Facebook Live Event, sparked by an idea from eBrandgelize Digital’s Nicole Hansen to CEO Bill Abbott, garners awards for our client Crown Media Family Networks

The 2018 cancelled upfront presentation was salvaged by an attitude that turned bad news into great news for our clients: the show must go on. Crown Media’s social media team took the suggestion to not let the opportunity pass by and enlisted the talent on-hand, to produce a Christmas themed virtual event for Hallmark Channel’s Facebook pages to host. The result was an innovative and utterly memorable alternative to the cancelled Upfront Presentation for advertisers.

From the 11th Annual Shorty Awards:
Upfronts 2018 Facebook Live Event

Bronze Distinction in Facebook Live
Audience Honor in Facebook Live

Tactic

With the help of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries’ fan-favorites, Candace Cameron Bure and Danica McKellar, the company staged a Facebook Live event at 6:30 pm EST on March 22, 2018 with Bill Abbott, President & CEO, and Ed Georger, EVP of ad sales, against the backdrop of a winter wonderland in Central Park, where they announced several new programming developments for the networks. The social team even managed to secure festive costumes for Abbott and Georger, in spite of limited transportation in all of New York! The Facebook Live was also shared over to its sister network Hallmark Movies and Mysteries during the same time to allow fans from both channels to interact and ask questions.

Fans were thrilled to interact with Crown Media Family Networks key executives and talent and learn about developments on their favorite shows and renewals through a surprise Facebook Live event. Usually, the Upfronts is a closed-door celebration with limited media in attendance. This Facebook Live event expanded the viewership and pick-up of these announcements to a much wider audience.

Results

Evaluation

The Facebook Live event was covered by several trade and press including Variety, AdAge, AdWeek, Deadline, MultiChannel, Entertainment Weekly, Broadcasting &Cable and several others calling it a super genius method of announcing new developments.

Stats Include:

500,000 Impressions
325,000 Reach
150,000 views
55 minutes viewed
800 comments