The Official Shorty Awards Blog

Lionsgate and The Visionaire Group Win the Shorty Industry Award for Best Viral Campaign

Lionsgate and The Visionaire Group’s The Last Exorcism’s Chatroulette Reactions was awarded the Shorty Industry Award for Best Viral Campaign at the 3rd Annual Shorty Awards on Monday, March 28, 2011 in New York City.

Overview: In 2010, Lionsgate film company teamed up with digital agency The Visionaire Group to promote the August 27 release of the horror film The Last Exorcism. The team creatively leveraged Chatroulette, a website that allowed random strangers around the world to video chat with each other. Usually the site is off‐limits to marketers due to its frequently graphic adult nature. The Last Exorcism Chatroulette reaction video campaign utilized an actress, a green screen, special effects editing, and special programming to swap out the webcam feed for a video loop. Users thought they were video chatting with a cute girl who was teasingly unbuttoning her blouse, but then she suddenly turn into a demonic presence. The Chatroulette users’ entertaining reactions of fear and surprise were captured and then disseminated on YouTube and other social networking sites.

Impact: A YouTube video showing the “best of” Chatroulette users’ reactions to the movie effect  received more than 1 million views within 72 hours of being posted online.

HBO’s True Blood Wins the Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Twitter in a Marketing Campaign

HBO’s True Blood (@TrueBloodHBO) Season 3 Premiere was awarded the Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Twitter in a Marketing Campaign at the 3rd Annual Shorty Awards on Monday, March 28, 2011 in New York City.

Overview: True Blood is an HBO drama series about vampires created by Alan Ball. For the Season 3 premiere in June, 2010, the show’s marketing team launched a digital media campaign centered on “The True Blood Ultimate Fan Experience.” A midnight screening event was held simultaneously in 50 movie theaters nationwide. The show’s Twitter account shared clues for which city would get tickets next. Fans got a free screening of the Season 2 finale, an exclusive Season 3 sneak peak, and a live simulcast Q&A with Ball and the cast. One of the only ways to get a ticket was through a Facebook application where fans “played” for local tickets overnight from 6:13 p.m. to 6:13 a.m., playing on the 6/13 premiere date. Fifty “Ultimate Truebie Sheriffs,” who are fan leaders to represent each city, were chosen through Twitter after answering the tweet, “Why should you be Sheriff in your city? Tell us in 140 characters or less.” The show’s blog, Bloodcopy.com, became a Twitter microsite where users could adjust the feed to display show‐ related Twitter lists. On finale night, True Blood invited two actors active on Twitter, Kristin Bauer Van Straten and Joe Manganiello, to host a live Twitter chat at Bloodcopy.com. On‐air promotion drove fans to the microsite to chat live with their favorite characters. True Blood won a Shorty Award for #entertainment last year.

Impact: The Season 3 premiere of True Blood pulled in more than 5 million viewers, up 1.3 million viewers from the Season 2 premiere. It also beat FOX and NBC in its time slot. A replay of the Sunday night premiere later in the night had an additional 1 million viewers.

Bravo’s Top Chef Just Desserts Wins the Shorty Industry Award for Best Location-Based Marketing

Bravo’s Top Chef Just Desserts was awarded the Shorty Industry Award for Best Location-Based Marketing at the 3rd Annual Shorty Awards on Monday, March 28, 2011 in New York City.

Overview: The cable channel Bravo, which is owned by NBC Universal, was the first entertainment brand to partner with Foursquare, in January 2010, and with the location‐based meal recommendation sharing application Foodspotting, in the fall. The brand worked with digital agency 360i to build buzz around the premiere of the new show Top Chef Just Desserts. More than 80% of Bravo’s viewers have smart phones and are eager to share and discuss content online. The campaign organized a real‐world stunt dubbed “Top Chef Just Desserts Day,” where special food trucks would provide free desserts at partner venues nationwide in key markets. The only way to find out the trucks’ locations was through Twitter. Bravo created a unique one‐day badge on Foursquare for the event that was paired with deals at local dessert shops. Bravo also sponsored a category within the Foodspotting application so participants could easily share their experiences from the day with an active community of foodies.

Impact: Top Chef Just Desserts Day caused “desserts” to become a trending topic on Twitter in six major markets, and resulted in tens of thousands of impressions across mobile social networks. The television premiere enjoyed strong ratings: 1.6 million viewers tuned in during the 11 p.m. slot. 

Chick-fil-A Wins the Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Facebook in a Marketing Campaign

Chick-fil-A’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich campaign was awarded the Shorty Industry Award for Best Use of Facebook in a Marketing Campaign at the 3rd Annual Shorty Awards on Monday, March 28, 2011 in New York City.

Overview: On June 7, 2010, quick service restaurant chain Chick‐fil‐A introduced a new Spicy Chicken Sandwich, its first new sandwich and largest product introduction in 20 years. Marketing firm Engauge helped build awareness through Chick‐fil‐A’s Facebook page by allowing consumers to “reserve” a sandwich online. The campaign included a “Spicy Tab” on the Facebook page, which counted down the days to the launch and geo‐targeted wall posts to specific markets with lower reservation numbers in order to drive additional awareness. Fans were also offered the opportunity to try the Spicy Chicken Sandwich for free. The campaign targeted Chick‐fil‐A’s “raving fans,” who “liked” the chain on Facebook, followed it on Twitter, and chose to receive regular email updates. Many of these fans were willing to camp out outside at Chick‐fil‐A stores to receive free sandwiches. The campaign also included additional promotion through the “Cow Appreciation” Facebook tab and an e‐mail campaign.

Impact: Within 48 hours of launch, Chick‐fil‐A received 1.2 million online “reservations” for the new sandwich and that was even before the chain had announced the product through traditional marketing channels. That week, the promotions nearly doubled visitor activity on the Chick‐fil‐A Facebook page, and the initial wall post announcing premiere week generated more than 1.2 million impressions, more than 1,600 likes, and more than 1,400 comments. During the campaign, Chick‐fil‐A’s Facebook fans grew by over 58,000 or 3.8%, wall posts promoting the Spicy Chicken Sandwich generated more than 7 million impressions, and customers left 3,403 comments on these wall posts.

After Chick-fil-A’s acceptance, guest presenter Jim Gaffigan (@jimgaffigan) read us a telegram “from the Chick-fil-A people.”