TV: PART 1 'Don't Trust the B---- in Apt 23' - Leasing to viewers and believers

(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.

TV: 'The Lying Game' – Framing series into audiences' favorite secret to share

(Poster, Photo source: IMP Awards)

Hitting its stride last winter season, ABC Family’s The Lying Game emerged as one of cable’s Top 3 scripted series in the coveted Females 12-34 demo.

It’s easy to see how The Lying Game succeeded in retaining viewers and hooking new ones over TV’s other twin-swapping drama; buoyed by a Pandora's box of plot twists, cliffhangers, and interesting supporting characters, the series has fun with its dark premise and never takes itself too seriously.

Sutton (left) and Emma prepare to switch places (Photo source: ABC Family's The Lying Game Facebook)

Based on Pretty Little Liars author Sara Shepard’s book series of the same name, the plot “centers on Emma (Alexandra Chando), a kind-hearted foster kid who finds out she has an identical twin sister, Sutton (also played by Chando) that was adopted by wealthy parents and is seemingly living an ideal life.”

The sisters swap places so Sutton can go on a quest to find their birth mother; as they get closer to discovering the truth and answers to the mystery surface, someone begins to make sure the secrets stay buried at all costs.

Two The Lying Game official sites: ABC Family and Alloy Entertainment

Two website portals support the show, network ABC Family for the TV series and production company Alloy Entertainment for the book/TV series/brand; they each have separate Facebook and Twitter accounts, and recaps, games, quizzes, cast Q&As, heartthrob polls, fashion and trend engagement make up their digital marketing campaign.

Sample engagement of a shared memes on ABC Family's The Lying Game Facebook

With all-but-official news for a season 2 renewal, below are six suggestions to connect new and existing fans deeper to The Lying Game’s tangled web of lies. The more engrossed fans become, they more they will want to pass along the juicy secret that is The Lying Game.

Web Series: 5 ways 'Dating Rules' can keep audiences falling deeper in love

(Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

With a high concept and starring a recognizable cast, Alloy Entertainment’s branded web series Dating Rules From My Future Self launched in January to great fanfare.

Revolving around twenty-something Lucy (Shiri Appleby) who receives texts from herself 10 years in the future that help her navigate her current love life, the effortlessly charming and addictive nine episodes, each five-to-nine minute long, made up the first season and attracted over 500k to 700k viewers each at press time.

Using Facebook and Twitter, Dating Rules’ digital marketing campaign focused on the relatable trials and tribulations of dating by giving fans advice much like Lucy’s future self.

Dating Rule of The Day (Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

The social networks posted a “Dating Rule of the Day” with an accompanying sharable captioned photo; these were humorous yet truthful and applicable. Fans could also email “#futurelucy” for relationship advice.

Dear "#futurelucy" (Photo source: Dating Rules Facebook)

Moreover, Dating Rules' Facebook shared appropriate articles such as “25 First-Date Dos and Don’ts” and “10 Things You Should Never Say To A Guy” from third-party websites. Appleby and cast member Alison Becker also participated in a live Ustream chat and answered questions about love and what it was like working on the show.

Finally, some of the advocates Dating Rules sought were entertainment websites Entertainment Weekly (an exclusive trailer), TheTVAddict, and Collider (Appleby gave interviews), celebrity gossip tabloids The Celebrity Stone and Cupid’s Pulse, and love and relationship advice hub YourTango (Appleby gave an interview and wrote an article about her personal breaking up experience).

Appleby's article on YourTango

Heading into Season 2, Dating Rules' digital marketing campaign can delve even deeper into emotionally connecting with its millennial audience by continuing to explore the commonality of breaking up using other cost-effective social media tools such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Spotify.

Below are five recommendations that will lead 'Dating' audiences to engagement:

'American Reunion' digital marketing campaign: Excited for one last piece?

(Facebook cover, Photo source: American Pie Facebook)

It's been over twelve years since Universal Pictures released American Pie and it became the teen comedy classic that depicted and defined Generation Y. Now the entire gang is back for their high school reunion in American Reunion on April 6.

