Pro Motion Manages CNN Mobile Vehicle Tour, Election Express Yourself
Posted on Thu, Jan 01, 2009
The stakes are rarely higher – a U.S. presidential election being watched by a worldwide audience curious to see if the nation will elect its first African-American leader, and several major television networks fighting for every viewer with almost the same ferocity as the candidates are fighting for votes. This was the situation in 2008, when perennial election night leader CNN knew it had to extend its reach beyond the TV screen to maintain its dominance in the broadcast race to election night.
Recognizing early on that the 2008 election would ignite an untapped passion and an increased desire to participate in the process, CNN wanted to take their coverage out of the studio and directly engage the American people, enticing them to share their thoughts, feelings and impressions of the candidates. It was a strong idea, but how was CNN to execute it in a meaningful – and ratings-enhancing – way? The cable channel turned to field marketing firm Pro Motion, Inc., who had successfully managed their 2006 outreach efforts, to once again push them to the top of a highly competitive election night ratings race.
The Solution
It might seem surprising that a major brand such as CNN would enlist the help of a St. Louis-based field marketing firm, but Pro Motion’s creative, successful work with international brands such as Campbell’s, Anheuser-Busch, and Hasbro had proven their worth. Charged with bringing the election process to life for people of varied ages, ethnicities and lifestyles across the country, Pro Motion pulled their creative and management team together to brainstorm ideas.
Pro Motion’s vision for the CNN project took the concept of the original “Election Express Yourself” tour to a whole new level for the final eight weeks leading up to the November 2008 election. Creating an on-theground, interactive touch point for not only CNN consumers, but also cable partners, affiliates and advertisers, Pro Motion developed, built, scheduled and toured with a mobile “Election Express Yourself” mini-village, centered around an eye-catching, classic silver Airstream RV transformed into a mobile production studio. There, participants were invited to record a short video profile expressing their political passions, which were then broadcast by CNN on air and online to promote election coverage.
Outside the Airstream, a variety of activities drew consumers in and gave them multiple to express their political views to CNN. Visitors wrote their opinions on a massive graffiti wall, created their own campaign slogans at political memorabilia button-making stations and texted their views directly to CNN through on-site real-time texting services. Additionally, CNN television kiosks, an Internet café and polling stations kept visitors informed of the latest campaign developments and provided the cable station real-time polling data for live reporting. Through CNN.com’s iReport, visitors also could send in compelling content captured on personal video cameras and cell phones for potential broadcast. And, to further involve CNN’s vital cable partners, affiliates and advertisers, Pro Motion hosted catered VIP cocktail receptions at each tour stop.
The Results
In just eight weeks, the CNN Election Express Yourself Tour interacted with more than 50,000 consumers in 9,000-plus mile journey that traveled from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles to Times Square in New York. Along the way, the tour visited high school and college campuses, state fairs and all the presidential and vice-presidential debates, with the Pro Motion team giving out more than 100,000 CNN-branded items, including hats, t-shirts and bags.
Election night proved that the tour translated into viewers for the cable network. CNN had the largest viewership among cable networks, and election night was its most watched primetime event ever with an average of 12.3 million viewers, 3 million ahead of closest competitor Fox News. Gary Brockman, Turner Network Services vice president of marketing and operations, said that the Express Yourself Tour was the “crown jewel” of CNN’s election season promotional strategy.
Pro Motion President Steve Randazzo said of the tour, “This was a perfect example of what smart, creative field marketing can do for a brand. Pro Motion enjoys taking all the worries and stress away from developing and launching programs that deliver the results clients want.”
Pro Motion is an award winning nationally recognized integrated marketing leader that focuses on building relationships to grow brands. We specialize in the areas of experiential marketing, digital marketing, social media, strategy, creative and public relations.
Clients say we have measurably better ROI and activation and we GUARANTEE it! We believe participation builds relationships, relationships drive results and results are all that matter! For more information follow Pro Motion on Facebook or Twitter.