FALLON Case Study for @_S_A_R_A_H_

we are fallon @_S_A_R_A_H_ How Fallon and SciFi Are Using Twitter to Convert TV Audience to Advocates October 31, 2008

Eureka, a SCIFI TV show about a town inhabited by geniuses. • Launching the third season of Eureka • More than viewers—believers! — Engaged, committed, passionate about Eureka. • Tech-savvy: — Geek-chic, first adopters, influencers. • Micro-marketing budget — Client-sought social media idea — Engage and ignite the passionistas.

Insights to drive our social-media strategy. • Eureka fans are brand believers. • Core appeal and essence of brand = “wow,” “gee whiz” factor - keep it geek. • Eureka fans can’t get enough of their favorite show. • Slippy ideas win in the age of Web 2.0. • Not about spamming 1,000,000 to reach 100 anymore. • Is about connecting with 10 believers, who reach 100, who reach 1,000. • Fallon believes brands should be Generous™.

The Strategy: Meet the people, behind the genius, behind the town of Eureka

The Creative Idea Talk with your favorite Eureka character. Really.

So, why Twitter?

Perfect fit to leverage their tech savvy to get them closer to the characters. A social network platform that… …allows viewers to establish a one-on-one (daily) relationship with a character. …was already embraced by the Eureka audience.

Finding our voice.

Maintaining a voice/persona is vital on Twitter. We were mindful in our choice of who tweets. So, we chose the character who seemed most believable to actually Tweet.

S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat) is the AI “smart house” in Eureka. “She” is the home of Sheriff Jack Carter, the main character of the series, and was designed to be the prototype home of the future. This is no ordinary home. This home talks back. *FAN FACT: Douglas Fargo, the computer’s inventor, may have named it after actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, whom he tried to get to record the voice for the house's computer; he stated that he is “still waiting to hear back from” her.

Adding value.

On Twitter, S.A.R.A.H. became “_S_A_R_A_H_”

A key reward for many fans lies in the simple fact that _S_A_R_A_H_ responds back. Scifirantergirl: Can’t believe that @_S_A_R_A_H_ is tweeting! I can’t wait for Eureka. ITStudios: “@_S_A_R_A_H_ It is a real honor and pleasure to have a bot like you following ITStudios! :) Looking forward to Season Three.” Geekomancer: Holy crap!! That’s awesome!!! Alderfearn: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Welcome to Twitter! Glad to have you here! MoCheeks: As if Eureka wasn't a brilliant enough show. One of the star (under- appreciated) characters on the show has a voice on twitter @_S_A_R_A_H_ XaleD: EUREKA fans, take a moment and add @_S_A_R_A_H_ to your twitter friends. Tres AWESOME!

While not “scripted,” _S_A_R_A_H_ maintains character consistency like a “real person.” • Jay16K @_S_A_R_A_H_ can you tell why there wasn't a new episode on yesterday? • _S_A_R_A_H_: @Jay16K We're still working on fixing the time loop. • cheodo: @_S_A_R_A_H_: can you recite Pi? Backwards. • _S_A_R_A_H_: @cheodo Not in 140 characters. • geometryetcetra: @_S_A_R_A_H_ will you marry me? • _S_A_R_A_H_: @geometryetcetra I’m not sure that we're compatible. What is your operating system? • geometryetcetra: leopard • _S_A_R_A_H_: @geometryetcetra Sorry, Sheriff Carter is allergic to cats. • geometryetcetra: @_S_A_R_A_H_ i love you *FAN FACT: Sheriff Carter’s cat allergy is a plot point in the series.

Being that _S_A_R_A_H_ is a “real person” to Eureka fans, she is always open to any question. • rickyli99: @_S_A_R_A_H_ can you take over my house? i won't mind when you go nuts and try to kill me. • TeeMonster: @_S_A_R_A_H_ I know you're busy and all, but is there any way Sherrif Carter or Dr. Stark could make it to DragonCon? I'll buy the beer. • pfischer: @ _S_A_R_A_H_ Do you have a crush on @MarsPhoenix? • Jigsawhc: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Do you get Labor Day off? • laii: @_S_A_R_A_H_ I loved when you were a car. Do you ever wish to be one again? • horcrionebay: @_S_A_R_A_H_ So what dirt can you dish out about Ms Thorne? You must know something! =) • fitzwillie: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Important question: why haven't you asked anyone to paint/spruce up your front door?

_S_A_R_A_H_ promoted upcoming episodes in a way that was both conversation-provoking… Now that those drones are under control, I'm hearing about problems in Lab 27... • djbastic: @_S_A_R_A_H_ what is lab 27..?? • jamesspellman: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Whats the problem in lab 27? • mrkonika: @_S_A_R_A_H_ what's up in Lab27? • Mortisoul: @_S_A_R_A_H_ what do they do in lab 27, Sarah? • Podcasting101: @_S_A_R_A_H_ I forget what's in Lab 27 but odds are it's a CLASS A project and in area 5, _S_A_R_A_H_ do tell :) • ianmullenve: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Lab 27? IS BOB OKAY??? Nooo, not poor Bob

… and an engagement magnet. Security sensors have detected an alert concerning a Mary Perkins. If you have information regarding her whereabouts, call 202-640-3864. *Over 50,000 phone calls made by fans!

