Splash Media was hired by ZTE to help promote their brand at San Diego Comic Con in 2016. They created a retro-themed social media campaign featuring forgotten comic book heroes to attract convention attendees. Splash Media also partnered with TVLine to sponsor their media room in exchange for celebrity interviews where attendees could try ZTE products. This boosted engagement on ZTE's social media profiles and introduced their brand to new fans in the pop culture space. The campaign was highly successful in raising brand awareness.

1. case
client: ZTE USA
campaign: ZTE @ Comic Con 2016

2. overview
s p l a s h m e d i a 2 0 1 7p a g e o n e
Our client, ZTE, has a history of success with sports
marketing, but they’re a little green when it comes to
sponsorships beyond the court. This past year, we used
San Diego Comic Con as opportunity to take them out of
their comfort zone and challenge them to make a presence
at a high profile pop culture event. In July 2016 (and the
months leading up to it), Splash Media concepted, pitched
and launched the “ZTE @ Comic Con” social campaign,
partnering with TVLine.
We traveled to San Diego to provide on-site support,
drum up engagement and start a conversation on social
media about ZTE’s presence.
Aesthetically, we wanted to create a presence that rang
true with convention attendees. To do this, we dove into the
public domain and found a trove of forgotten heroes to use in
our graphics. The result was an authentic look with an old-
school vibe that managed to fit in, while also standing out.
To help extend ZTE’s presence beyond the convention site,
we teamed up TVLine, one of the biggest online television
media outlets, to sponsor their media room & lounge at
the Hard Rock Hotel. As an added bonus, we found when
celebrities came through for their ZTE sponsored interviews,
they didn’t mind letting us take extra “behind-the-scenes”
footage in exchange for ZTE sunglasses and swag. Not only
did this give us a little extra content for ZTE’s social channels,
it also turned some of the biggest names at the convention
into walking ZTE ads.
We were able to leverage ZTE’s presence at San Diego
Comic Con into some of their most most engaging and
popular social posts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and
Twitter. Overall, ZTE’s first foray into pop culture was a huge
success. Xena the Warrior Princess even said she loved ZTE’s
smart projectors! We combined our client’s sponsorship with
our marketing expertise and love of comics to create a huge
impact for both our client and their new fans. We reached
nearly 53 million people on Facebook & Twitter alone and
opened ZTE’s eyes to new sponsorship opportunities. Comic
Con 2017? They’ll be there.

3. s p l a s h m e d i a 2 0 1 7p a g e t w o
video
creative
On the last day of the convention, after
the celebrity interviews were over, we
walked the convention floor and filmed
the true stars of Comic Con: the fans.
We captured footage of cosplayers
interacting with ZTE’s flagship device, the
Axon 7, and edited it into a fun video that
brought the excitement and experience of
being there home to our fans on social.
link to view video:
https://youtu.be/nwQYPYMoLGk

4. facebook Engagements: 6,309
Reach: 404,031 people
Post Likes: 8,754
credits
numbers
twitter
Total Mentions: 6,200
Total Reach: 52,975,360
Engagements: 6,170
Retweets: 239
Celebrity Retweets: 53
s p l a s h m e d i a 2 0 1 7p a g e t h r e e
Chris Nuckolls // Account Director
Joey Gomez // Creative Director
Jason Kauzlarich // Senior Art Director
Brandon Wainerdi // Content Writer
India Wilkerson // Account Manager