BET’s “The Game” Facebook page has more than 6 million fans – more ‘Likes’ than HBO’s number one series, “Entourage,“ and ABC’s Emmy award winning sitcom, “Modern Family.” The online fan base for “The Game” was not only large in number, but highly active across the social Web. Knowing this, BET and Harmelin Media reached out to Brickfish to execute the ‘Red Carpet Kick-Off: Draft Your City’ Sweepstakes, encouraging participants to use the SuperFans Facebook application to vote and bring the red carpet premiere of the show to their hometown.
The Promotion
Round 1
Participants could easily enter the contest from the microsite or through BET’s, TheGameBET or Brickfish’s Facebook pages. The contest consisted of three easy steps: 1) vote to bring the premiere to your city, 2) share the contest with your social network and 3) enter to win. When participants shared the campaign with their social network through the SuperFans Facebook application, they received points thereby increasing their rank on the campaign leaderboard. At the end of the campaign, Chicago was the city voted on by fans to host the premiere. The top 100 most viral players from Chicago received tickets for them and a friend to the event. The ultimate SuperFan with the highest overall points in the campaign won the grand prize – VIP access to the Red Carpet Premiere for them and a friend.
Round 2
Season 5 of “The Game” premiered on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 on BET. To help generate buzz around the show and the campaign, Barry Floyd, the actor playing Tee Tee, traveled throughout the United States with Tee Tee’s “Cluck Truck.” The truck made stops in various cities including Charlotte, Atlanta and New York, where fans could eat chicken wings and take pictures against a blue screen, portraying they were standing with the cast from the show. To socialize the process, Brickfish uploaded photos from the event to the campaign microsite, where users could easily share their pictures with friends and family.
Results
Campaign Conclusion
While BET and “The Game” had a strong Facebook presence before the launch of the campaign, they understood the importance of actively engaging their fans beyond a ‘Like.’ By launching a promotion around the premiere of the most popular show on the network, BET was able to increase name recognition and generate buzz around the series while launching an online sharing community consisting of their greatest fans and brand ambassadors. Through the SuperFans platform, BET incentivized their loyal viewers to socially share the contest, increasing their ratings but more importantly improving active engagement among their online fan base.