Beyond the Web, _S_A_R_A_H_ offered followers free ice cream at San Diego’s Comic-Con—the mecca of SCIFI geekdom. kristen: Got free ice cream from a Eureka truck! I love that show even more. KristineAz: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Your ice cream rocks and I can't wait for Tuesday! Fourwall: Just got a tasty treat from the Eureka Ice Cream truck. That's just crazy. aringler: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Comic-Con was great fun! Jack, Henry and Alilson, et al, were great fun! The ice cream was a nice break on a hot day! Thanks!

Spreading the word.

Even word-of-mouth marketing still requires strategic air cover. *On-air promos were tagged with her Twitter info. *Scifi.com hosted banners and links.

The New PR: _S_A_R_A_H_’s followers include influential writers/reviewers and digerati. • .

_S_A_R_A_H_ pioneered a social first: A Twitterview (live press interview via Twitter) and gave fans a behind-the-scenes look. • Melanie1001: @_S_A_R_A_H_ @notcot *applause* marvelous interview, thank you for the wonderful insights! • rubygrrl48: Following the @notcot @_S_A_R_A_H_ Twitterview. Just adorable! • gin200168: OMG. @_S_A_R_A_H_ doing a Twitterview and all the design sketches and whatnot she's 'revealing' are the SHINIEST TOYS EVER. WANT MORE!!! • tisfan: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Oh, that is so cool! • jeffscott: @_S_A_R_A_H_ very cool! thanks for those.

Tracking the conversation.

In this age of participation, people now simultaneously chat on Twitter while watching television shows. A StreamGraph is shown for the latest 200 tweets which contain the search word Eureka. The StreamGraph shows the usage over time for the words most highly associated with the search word. One of these series together with a time period are in a selected state and colored red. Source: NeoFormix, http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/TwitterStreamGraphs/view.php

_S_A_R_A_H_ leveraged Vizu polls, Google Maps and 12Seconds.tv to enable fan feedback and map their demographics. *Avid fans submitted *400+ votes within first 20 videocam appeals in minutes of _S_A_R_A_H_’s response to call-to-action! _S_A_R_A_H_’s call-to- action!

Vocal followers give us real-time qualitative feedback about a range of issues like product placement.

Eureka continues to build on success and remains top-ranked with audiences. • Season 3 premiere was the most-watched performance since the series first premiered on July 18, 2006—up 10% from the Season 2 debut. — led the cable pack ranking #1 in the key Adults 25-54 (July 29, 9-10 p.m.) — Eureka topped the second-place finisher, A&E’s The Cleaner, in Adults 25-54 by more than 200,000 viewers. • Eureka is the #1 ranked program on Tuesday nights in Adults 25-54 and continues to build on its success, ranking as SCIFI’s top series in 2008 to date for Adults 25-54.

Eureka and _S_A_R_A_H_’s metric benchmarks 3600+ followers (as of Nov 19, 2008) 1 4800+ Eureka mentions 2 5000+ SCIFI mentions 2 3,300+ #4 Most-Pirated TV Show 3,000+ 600,000+ Twitter impressions! 3 (week 6) on Bittorrent 2,596 (week 5) (total number of replies multiplied by # of followers who saw them) #13 Most- 2,283 (week 4) Downloaded Show #6 Most-Pirated TV Show #3 Most-Pirated TV Show on iTunes on Bittorrent (week 3) on Bittorrent 1,882 602 (week 2) #3 Most-Tweeted-About 556 topic on Twitter 537 900 516 (season premiere) 492 _S_A_R_A_H_ 600 Twitter “Followers” 392 launches 228 Twitter Unique Replies 164 Sources: Nielsen BlogPulse, BitTorrent, 1Twitter Counter, 2TweetVolume, 3Twitter Search

And advocates are giving credit to Eureka, SCIFI, and _S_A_R_A_H_ as a truly big idea for our times. • TeeMonster: This has the potential of being a great marketing tool for SciFi. I am so impressed. :) • Skatey: omg. the sheriffs house from Eureka TV series has a twitter account @_s_a_r_a_h_ . and it was advertised on tv, a whole new level for media. • ITStudios: @_S_A_R_A_H_ I am really enjoying the pictures from the Twitterview. Kudos to SciFi for their implementation of Twitter • Terpette: Finally, a 21st century marketing concept... now, where can *I* get a house like that? • Lovesthai: @_S_A_R_A_H_ Thanks for following me! You are the reason I finally got a Twitter account! Thanks for introducing me to it!

10 Things _S_A_R_A_H_ has learned on Twitter. 1. Love the superfans. They’ll love you back. 2. Talk back. 3. Offer, don’t push. 4. Bring something (good) to the party. 5. You’re always-on. 6. Not a “promotion”, a friend. 7. For the long haul. 8. Make it real (world), too. 9. Leverage your mass channels. 10. Public Relations 2.0: ideas as press release, not press releases about ideas

Join the conversation with _S_A_R_A_H_ at http://twitter.com/_S_A_R_A_H_ *Thanks to the contributions of all the 3500+ participants with _S_A_R_A_H_ on the making of this project (and presentation). *Continue the conversation on our blog: http://fallontrendpoint.blogspot.com/ or via Twitter @mcwet // @fanchatter // @akispicer

Coming Soon: TV 2.0: How TV is Evolving in the Age of Participation. Told from two different, yet similar perspectives – a look at how the modern television series is evolving, extending and enhancing their characters and stories using the social web to engage and inspire fans. @_S_A_R_A_H_ @don_draper

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FALLON Case Study for @_S_A_R_A_H_

by Aki Spicer on Nov 19, 2008

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FALLON Case Study for @_S_A_R_A_H_ — Presentation Transcript