| Title | THE FIRE PORTRAIT |
| Brand | NBC UNIVERSAL GLOBAL NETWORKS DEUTSCHLAND |
| Product/Service | 3RD SEASON CHICAGO FIRE |
| Category |
A09. Launch or re-launch |
|
Entrant Company
|
HEYE Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Advertising Agency
|
HEYE Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Media Agency
|
MEDIACOM Munich, GERMANY
|
|
Production Company
|
SKYNAMIC Mainz, GERMANY
|
Credits
| Thorsten Adenauer |
Heye Gmbh |
Creative Director |
| Tobias Bundt |
Heye Gmbh |
Creative Director |
| Andreas Heuschneider |
Heye Gmbh |
Art Director |
| Gabriel Döll |
Heye Gmbh |
Copywriter |
| Amadeus Weineck |
Heye Gmbh |
Graphic Designer |
| Jessica Aumayer |
Heye Gmbh |
Account Manager |
| Jasmin Seitel |
Heye Gmbh |
Account Director |
| Thomas Ardelt |
|
Illustrator |
The Campaign
The American TV series „Chicago Fire“ had a fairly small fan base in Germany. To change that, Universal Channel briefed us to promote the new season with a low-budget TV commercial.
But how to turn viewers into fans? Not with a single TV-commercial. But with an amazing live event, that involves Universal Channel’s Facebook community as well as journalists from several newspapers and TV shows.
So we lit up the world’s largest flaming image: a portrait of Chicago Fire’s main character Kelly Severide. Because the only thing Chicago Fire fans love more than fire, is more fire.
Created by pyro technicians and illustrators, ignited by Chicago Fire fans themselves, this Guinness World Record spread like wildfire in Facebook, Twitter, TV and newspapers.
Through the live event, an online video documentation, a website, print ads and even more so – a TV commercial, the Fire Portrait inspired many more than just German Chicago Fire fans to watch the new season.
It finally increased the German fan base and brought Universal Channel its most successful series kick-off in history – all within budget.
The Brief
Turn viewers into fans. In order to achieve higher viewing numbers – also in a long-term perspective – we wanted to create a loyal fan base. After screening the social media communication, it turned out that mainly members of volunteer fire departments all over Germany watch and love the TV series Chicago Fire. So we wanted to reach them.
Execution
Illustrators designed a portrait of Chicago Fire’s main character lieutenant Kelly Severide, which was converted into a 5480-torches-mosaic by pyro technicians. We invited volunteer firefighters and Universal Channel’s Facebook fans to ignite the Fire Portrait and journalists to report for newspapers and TV stations. Drones and camera teams documented the live event in order to generate an online video, print ads and a TV commercial.
The response was amazing: Our online video achieved more than 2,2 million views within one week. The Facebook community spread the Fire Portrait all over the world – even Taylor Kinney, who stars as lieutenant Kelly Severide, retweeted it. Finally our client reached its best series kick-off in history and Chicago Fire became one of the top series on Universal Channel.
The Strategy
It’s not easy to communicate with the right target group: Only 20% of German households receive Pay-TV Channels, Universal Channel is one out of 90. In this case, a single TV commercial would have caused a high coverage waste. Our idea: Creating an unforgettable event together with the existing Facebook community and volunteer fire fighters.