Comedy Central

Integrated digital marketing campaign drives
tune-in for "Indecision 2008: America's Choice"

Challenge

Comedy Central enlisted the help of 360i to drive tune-in for their election night special "Indecision 2008: America's Choice." Due to the monumentally popular nature of this election, Comedy Central was up against other network giants vying for the same viewership come election night.

Comedy Central looked to 360i to build a comprehensive digital marketing plan spanning various channels to create awareness, bolster excitement around the special, and drive tune-in on election night.

Solution

360i leveraged an array of targeted media including paid search, remarketing, and display advertising, coupled with social elements such as digital word of mouth outreach and user-generated content (via display banners). The approach allowed Comedy Central to gain more efficient and cost-effective reach across a wealth of consumer touch points.

Several months before the special's air date, 360i deployed a paid search and digital word of mouth campaign to drive people to exclusive Indecision 2008 content. These efforts helped build a strong and loyal fan base leading up to election night. For an additional promotional boost during the week leading up to election night, 360i created display ads featuring tune-in reminders, expandable videos, and a feature allowing users to customize the banners with their own message and photo and send it to friends. 360i deployed the display ads across sites that reached the show's target demo, such as CollegeHumor.com, and also behaviorally targeted them to people who had previously visited Comedy Central Web sites to remind them to tune in.

Results

The paid media coupled with digital word of mouth outreach to key political and entertainment sites had a multiplying effect, which resulted in Indecision 2008 being the highest-rated and most-watched election special in the history of Comedy Central.

• The special drew 3.1 million total viewers; up 45% from the previous election night special
• Rich Media Interaction Rates exceeded Media & Entertainment benchmarks by 103%
• The DWOM® campaign delivered over 280 posts across high profile sites, accumulating more than 50MM impressions in less than 4 months