FOR decades, advertisers were as closely associated with game shows as slick hosts eager to give away prizes. Now, an airline known for nontraditional approaches to advertising is sponsoring a game show with a couple of contemporary twists: It will be played live, and online.
“Mark Hammerberg” is the host of JetBlue’s online game show, which begins June 18.
“JetBlue Getaways Presents Get Away With It” is the name of the game show, sponsored by JetBlue Airways. The show is meant to be the centerpiece of a campaign, with a budget estimated at $2 million to $3 million, to build awareness of — and sales for — JetBlue’s vacation package travel service, known as JetBlue Getaways.
The show will be presented on a section of the JetBlue Web site, at jetblue.com/getawaywithit. Information about “Get Away With It,” and how to become a contestant, went live on Monday.
There is also an advertising campaign to promote the show that includes print, online and outdoor ads; ads during the in-flight programs on JetBlue aircraft; ads in JetBlue airport terminals; and even ads embedded in the television program listings offered by cable systems like Comcast.
“Get Away With It” will be streamed live from a studio in New York — not coincidentally, a major market for JetBlue. The show is scheduled to appear five times a day for five days, from June 18 through 22; each episode will run about 15 minutes.
And, yes, there will be a slick host, Mark Hammerberg, portrayed by an actor and writer named Jim Conroy. He promises, in a version of a vintage game-show spiel, that there will be “real people playing in real time” as they answer questions about travel and — in an example of branded entertainment, whereby ads are integrated into the programming — questions about JetBlue Getaways travel packages.
The Hammerberg character, whose name winks at classic game-host names like Wink Martindale, will be as eager to give away prizes as quiz masters like Bob Barker, Richard Dawson and Monty Hall once were. In this instance, the prizes are vacation packages and certificates for what the character enthusiastically promotes as “the hottest destinations.”
In keeping with a campaign that seeks to transfer the trappings of television game shows to the Internet, there will be what seem like 64,000 elements rooted in new media, mobile media and social media, involving, among others, AdoTube, Appssavvy, Buzzfeed, Facebook, SocialVibe, Twitter, Viggle and YouTube.
For instance, in a deal with Viggle, a mobile check-in app, people will be able to check in to “Get Away With It” and earn Viggle points as they do when they check in to actual TV shows.
The campaign is the brainchild of Mullen in Boston, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies and the JetBlue agency for creative and media services. Among the other offbeat ideas Mullen has had for JetBlue is a campaign featuring video clips that poked fun at how other airlines treat customers. For instance, actors playing taxi drivers tried to charge passengers $25 for each bag placed in their trunks, in a reminder that on JetBlue the first checked bag is free.
“There are certain expectations among our customers that we’ll always communicate with them in new, fun ways,” said Marty St. George, senior vice president for marketing and commercial strategy at JetBlue in Long Island City, Queens.
As a result, “we’re always looking for innovative ways to get people engaged with the brand,” he said, particularly digitally, because “our customer base skews younger, affluent, digitally savvy.”
The genesis of the decision to sponsor a live online game, Mr. St. George said, was a discussion among executives about current “buzzwords” in marketing, which included “gamification,” as in using the designs and mechanics of games to enliven Web sites.
“Rather than put a game on our Web site, we thought, ‘What if we did a game?’ ” he said, “a real game show that would have that ‘retro’ feel, with a set, a live host, a beautiful assistant, but with a digital way for customers to play.”
JetBlue and Mullen “definitely thought about” a TV version of “Get Away With It,” Mr. St. George said, but decided against it “from an expense perspective.”
“We’re a low-cost airline,” he added dryly.
People who played the game in tests liked it, Mr. St. George said, and “if this does well, we’ll do it another time.” There will also be interactive games on the Web site after “Get Away With It” ends, minus aspects like the host and the live play, continuing through July 6.
Another inspiration for the show, said Cliff Leicht, vice president and creative director at Mullen, was that “these great old game shows always culminated with a vacation travel prize.”
“We thought it would be interesting to turn that on its head,” he added, “and have the vacation package company do a game show.”
It took some doing to come up with the title, Mr. Leicht said, which “we’re pretty proud of.”
“It sounds like a game show,” he added, “and it’s a little cheeky, which we like.”
And, of course, the words “Get Away” echo the sponsor, JetBlue Getaways.
If “Get Away With It” catches on, what could be next? “The Priceline Is Right”? “ABC Family Cable Channel Feud”? “You Bet Your Life Cereal”?
via New York Times
