Brief Explanation

The popular TV series “Modern Family” had moved to Prime TV in New Zealand. With no above the line budget to promote the show we created a special Facebook tool for users to engage with. This tool,”The Favorite Child Detector” analysed the user’s Facebook data to select the Favorite child in their own families. The results were shared, creating widespread awareness of the show’s new home. The “Favorite Child Detector” was promoted on various digital platforms, and was picked up, and further promoted via blogs, TV news, Radio DJs, and was of course shared by everyone who interacted with the tool. By promoting the “Favorite Child Detector”, everyone was effectively promoting “Modern Family” on Prime TV.

The Brief

In 2014 Prime TV secured the rights to the controversial hit series Modern Family. This was a huge coup for Prime. The problem was they had no budget to announce the move using above the line advertising. Our brief was to create widespread awareness of the move on a very modest budget. Our strategy was to talk to real life Modern Families where they do a lot of their Modern day communication – Facebook.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

So far the Favourite Child Detector has analysed nearly 35 million social interactions including 19 million 'likes' and 8.5 million comments. Average of 1min 32secs spent on the site. Countless and diverse sites - from parenting blogs to tech websites, covered the Favourite Child Detector. The idea broke out of the online space and was covered on radio and TV. Used by families in 129 countries. And most importantly, Modern Family ratings on Prime TV doubled between the first and second episodes.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Our insight was that, although they'd never admit it, all parents play favourites with their children. On Modern Family, for example, Phil seems to favour his son Luke. This universally relevant human insight allowed us to create an idea as cheeky as the show itself, an idea that would spread organically by answering the one question parents won’t – who is the favourite child? The Favourite Child Detector is a branded microsite and Facebook app that analyses user’s parent’s Facebook behaviour to find out which child was their favourite. Banner ads and sponsored Facebook posts promoted the microsite. But as the controversial results spilled out on to Facebook and private family feuds became public, users promoted the site for us. The idea received a lot of social attention and quickly spread. By re-skinning readily available social data we created a funny, relevant and revealing social experience for our target audience.