Through a well-defined message, active press contact and a sneak preview of the highest quality, the launch of Planet Earth II became a great success.
Background
Ten years after the iconic Planet Earth series revolutionised the industry, it was time for the second season. Even if Planet Earth II was among the best productions within nature documentary ever, there were a few domestic challenges in Norway.
The series was to be broadcasted on BBC Earth, a niche channel few Norwegians even had heard about, and even less had access to through their cable network. The outcome of the campaign would rely almost solely on deserved attention and PR work.
Foto: Ole Martin Halvorsen
Goals
It was not enough to create awareness about the series, if nobody knew how to access it.
The task was therefore divided in two:
1. Create enthusiasm and expectations for Planet Earth II
2. Establish higher knowledge and preference to BBC Earth
Implementation
To move the people over the very high threshold to obtain a new linear TV-channel, traditional media coverage was not enough.
We had to include channel information, something that often is excluded by editorials, and we had to reach out to the target group’s opinion leaders.
As part of the strategy, we made collaborations with some of Norway’s largest online media channels, implementing information in the content we shared. Furthermore, we set up interviews with the directors.
We implemented channel information in all press releases, and pinpointed to journalists that BBC Earth was a channel the TV consumers actively had to select.
This led to almost all articles containing an encouragement to select BBC Earth as a part of the cable package, as this was the only way to access Planet Earth II.
As part of the project, we arranged an exclusive sneak preview for selected guests, and journalists. For the event at Victoria Cinema in Oslo, we sent out invitations to scientists, politicians and influential business tycoons, as well as bloggers and celebrities with a stated engagement for nature.
In this way, we connected Planet Earth II up to something more important: What we risk to lose if we do not change our behaviours.
Results
The sneak preview was a big success with 290 guests, several members of the press and an impressed audience who gladly expressed their thoughts on the series. Some of the guests even shared pictures of the channel information we had on the screen before the preview.
In total, we experienced a media reach of over 18 million through over 48 articles, where all were solely positive.
Furthermore, we did editorial cooperation with ABC Nyheter, DagbladetTV and VGTV, three large Norwegian news sites. VGTV is the TV channel for Norway’s largest online newspaper VG and is also broadcasted on air.
The most important result was undoubtable the fact that Planet Earth II made a new record for BBC Earth in Norway, drawing the highest number of viewers since the launch of the channel. BBC Earth increased their market share by 66 percent.
Furthermore, 27 percent of the viewers were new to the channel, which is a very impressive result far beyond our scheduled target.
The campaign almost solely relied on deserved attention. There were only included a minimal number of other marketing measures during this campaign.
The TV-series has turned out to be one of the autumn’s hottest topics, even mentioned in the world famous Norwegian series for youth “Shame” / “Skam”.
Also, the online TV magazine “Serienytt” appointed Planet Earth II the most mentioned TV show during the week of the launch.
Sneak preview:
- In our post-survey 100 percent of the guests said they were satisfied with the experience of the event. 12 percent said they were extremely satisfied, 71 percent said they were very satisfied, while 17 percent said they were pretty satisfied with the event.
- 79 percent knew what TV-channel Planet Earth II were running on after the event.
- 92 percent said that the event made them wanting to watch even more of the show.
- 97 percent said that they would recommend Planet Earth II to others. Furthermore, 10 percent said that they have bought BBC Earth as a part of their cable package after the event, while 48 percent already had the channel available.
Foto: Ole Martin Halvorsen
Team
Awards
Sabre Awards 2017
Media partnershipSabre Awards 2017
Finalist in the category "Nordics"European Excellence Awards 2017
Finalist in the category "Entertainment & Culture"
