CHALLENGE
July 23, 2017 marked the return of HBO’s “Ballers” (season three), the creation of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and “Insecure” (season two), an extension of critically-acclaimed online hit “The Misadventure of the Awkward Black Girl” by Issa Rae. While both shows enjoyed great seasons among multicultural audiences, 18-49 years old, HBO wanted to grow the viewership overall in the Greater Charlotte market, a prized market known to be filled with diverse, active young professionals and sports fan. To do this, they had a TRAP Karaoke screening event, with accompanying red carpet for press and VIPs, on July 13, 2017 at The Fillmore in Charlotte. In addition, HBO wanted an opportunity for talent to speak and spend time with a local nonprofit that works with local youth, as well as donate commissioned paintings that represent the shows.
In our research and launch meeting, we learned the NFL did not support “Ballers,” and its active players were encouraged not to publicly endorse the show. There were competition events which would not allow some athletes and VIPs to attend the event. Most in market athletes and celebrities were attending the ESPYs, on vacations, or had scheduling conflicts (to include The Grays Classic Kick-off, an annual fund raising event for the 100 Black Men of Charlotte being held on the same night.) Our contract began on June 26 and ended on July 20, 2017, which we lost a week due to July 4th holiday falling on a Tuesday, where most people will go on vacation for the entire week.
OUR WORK
Eaddy Perry &Associates, Inc. wanted to communicate with publics who would help achieve the goal and were identified as Millennials/Generation X (18-49 year olds, multicultural, television enthusiasts, sports fans, and young professionals); social media influencers; tastemakers, and professional athletes. The strategy to reach these publics was to establish them as third party endorsers through word of mouth and social media that will continue to grow both shows’ recognition and fan base, leading to increase viewership among 18-49 year olds in the Greater Charlotte market.
Tactics we used to reach the publics were: curated a VIP list and issued an invitation to attend the event; rewrote the national media alert to have a local slant and distributed to the most popular television, print, radio, and digital media outlets in market, using it to pitch advance event coverage; pitched talent to local television, print, radio, and digital media outlets for appearances and/or features; provided on-site media relations functions, to include media check-in, red carpet set-up and management, escorting talent, and hosting VIP area. Prior to the event, we pitched a total of 30 media outlets and three freelance photographers to cover the night of the event as well as to do pre-event coverage; monitored media coverage, and provided consulting functions and services reasonably requested.
RESULTS
The total number of VIPs on the curated list in attendance was 198. Overall, we can attribute approximately 30 percent of our curated list provided were present. The media outlets that were most popular among our targeted publics, as well as highest viewership, in market, for which we redistributed the localized media alert reserved the right to place under their coverage of event umbrella rather than doing an advance story about the event. Talent appeared on two local affiliate morning television shows (WBTV’s (CBS) “Morning Break” and WJZY’s (FOX) “Good Day Charlotte”), as well as Sporting News magazine (online) ran a pre-event interview with “Ballers” star Donovan Carter, with write-up posted one-day before the premiere of season three’s first episode.
Secured was a total of 11 media outlets to include online and traditional media outlets to cover the event, with eight outlets running feature material. In addition, we managed press opportunities through media check-in and step-and-repeat and VIP media access. Also provided were confirmation letters and a pre-event information file on the event and both shows to assist the media with coverage of the event. While the event received wonderful coverage on social media platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, invited covering media outlets were able to file very favorable stories both about the event and the shows. We were able to provide referrals for a photographer and make-up artist, which were hired, as well as suggested additional nonprofit student organizations to consider for talent and paintings donation. Viewership in the Charlotte market was successfully solidified with a bump among our targeted publics.