The box-office hit Pie became a franchise that spawned two sequels, American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003), and four direct-to-video spin-offs.

Reunion's one-sheet pays homage to the original Pie (Photo source: IMP Awards)

With the franchise's rich library of material and built-in fanbase, American Reunion’s remarkably extensive digital marketing campaign aims to engage fans with a slice of nostalgia in different ways while replicating the brand's gross-out humor to entice newcomers.

Did the campaign succeed in getting fans salivating for more Pie? Let’s take a look and see if the strategies made this a Reunion worth waiting for.

TV: 'Ringer' - the ultimate double cross-examination on interactive campaign

Marking the return of cult classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s Sarah Michelle Gellar to the small screen, The CW’s drama Ringer was one of the most buzzed about shows heading into the Fall television season last year.

Taken from IMDB, Ringer is about “a young woman on the run from the mob [who] poses as her wealthy twin sister to try and evade them, but soon discovers that her sister has a price on her head as well.”

The highly anticipated series arrived with much fanfare, including the cover of Entertainment Weekly

The series premiere attracted 2.74 million total viewers and 1.2 ratings in the coveted 18-49 demo, which was tepid considering many were expecting Buffy-like numbers. Originally conceived for sister network CBS, Ringer had a more mature tone and cast that looked like it could also broaden CW’s audience outside their core teen females.

Subsequently, the series has had a rocky fall throughout its season with hemorrhaging numbers that never matched its premiere high.

The cast and concept skewed older than the typical CW fare (Photo source: Ringer Facebook)

To build awareness for the premiere, Ringer employed a flashy interactive marketing campaign that connected outdoor advertising with social media while having fun with its identical twins premise.

Could a stronger digital marketing campaign have doubled the premiere’s success? And could anything have kept week-to-week interest in Ringer reverberating? Let’s take a retrospective look at this particular strategy's strengths and weaknesses.

QUICK TAKE - 'Silent House' digital marketing campaign: Are audiences listening?

(Movie poster, Photo source: IMP Awards)

Open Road Films / Liddell Entertainment’s horror film Silent House utilized three key elements in its digital marketing campaign: a mysterious official site, an interactive trailer and portal, and a Twitter contest mirroring the film’s real-time continuity.

Opening on March 9, the R-rated Silent House was inspired by true events and a remake of the Uruguayan Spanish-language film The Silent House (La Casa Muda), which was met with mostly positive reviews. At last year's Sundance Film Festival, this remake was also one of the two films headlined by Elizabeth Olsen; her breakthrough performance in the other film Martha Marcy May Marlene won universal acclaim, was nominated by a barrage of critics associations, and instantly propelled Olsen as a future star to watch.

The Devil Inside and The Woman In Black scared up $33.7 and $20.9 million openings, respectively
(Photo source: IMP Awards)

With two horror films, The Devil Inside and The Woman In Black, opening to large numbers in January and February, respectively, and receiving middling to downright nasty CinemaScores, one wonders if moviegoers are currently suffering from disappointing-horror films fatigue or are only hungrier for scares that deliver.

Is Silent House’s digital marketing campaign loud enough to get audiences screaming for tickets? Let’s take a look.

Game over? 5 ways 'John Carter' can play for bigger audience on Earth

Carrying a hefty budget of over $250 million, it is alarming Walt Disney Studios' John Carter is reportedly tracking soft ahead of its global release date March 9.

Looking at the film's official website and Facebook page, online games are notably used to engage fans.

Upon inspection, the three games are surprisingly elementary, which can be beneficial in targeting families and casual gamers, but have minimal replay value or prolonged engagement.

Three games featured on the official website

The film's digital marketing campaign is targeting audiences across the board, attempting to reach the literary fans with polls and engagement questions about the source material, young males with clips, comics, and articles highlighting the action and sci-fi, and families with its Disney-brand and partnership with Read.gov to promote with reading.

Below are five recommendations how John Carter's digital campaign can use engagement games more effectively and build awareness with each of its target audience without sacrificing their brand image: