Title	THE WALKING PREMIÈRE
Brand	DISNEY+
Product/Service	THE WALKING DEAD
Category	C01. Guerrilla Marketing & Stunts
Entrant	PUBLICIS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	PUBLICIS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Placement	PUBLICIS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	PUBLICIS Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Nathalie Duchatelet	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Account Director
Martin Ozfirat	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Account Executive
Maarten Van Herck	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Commerce lead
Nicolas Vergauwen	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Brand & Campaign Strategist
Eduardo Marques	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Chief Creative Officer Benelux
Lode Vochten	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Creative Director
Sander Bergmeijer	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Copywriter
Lennard Freij	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Creative
Sandor Wouters	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Creative
Marc Van Buggenhout	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Moving Images Lead
Daan Feytongs	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Moving Images Producer
Sam Ostyn	Amok	DOP
Joris Van der Plaetsen	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Content Creator
Jeroen Van Laethem	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Content Creator
Pascal Braeckman	-	Sound
Saartje Goris	Publicis Groupe Belgium	Sound Producer
Tom Garcia	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Sound Lead
Mathias Lewis	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Sound Engineer
Steef Nijhof	Publicis Groupe Benelux	Senior Art Director

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Usually you just watch the latest episode of your favorite series at home with friends. For this live stunt, we transferred one of the USPs of the Walking Dead into the real world. And offered Walking Dead fans the ultimate viewing experience. They watched the premiere of the final season like true Walkers: walking behind a giant moving screen. With the activation covering all touch points of the consumer journey in the process.

Background

The Walking Dead was launching its final season, season 11. A zombie show that has achieved cult status. This translates in a lot of super fans, yet viewership had been in steady decline for years. The final season gave us the opportunity to go out with a bang. Our first objective was reaching those super fans, those that kept watching no matter what, and getting them involved. Making sure they were aware of the start of the final season. A second step meant we also needed to get those that tuned out, involved once more. Making sure they got that FOMO feeling for the final season of the Walking Dead.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

To launch the final season of the Walking Dead Fox Belgium invited die-hard fans to a unique, one-off event: The Walking Premiere. Organizing a contest, we selected the biggest fans to watch the new season’s first episode at a desolate venue (an abandoned military complex) in Vilvoorde. Dressed as Walkers, they experienced the Last Walk - quite literally – with larger-than-life intensity, as they walked behind a giant driving screen that was broadcasting the highly anticipated episode.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

When you look at the target audience for The Walking Dead it’s mainly people (male and female aged from 35 to 49) with a rich imagination that love to get lost in a fantasy world. The Walking Dead is/was a moment to take a break and escape reality 11 seasons long. We started from the insight, a final season of Walking Dead, also means it’s the final aimless walk for all these zombies (unless a human prey is involved). They are what made the series iconic while often just strolling around, they were always able to steal the show. Now was the time to let our fantasy lovers flip the script and be part of this final walk. Creating a unique brand experience that would connect with super fans and get those that tuned out involved once more.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We organized an activation on social media, bannering and on the FOX Belgium TV channel with a call to action to subscribe to our event and to see the first episode of the final season with a unique experience. The reactions were huge: 13k fans entered after 24h. Two weeks later the event took place, we notified 150 die-hard fans right in advance to join us at a dressed-up abandoned military complex in Vilvoorde the night of the premiere. Walkers were welcoming guests and make-up artists were present to make everyone as bloody as a Walking Dead premiere requires. When the episode started, our gigantic moving screen of 30m2 started moving, just like all the Walkers behind it to see the beginning of the end of The Walking Dead.

List the results (30% of vote)

To achieve our overall objective of increase live tune in, we needed our fans. 13.000 of them signed up in less than 24h, after which we invited 150 of them to our event, asking to bring their best inner zombie. The experience overflowed social media with content for everyone to see. Next, we utilized the after-movie to create some FOMO for those that tuned out, spreading it on social and even the press picked it up, generating just shy of 1 million in free press. End-result? The live-tune in for the first episode within our target group (35-49) was up by 245,1% compared to the previous season launch. And to top it off it was the third most watched Walking Dead episode in Belgium in the last 3 years (final episodes always score bigger). And a nice bonus, those that tuned back in, are still watching The Walking Dead today.