Promotions for television programmes are getting bigger on social media. With most of the urban youth spending a major part of their lives on social networks, TV shows targeting them are getting innovative on social media. In a never before done brand initiative in India, AXN India gave fans an opportunity to tweet with the official AXN India Twitter handle for a day!
The first-of-its-kind ‘Brand Takeover’ campaign marked the social media promotions of the supernatural drama series ‘Supernatural season 9′ premier. AXN invited 2 of its contest winners in Delhi and Mumbai to take over the channel’s Twitter handle and interact with its close to 13K followers. The winners were also awarded official signed merchandise of Supernatural.
Finding loyal fans with ‘Supernatural Fantasy Plotline’
Executed by digital agency Foxymoron, AXN conducted a 3-day contest called ‘Supernatural Fantasy Plotline’ for the loyal fans of Supernatural where they were asked to send what they thought would be the content of the season premier. One had to tweet with #SPNFantasyPlot on Twitter or comment on the contest post on AXN India’s Facebook page. While fans were eager to know what was in store for them with the new season, AXN gave them a chance a build their own Supernatural Fantasy Plotline!
Fans shared their own thrilling plots for the Winchester Brothers from where Season 8 ended. A look at the post comments reveals a good number of excited storytellers.
Each day, there was one fan plotline selected from Facebook and Twitter that was carried forward as the next day’s starting point in the plotline. The visuals also shared the names of the fan whose plot has been chosen.
This way fans built an entire plotline for the latest season. The imaginative stories, tweets by the fans were also turned into posters and shared with the AXN India Facebook fan base.
Simultaneous interactions happened on the channel’s Twitter page, which apparently like the Facebook fans, brought alive many loyal fans of the series. With autographed T-shirts by the lead actors as incentives, the fan created plot line worked perfectly.
The angels landed on earth at the end of Supernatural Season 8. Tell us what you think happens next! Tweet to us with #SPNFantasyPlot! :D
— AXN India (@AXNIndia) October 7, 2013
The winner of todays #SPNFantasyPlot is Proma! @itsjustmeuphere:it is revealed that Sam is also a half-angel and thus, super power.
— AXN India (@AXNIndia) October 7, 2013
So the Twitter Winner of the #SPNFantasyPlot contest, after lots of deliberation, is @ZENIADCUNHA! Congrats! Do you know what you’ve won? :D
— AXN India (@AXNIndia) October 10, 2013
Rewarding loyal fans, building deeper bonds
A winner from each of Facebook and Twitter was chosen for the brand takeover, following three days of intensive plot making and got the chance to live tweet the premiere from the channel’s Twitter handle. On the evening of the brand takeover on Twitter when the much awaited Season 9 premiered on air, the hashtag #SPN9onAXN trended on the top Twitter India trends. This was due to a combination of QnA contests based on the live premiere too.
Interestingly, the initiative was also endorsed by Twitter India as a best practice for building engagement.
#BestPractice: two #Supernatural fans are about to take over @AXNIndia‘s account & live tweet the season premiere! #EngageYourAudience
— Twitter India (@TwitterIndia) October 11, 2013
We are all storytellers. Giving your community the chance to create their own stories is an awesome move, but what is brilliant is giving the Twitter ownership to the most loyal fan. I can’t imagine a better fan engagement exercise than this, one that goes beyond driving just a campaign to building stronger bonds.
It is certainly going to reward AXN India with a long-term community of relevant members. What do you think?
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