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True Blood Ups Stakes in Viral Marketing Campaign
The much anticipated launch of the season two of True Blood has taken viral marketing campaigns to the next level, with advertisers producing specially modified adverts exclusively marketed to vampires.
The first season of True Blood aired last year in America on HBO, sucking in nearly 8 million viewers each episode. The story centres on telepathic waitress Sookie who falls in love with a striking 173-year-old vampire, Bill. The series was based around The Southern Vampire Mysteries novels by Charlaine Harris.
The success of the first season was helped greatly by a hype which was generated from a hugely expansive viral marketing campaign. CampFire NYC were hired by HBO to promote the show through a range of online advertising initiatives to create buzz about vampirism. As the story focuses on the integration of vampires into human society, the virals included mock advertising for TruBeverage, a synthetic blood drink, along with Vampiric profiles sprouting up on Facebook and MySpace and journal videos uploaded onto YouTube.
This year, True Blood has gone a step further with its online marketing. Not only has the popular blog site BloodCopy been heavily expanded, advertisers have now dedicated special edition adverts to aspiring vampires, including Gillette, Mini and Ecko. Harley Davidson marketed a fictional motorbike with the tagline: “Outrun the sun,” whilst the True Blood Mini Convertible went with: “Feel the Wind in your Fangs.”
The second season of True Blood is just days (or indeed nights) away, with the opening episode due for release on 14 June.
Viral Marketing news posted by Lily Townsend on 11 June 2009
