Take a look at the lawman

Traditionally, TV promotion campaigns follow a consistent formula: some TV spots, some radio, a little outdoor and that’s as far as it goes. But for the second series of time–shift cop drama, Life on Mars, we were determined to break the rules a little. We felt that such an entertaining, innovative and non–linear show deserved marketing to match.

Our idea of promo nirvana was to design a 360°, multi–platform campaign (across mobile, PC, TV, radio and outdoor) that enticed audiences from one medium to another, encouraging them to ‘talk–up’ and market the show on our behalf. So we retired to our special brainstorming room to draw up our plans.

Fifteen hours of shagpile, cheesecloth and Bobby Goldsboro later, we emerged with our big idea. It was as obvious as it was simple. Nostalgia – for all things seventies. The music, the fashion, the TV shows, the Sweeney–style policing – all tapped into the audience’s shared experience and expectations.

We brought back the BBC idents and continuity announcements to introduce the programme from the seventies and enabled viewers to download the BBC clock from the decade when no programmes were airing to their PCs and mobile phones. We also created outdoor posters in the seventies style.

A viral campaign featuring a Camberwick Green style pastiche of the two lead characters with DCI Hunt explaining how to work on his beat was created and pushed through online banners and news websites. These animated versions of the characters also appeared in a PC application that enabled them to ‘live’ on viewers’ computer screens.

A 1973 Police Code of Conduct Book written by DCI Hunt that includes a glossary of famous phrases from the era was distributed across the country in bars, clubs and ‘Don’t Panic’ bags. For real 70’s fanatics, Red Bee Media also auctioned the programme’s iconic orange Ford Cortina through Ebay.

Of course TV and radio spots were created to round off our 360° campaign.

And we’re delighted to say that evidence of the campaign’s effectiveness was far from circumstantial.

1. The Camberwick Green viral received a combined total of over 400,000 free hits
   and 2.3 million paid views, making it the BBC’s most successful viral campaign
   to date.
2. Bloggers and social networking sites raved about the campaign.
3. The pick–up rate for the 500,000 ‘Rules of Modern Policing’ booklet was 98%.
4. The outdoor posters and booklet began appearing on ebay with one of the posters achieving a sale price of £70
5. The Ford Cortina was auctioned on ebay for over £12,000 for the BBC’s charity, Comic Relief.
6. The number of unique users on the Life on Mars section of the BBC website was over 400,000.
7. The series viewing average was over six million, with seven million plus watching the final episode despite the tough competition of a big football match being broadcast on another channel.

So, an overwhelming case for a successful campaign, a benchmark for future 360° activity and a clear illustration of how the combination of our creativity and content delivery skills will be vital in the new world of multimedia promotion.

We don’t generally like to be accused of blowing our own trumpet, but in this case......fair cop.