Unique Ad Relationships Boost "The Walking Dead" Series-Verse

Initial spinoff Fear the Walking Dead will enter its eighth season next year with at least three new series or miniseries on the way for 2023 and beyond starting with The Walking Dead Dead City formerly Isle of the Dead in April followed by The Walking Dead Daryl Dixon and a yettobetitled series following Rick and Michonneamp8217s characters Still to be determined a second season of episodic anthology Tales of The Walking Dead which premiered this past summerAMC and sister service AMC gave The Walking Dead finale a huge sendoff November 20 with a 30minute preshow a 90minute final episode and a 90minute Talking Dead followup special live from the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles TD host Chris Hardwick and TWD cast members are pictured above and below Participating advertisers on the night included Procter ampamp Gamble Volkswagen Doordash Taco Bell Apple Computer Canva and The Sexton Single Malt whiskeyCanva and The Sexton along with Microsoft Mountain Dew and other key sponsors supplemented their commercial buys throughout The Walking Dead39s run with cuttingedge campaigns prepared in association with AMC Networks39 integrated marketing unit Content Room In The Sexton39s case there was extensive use of instore retail and social media Canva put together a Walking Dead graphics collection and an art contest for fans with a trip to the Orpheum Theater event as top prizeWhat role did these campaigns have on The Walking Dead39s phenomenal success What impact will they continue to have on this franchise and other AMC ventures such as the Anne Rice series Anne Riceamp8217s Interview with the Vampire and coming in January Anne Riceamp8217s Mayfair Witches Shaun Hammond Vice President of Integrated Marketing at AMC Networks offered answers and insights through the following interview conducted by emailMediaVillage When did the idea of branded entertainmentadvertising partnerships tied to The Walking Dead enter the pictureShaun Hammond Given the early success of The Walking Dead39s first season conversations with advertisers pertaining to custom partnerships and branded content for season two took place rather quickly For season two which expanded from six to 13 episodes we had three significant partnerships with Microsoft Hyundai and Pizza Hut Microsoft39s partnership centered around the creation of custom content that highlighted a quotStaggerOn Rolequot sweepstakes for fans Hyundai integrated within the series itself and that fanfavorite green Tucson which coincided with a sweepstakes for one lucky fan to win the same vehicle featured in the show Lastly Pizza Hut and AMC partnered for a custom trailer mashup contest where fans could use clips from the series to create their own trailersMediaVillage How did the final season deals Canva and Sexton come aboutHammond Many of our advertising partners are also fans of the show and this was true with our amazing friends at Canva and The Sexton These are two brands that were perfectly aligned with The Walking Dead universe and its fanbase Honestly it39s been a pleasure collaborating with these two amazing partnersMediaVillage What worked best among the various elements of Sexton39s participationHammond What stands out the most about partnership with The Sexton is its commitment to authenticity with the fans in mind Right from the start The Sexton understood how savvy the fanbase is and never once tried to sell them on something that felt unauthentic to the show The limitededition TWD bottle is incredible garnished with iconic quotes and homages to the series It39s at the center of the campaign and is something we are very proud to have launched to celebrate the final season And as The Walking Dead universe continues to expand you just might see some more collaborations in the futureMediaVillage What are the results so far of Canva39s participationHammond We have had an incredible multipronged partnership with Canva around the final season Not only did we cocreate a custom graphics collection inspired by imagery art and iconography from The Walking Dead in Canva available through midDecember at canvametwd we also ran a fan art contest where our fans used elements from the collection to create some stellar TWD designs for the chance to win a trip to the finale event Fan art has been such a massive part of The Walking Dead universe since the first season and of course Canva is all about making it easy for users to design and get creative in their platform so this partnership was really the perfect marriage of the two We39re excited to start talking about where we go from here and how we can continue to expand for future partnerships beyond The Walking Dead universe39s mothership seriesMediaVillage What lessons have been learned from using this approach to build multiseries AMC franchises like The Walking Dead and Anne RiceHammond The recent success of Content Room has provided us with insights into how to blend our advertising partners with AMC Networks39 incredible slate of IP Simply stated there is no playbook amp8230 we build each and every campaign from the ground up in collaboration with our partners There is no rinse lather repeat It39s this boutique approach that our partners have come to expect from Content Room And as The Walking Dead universe expands we39ll be sure to use this winning formula to blend advertisers into the immortal universe of Anne Rice and its rich captivating world Together we39ll give fans of the franchises something to really sink their teeth intoMediaVillage Are there any current or upcoming AMC series that with these ad relationships could become multiseries success stories like The Walking DeadHammond We are very excited about acquiring Anne Rice39s major literary works The Vampire Chronicles series and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series encompassing a total of 18 titles that have captivated millions of fans around the world With the enormous success of the first season of Anne Rice39s Interview with the Vampire we can39t wait to share with the world Anne Rice39s Mayfair Witches premiering January 8 on AMC and AMCMediaVillage Did any unique advertiser relationships fall through because of objections to TWD39s ultraviolent contentHammond Our TWD advertiser partners have always been fully aware of the potential violence that may occur in this apocalyptic world But as we39ve seen the story unfold throughout the years it39s so much more than a show about zombies Central themes of family togetherness and survival have been at the core of what The Walking Dead is all about and there are subjects that all audiences and advertisers can relate to It also didn39t hurt that TWD was the No 1 show on cable all these yearsMediaVillage How have customized ads evolved over TWD39s run WE understand that in the first few seasons some major advertisers featured messages with zombiesHammond The depth of the storytelling within The Walking Dead provided us with the flexibility to tap into a variety of different themes and genres Particularly the juxtaposition of humor against the show39s backdrop has made for some really fun creative and has allowed us to work with a wide mix of advertising categories Our branded content has covered everything from important tips on homebuying in the apocalypse to throwing a killer watch party with friends not to mention how to express fandom through creating and sharing fan art And while a lot of our custom content over the years did indeed feature zombies aka walkers we didn39t create content with walkers for the sake of doing so At the heart of all custom content for The Walking Dead were the fans The fans have been our everything The Walking Dead universe wouldn39t be what it is without them So for all custom content it was important for us to always acknowledge and celebrate themClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Unique Ad Relationships Boost "The Walking Dead" Series-Verse

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Simon Applebaum

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