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Case Study - USA Network, Psych

Client | Situation | Challenges | Strategy | Results

Client

USA Network is a popular cable television network run by NBC Universal Cable (subsidiary of General Electric). USA Network features a variety of original and 2nd-run television series, including House, Law & Order SVU and CI, Monk, and the 4400. Known for their tagline "Characters Welcome", USA Network is a firstmover in cross-media interactive marketing.

Their innovative "show us your character" campaign promotes interactivity as an overhead brand and connects audiences across all media touchpoints.

Situation

For the premier of their original series Psych, USA Network launched an extensive on and offline campaign to build brand awareness and generate buzz for the new show. Because the campaign ran across several different types of media, they wanted to implement paid search as part of an overall launch strategy. USA Network approached Reprise Media to help develop a paid search campaign for the launch of Psych.

Challenges

At the outset of the campaign, USA Network needed to educate prospective viewers about the new show and encourage them to tune in at a later date. Branded keywords such as "Psych premiere" weren't receiving much traffic in the weeks prior to launch, so the campaign had to utilize terms that would connect with people searching for related topics. Furthermore, as part of a cross-media promotion, ad creative needed to be consistent with Psych's overall messaging.

The campaign ran from mid June to the end of August. As with any campaign, Reprise Media faced the challenge of pacing daily traffic spend in order to manage a designated budget.

Strategy

To capitalize on buzz generated by USA Network's offline marketing and to unlock latent demand for the new show, Reprise Media developed a three-part strategy. First,
keyword groups were expanded across three main areas: General Television and Branded terms, Cast Member names, and Plot Points. Second, selected terms were deep-linked to specific rich-media pages within the Psych website. Finally, Reprise Media used time-separated ad creative to target different audiences before and after the premiere of Psych.

Keyword Expansion

1. General Television & USA Network Branded Keywords
   Key terms such as "USA television shows", "Monk show" and "detective series" were used to capture the interest of casual fans who may not have heard about the Psych premiere.

2. Cast Members
   Because many of Psych's cast members were already popular TV stars, Reprise Media included their names in the keyword mix to draw from existing fan bases. Fans were sent to deep-linked pages with actor-specific rich media.

3. Plot Points
   Reprise Media used key plot points from the show to match intensified offline messaging in the lead up to the premiere. With terms like "photographic memory", "magic 8-ball" and "buddy cop", the campaign attracted searchers with related interests that might have already developed an affinity for the show's content.

Deep Linking

Psych had a highly interactive website, featuring character blogs, behind the scenes content, downloads, games and mobile alerts. Reprise Media took advantage of this rich media by driving niche-specific traffic to inner landing pages. "Psychout" for example, sent users to a section with video replays, bloopers and secret scenes. Deep linking enhanced the site's usability by connecting niche-interested clicks to interactive niche-topic pages. Furthermore, deep linking promoted the visibility of valuable media that viewers might have otherwise missed.

Pre-Launch Creative

Ad creative for Psych was generated by extracting content from online, print and other Psych media. Creative copy was synced to overall promotion to amplify recognition of both the ad and the brand. The series tagline, "Fake Psychic, Real Detectives" ran beside the date and time for the premiere to drive viewership and build awareness of the show's scheduled timeslot.

Post-Launch Creative

Reprise media decided to run the campaign for a few weeks after the premiere. Immediately following the first episode, messaging was updated from "Premieres Friday, July 7th 10/9C" to "Watch Psych, Fridays 10/9C." The post-launch campaign allowed USA Networks to capture traffic that was generated by reviews, blog mentions, and interested viewers.

Results:

Thanks to Reprise Media's innovative approach, the campaign drove tens of thousands of visitors in the weeks leading up to the premiere. The 600+ unique terms that were generated provided qualified and relevant traffic for an extremely robust Psych minisite. As a result, Psych had a rating of 6.1, the highest of any new show on basic cable this year.

Reprise Media's balance of technology and experience kept the campaign running smoothly from the pre-launch, when the show was still unheard of, through to weeks after the post-launch, when branded terms generated heavy traffic. By timing the release of pre and post-launch creative, Reprise Media kept Psych ads running 24 hours a day for the duration of the campaign.

To request additional case studies, or for more information on Reprise Media's search engine marketing services, call us at 1-800-218-9476, or contact a Reprise Media representative today!