (for The Walking Dead cinema activation). The campaign also received a second Silver Loerie Award for the Bedtime television ad in the Television, Film and Video Communication: TV Trailers, Channel and Station Promos category.
Says Heather Kennedy, VP: Marketing of TopTV: “The overall campaign to promote the second season of the hit series The Walking Dead on TopTV was a huge success, with the “live’ cinema activation proving to be effective, innovative and compelling.
“The hype created around it from both a talkability and social media perspective was way beyond our expectations, and the more than a million hits on YouTube to view the video clip is testimony to this. Congratulations are in order for our agency, Ireland/Davenport, for the overall campaign concept that certainly cut through the advertising clutter in its various and unique executions.’
To see the YouTube video clip of the cinema activation, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb3I4R58oZ0
