(Poster, Photo source: Apt 23 Facebook)
ABC’s new mid-season sitcom Don’t Trust the B---- in Apt 23 premieres tonight, Wednesday, April 11. Did its digital marketing campaign succeed in finding believers?
Premise: June (Dreama Walker) is "a sweet girl from the heartland" who relocates herself to New York City only to find herself suddenly jobless and broke.
In desperate need of affordable housing, she meets Chloe (Krysten Ritter), the deliciously wicked bad girl in the title, who appears to be the perfect roommate on the surface. After moving in, June soon finds Chloe to be the b---- roommate from hell.
The hook:
(Photo source L-to-R: TresSugar, Chicago Now, Apt 23 Twitter)
- Fun, relatable premise - Who hasn’t had roommate drama?
- Dawson’s Creek’s James Van Der Beek playing and poking fun at himself
- Ritter's abundance of personality and razor sharp tongue
Target audience: Females 18-34 (Secondary: 35-49)
Backed by a strong marketing push, its target audience is aware of Apt 23. Analyzing Apt 23's digital marketing campaign's strategies, let's take a look at what was on target and what were missed opportunities.
DIGITAL MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Funny Roommate Stories:
Users are invited to submit their funniest roommate stories via video, text, or photos on Apt 23's YouTube channel. The entry in each category with the most votes wins $5,000.
On Target: Anyone who has ever had a roommate’s got a story. Living in close quarters 24/7, no matter if it's a stranger or best friend, is bound to grate on nerves and spark disagreements. A majority of the target audience is currently living with roommates or has just graduated and lived through that experience. Everyone has probably felt like they have dealt with their share of Chloe-like drama.
Tapping into how funny and outlandish roommate stories are when explained in retrospect, this contest ties in well with Apt 23’s premise.
Missed Opportunity?: It is difficult to scroll through the abundance of videos, photos, and stories to want to watch each one.If the entries were displayed in a thumbnail-like gallery with a descriptive title and/or short synopsis, it would make choosing which video to watch easier and more enticing.
As of now, the entries are overwhelming to go through, and I presume most of the votes are coming from friends and families of the users who submitted entries.
Roommate & Roach on Twitter:
Tweets using the hashtag #Apt23 are entered to win an iPad 3 or roommate survival kit.
In addition to the official Apt 23 Twitter account, a spin-off account The Roach In Apt 23 tweets daily musings through the eyes of a roach living with the girls in the apartment.
On Target: The Twitter contest gave incentive to use the hashtag and tweet about the show.The fictional Roach account is a creative way to observe the show without the PR-stiffness and a whimsical and low-cost way to engage.
Missed Opportunity?: None. Although the Roach has few followers now, it will likely gather steam after the show’s premiere. Facebook and apps:
Craigslist ad (Screencap from Apt 23 Facebook)
Apt 23's Facebook page shared Craiglists roommate ads that veer on the crazy, and offered two apps for users to play with, Identify The B and Notes From A B.
Identify The B app (Screencap from Apt 23 Facebook)
Identify The B collects information from one's friends' profiles and creates a multiple choice quiz; based on the quiz-taker's answers, the app discovers the "B----" among one's circle of friends.
Notes From A B app (Screencap from Apt 23 Facebook)
Notes From A B allows a user to post crass and tongue-in-cheek digital Post-It notes on a friend's timeline.
On Target: The Craigslists ads are funny and relatable, especially for people who have been on both ends of searching for roommates.Both apps incorporates Facebook friends, making it easy to share Apt 23-branded content with them.
Missed Opportunity?: The Identify The B quiz tries to include one's friends profile information to make a rich engagement experience, but does not succeed. Though it attempts to make the questions personal, it’s a stale quiz and doesn’t entirely make sense at times when answers from profiles are plugged in. Why is a friend a B---- having different movie preferences?
Sending a Note To A B (Screencap from Apt 23 Facebook)
The Notes From A B is a cute concept, but when one sends a note, it is revealed who the sender is. This is fine for close friends, but it is doubtful one will send a vile message, even in jest, to an acquaintance or boss (yes, that’s an option!) and let themselves be known.
In the upcoming Apt 23 entry on Recommendations, we'll look at a more visual and funny way of sending "B----"-like notes.
Beek Jeans:
Along with a 'How Well Do You Know James Van Der Beek?' quiz on the official site, a parody video of James Van Der Beek hawking fictional "Beek Jeans" has been shared on all Apt 23's social networks.
On Target: Watching Van Der Beek play a heighten version of himself is amusing, especially for the millennials who grew up watching him on Dawson's Creek, Varsity Blues, and had Tiger Beat pin-ups posters of him lining their bedroom walls. His inspired casting brings up that warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia. The parody video shows he has a sense of a humor and doesn't take himself too seriously. In recent years, he has become a pop culture reference and internet memes sensation.
Missed Opportunity?: None. The fake commercial is an excellent way to generate buzz from his celebrity. Further James Van Der Beek engagement to compliment the video will be explained in the forthcoming entry Recommendations.
Advanced episodes:
The first two episodes were available to watch online on the official site two weeks before the television broadcast premiere.
On Target: Similar to the approach by New Girl and Smash, when it's a strong product that will be embraced by the tech-obsessed, Facebook generation, letting the show's potential evangelists have a jump start watching it can build organic awareness.If the viewers like it, they will start talking about it and want their friends to watch it and join in too.
Missed Opportunity?: As people are watching the advanced episodes, encourage them to interact by having a tab on the side to send a "B----"-note to friends that also shares a link to the new episodes.Make it simple for viewers to want to spread the word so their friends can watch it before it airs too.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Five recommendations how Don't Trust the B---- in Apt 23 can keep viewers signed in to the show's season-long lease - Click here to read Part 2.
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