The Walking Dead
#DeadYourself
This
month saw season 6 of the TV show The Walking Dead from AMC come back to our TV
screens! I am a huge fan of this show and I have been very excited for it to
return. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this TV show, it is about a group of
people who are trying to survive in the world that has been overrun by zombies,
it is definitely worth a watch.
Whilst on Instagram a
couple of days ago the account for The Walking Dead (amcthewalkingdead)
uploaded a picture of a fan who had taken part in their trend ‘#DeadYourself’
by downloading their app ‘Dead Yourself’ and making their own picture. In the
Instagram post they state that the app has been updated and this has been done
for the new season of this TV show.
This is a perfect example
of experiential marketing by AMC who are the creators of this show. They are
engaging their viewers with an experience that they can take part in and have a
bit of fun with, and at the same time AMC are promoting the show in a different
way than just a poster on a billboard on the street.
The app is available
from app stores both for Apple and Android products and is very simple to
navigate and straightforward which makes the app user happy and willing to
proceed and take part. There are several options to choose from on the app,
each of them all related to different parts in the TV program using props,
characters and imagery. The reasoning for this is to give the user a feel that
they are part of this Walking Dead movement. This is using the method of
sensory marketing as it is getting their viewers involved through their senses
of touch and vision. While the whole
time using the app at the bottom is a reminder that the TV show is starting
again on a certain date, time and what channel it will be shown on.
Each of the
subcategories on the app are different and you can ‘zombify’ yourself on them,
by choosing different mouths, eyes, wounds, weapons, and more. Below you can
see the process on one of the subcategories that I took part in, finally ending
it off with giving your picture a tagline. Most of the taglines included #dead
which links in with the #deadyourself that AMC are trying to get trending.
Once you have made your zombified image of yourself, it saves the image to your phone straight away. When saving this image the app adds a filter over the top which says “FOX The Walking Dead. Dead Yourself” which is AMC’s way of promoting and marketing the show again. After you are given the opportunity to share this image with your friends on every social media site you are a member of. By sharing this image you are passing this message on about The Walking Dead show and the #deadyourself trend, which is what the company are wanting you to do, it is cheap and easy marketing for the show. As well as creating this platform to share your image with your friends, you also get given your own gallery on the app where people from all around the world can see your creations and AMC often pick a fan’s picture out to be shared on the Instagram page.
Once you have made your zombified image of yourself, it saves the image to your phone straight away. When saving this image the app adds a filter over the top which says “FOX The Walking Dead. Dead Yourself” which is AMC’s way of promoting and marketing the show again. After you are given the opportunity to share this image with your friends on every social media site you are a member of. By sharing this image you are passing this message on about The Walking Dead show and the #deadyourself trend, which is what the company are wanting you to do, it is cheap and easy marketing for the show. As well as creating this platform to share your image with your friends, you also get given your own gallery on the app where people from all around the world can see your creations and AMC often pick a fan’s picture out to be shared on the Instagram page.
AMC have been very
clever when choosing this route to market their show. They have picked
something creative for their fans to get involved with and created a trend
which will be seen all over the internet, by different ages and in different
countries. This is an easy and cheap way of marketing, as once their fans get
involved and start sharing their pictures on the social media pages, their
friends will start to see these pictures and question what they are for. This
may result in them downloading the app for themselves and taking part and
continuing this cycle, by passing the message on to their friends, and so on.
Doing this is raising awareness of what the point in these pictures are, and it
is for the release of the new season of The Walking Dead, which you can see
written in the corner of any of the pictures created and on the app home
screen. Each time one of these pictures are shared with the #deadyourself
trend, more and more people are exposed to this movement and may take an
interest in to watching the TV program.
Such a good idea!! I love The Walking Dead and thought this was a great way to promote the return of the show. I enjoyed taking part in this marketing campaign ans I'm sure the millions of other fans will have too. An interesting way to involve and interact with the consumer using social media.
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