Creating Chemistry Between Albuquerque and ‘Breaking Bad’ PR Tactics (Dec. 2014) www.prsa.org/intelligence/tactics/articles/view/10870/1102

1. 18 December 2014 TACTICS
It’s been a little more than a year since
WalterWhite and Jesse Pinkman signed off
the airwaves,but fans are still infatuated with
theVince Gilligan-produced TV series
“Breaking Bad.”TheAMC crime drama ran
for five seasons and,in 2014,GuinnessWorld
Records named it the highest-rated show of all
time.It won 16 Primetime Emmys,eight
SatelliteAwards,two Golden Globes,two
Peabodys and a People’s ChoiceAward.
“Breaking Bad”tells the story of White,
played by Bryan Cranston,a struggling high-
school chemistry teacher who learns he has
terminal lung cancer.He decides to produce
and sell crystal meth to secure his family’s
financial future before he dies.White teams
with his former student,Pinkman,played by
Aaron Paul,and the show chronicles their
misadventures inAlbuquerque,N.M.
The show garnered an average of 5.9 mil-
lion viewers per episode in the final season,
which resulted in the city of Albuquerque
becoming somewhat of a central character as
well.The local tourism office faced a unique
challenge:Should it tap into the phenomenon,
even though the show focuses on making and
distributing illegal drugs?
After much research and deliberation,the
Albuquerque Convention &Visitors Bureau
(ACVB) decided to embrace this unexpected
attention and piggyback off the show to drive
tourism awareness and visitation on a nation-
al and international level.
TheACVB,Turner Public Relations and
VisitABQ teamed up for the campaign
“Albuquerque Tells PotentialVisitors to
Remember My Name.”It was extremely suc-
cessful and received PRSA’s 2014 BronzeAnvil
Award in the media relations,consumer serv-
ices and travel and tourism/hospitality cate-
gories.
By partnering with several local business-
es such as The Candy Lady,who made the
original“meth”for the show —
which was actually blue rock candy
— and theABQ Trolley Co.for area
tours,the campaign targeted enter-
tainment and travel publications,
bloggers and influencers.In addition,
theACVB created a self-guided
“Breaking Bad”tour on its website
with a Google map,a list of filming
sites and related spots to visit in the
city.
As a result,local businesses saw
an increase in revenue,media cover-
age grew,theACVB’s website traffic
improved and more tourists visited
the city of Albuquerque.
“Our team learned a lot about
how to leverage pop culture and
entertainment media in a tourism
campaign,”saidAngela Berardino,chief strat-
egy and integration officer at Turner PR.
Here Tactics talks with Berardino,where
she shares her insights on the award-winning
campaign.
HowhavelocalAlbuquerqueresidents
respondedtoyourcampaign?
The tourism community is filled with
personal anecdotes about how film tourism
has positively impacted their businesses;it’s
been well received.The local paper even ran a
“real”obituary for lead characterWalterWhite
after the series finale,which speaks volumes
about the fun and humorous way that
Albuquerque has embraced its role in the
series.The community ran with it,creating
experiential touchpoints for visitors — from
day tours to candy“meth”— online itiner-
aries and maps tailored toward [fans],as well
as opening their doors to media.Those tours
and offerings are still available,making it a
natural part of Albuquerque’s distinct identity.
It also helped that the actors in the show
embraced the community thoroughly — buy-
ing homes,putting their kids in local schools
and donating to local charities.
Whydidyoudecidetoembracetherisqué
themesof the“BreakingBad”series?
TheAlbuquerque CVB deserves all of the
credit (along with the tourism community)
for taking such a bold,creative direction in
embracing the opportunity that this series
opened up.It wasn’t even a difficult debate —
they saw how the public was reacting to the
show and the passion for the characters and
the setting.It’s been interesting to compare
howAlbuquerque embraced a show about
drugs at a time when many destinations are
grappling with changing mari-
juana legislation and the impact
that may have on tourism.
Albuquerque had faith that con-
sumers are smart enough to
understand that the town was
embracing one of the best TV
series ever made,not drug cul-
ture.
Doyouthinktheshowwill
haveinfluenceon
Albuquerqueforyearsto
come?
We anticipate that
“Breaking Bad”is going to have
several more years of mileage for
Albuquerque.We’ve noticed that there are still
marathons of the show every holiday week-
end.And it may start airing on alternative
channels.It’s still airing in Europe,and visitors
are coming from the U.K.and Germany to
explore the city as a result.A spinoff of the
original series,“Better Call Saul!”started film-
ing this year and will air in 2015,with
Albuquerque playing
a similar key role in
the series.
Whatwasthemost
challengingpartof
workingonthis
campaign?
Once we knew
that the series was
definitely ending and
had specific air dates,
we had to be sensitive
to timing press visits
so that long-lead sto-
ries would sync up
with the start of the
final season — a huge
media opportunity
— and lead up to the
last episode.We knew
that visitors would
continue to make the
pilgrimage,but
media wouldn’t run
many stories in the
months after the
series had ended,so we had to front-load the
timeline.
Whatresultshaveyouseenregarding
tourismtrendstothearea?
Every indication is that the numbers are
up.Albuquerque has had a lot of positive fac-
tors helping drive tourism growth — the
increase they are seeing can’t be solely attrib-
uted to the show,although it [likely] had an
impact.For example,JetBlue added a direct
flight from NewYork last year and the tax
incentives for film production have brought in
major [film] projects [like]“The Lone
Ranger,”“Transformers”and“TheAvengers.”
Areyouafanof theTVshow?
Yes! But — it’s a little embarrassing — I
still have the last two seasons on my iPad.I’ve
been chipping away at it on planes and trains
every week.I got a late start! Even though I
know the ending [due to] the media coverage,
it’s totally worth watching.
media relations
Crystal Clear:
Creating Chemistry BetweenAlbuquerque and‘Breaking Bad’ ByAmy Jacques
AmyJacquesisthemanagingeditorof
publicationsforPRSA. Anativeof
Greenville,S.C.,sheholdsamaster’sdegree
inartsjournalismfromtheNewhouse
SchoolatSyracuseUniversity.Shealsoholds
abachelor’sdegreeinadvertisingfromthe
UniversityofGeorgia’sGradyCollegeanda
certificateinmagazineandwebsitepublish-
ingfromNewYorkUniversity.
amc
meganmayoryan
routesbicyclerentals&toursinc.