Morgan Greco of A&E Network presented a case study on their social media campaign for the Critics' Choice Awards. Their goals were early awareness, social engagement, and reach. For early awareness, they used custom graphics, nominations announcements, and a Reddit AMA. For social engagement, they covered the red carpet live on social media and provided iPads with a Twitter mirror app for celebrities. They also ran a paid social campaign. The campaign achieved over 5 million impressions and a high engagement rate. It drove the highest cable ratings ever for the show. For next year, they plan to create more social content and improve their war room organization.

1. SOCIALMEDIA.ORG
CASE STUDIES
Member Meeting 35
New York
5-20-2015
Learn more about Member Meetings
socialmedia.org/meetings
A&E Network
Morgan Greco
Critics’ Choice Awards social media
case study

2. @MorganGreco
Senior Director, Social Media & Fan Engagement
A&E, HISTORY, H2

3. A Critics’ Choice Award is seen as prestigious by
Hollywood and the leading stars

4. THE OTHER ONE
THE STARS
REALLY CARE ABOUT
THE MOST legitimateAWARDS

5. WIN THE NIGHT IN
TWITTER TV buzz

6. • Early Awareness
• Social Engagement
• Reach
Campaign tenants

7. EARLY AWARENESS

8. • Customgraphics
• Nominations
• Countdown
• RedditAMAwithcritics
Early Awareness Tactics

9. Blogger Partnership
‣ Partnered with entertainment sites and blogs to do iPad giveaways in
an effort to promote the show and the Social Centerpiece™

10. Mingling With Movie Stars
‣ Short, humorous video series featuring Michael Strahan giving tips on
how to “mingle” with movie stars. Released across social media in
promotion of awards.

11. SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT

12. • Redcarpetcoverage
• Twitter mirror
• Social team on carpet
• WarRoom
• Carpet & show
• Custom content
• .gifs
• Fan response
• Real-time clip distro
• YouTube
• Press
Social Engagement Tactics

13. Social Centerpiece™
‣ iPad Minis on 40 celebrity tables pre-loaded with specialized Twitter
Mirror software
‣ Designed to get celebrities and critics interacting live with the audience
at home over social media

14. Social Centerpiece™
PressHighlights

15. • Critics’&hostkits
• Treated the critics as
ambassadors – trained them
how to use the Social
Centerpiece™ through
scheduled phone calls and
documents
• Worked with Strahan to train
him on Social Centerpiece™
Social Centerpiece™ Training

16. REACH

17. • Pre-premierepaid
• Facebook, Twitter,
Reddit
• Real-timepaid
• Twitter amplification
of best performing
content
Paid Social

18. Maker Studios Live Viewing Party
‣ To complement the broadcast, during commercial breaks the stream cut to a
Live Viewing Party at Maker Studios.
‣ The party featured Maker Talent who provided fashion and film commentary,
comedy sketches and drove continuous conversation across social.

19. Sponsored Sweepstakes
‣ Convergent sweepstakes (linear & digital) with two in-show on-air calls
to action directing fans to tweet #CCAsweeps for a chance to win instant
prizing from Pizza Hut.

20. Did It Work?
5.4MM Total Impressions
296,686 Total Engagements
5.40% Total Engagement Rate
Includes Paid + Organic
• Won Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings week 1.12, beating out competition from top social shows such as The
Bachelor
• Generated widespread earned media coverage with press picking up on the Social Centerpiece™ activation
• Highest rated cable ratings performance ever for the show

21. Looking Ahead
Critics’ Choice TV Awards – May 31st
‣ PUSH OUT MORE CONTENT!
‣ Fans wanted and demanded more from us
‣ Train critics more efficiently
‣ YouTube training – visual representation of what we are doing
‣ War Room – not organized enough
‣ Give specific roles & flow chart of responsibilities for all
‣ Give fans a voice in the process: Fan art red carpet, Bingeworthy Award, Tweet a Drink

22. Learn more about past and
upcoming Member Meetings
socialmedia.org/meetingsSOCIALMEDIA.ORG
CASE STUDIES
Member Meeting 35
New York
5-20-2015
Learn more about Member Meetings
socialmedia.org/meetings