American High was coming to PBS (America's national public television network.) This reality TV show was first aired on FOX the year before, but was cancelled after only 4 of 13 episodes due to poor ratings. Our objectives were simple: create buzz among 12-24 year olds about American High; drive our target to visit www.pbs.org/americanhigh; drive tune-in among 12-24 year olds for the premiere.However, we faced one enormous challenge: teens couldn't fathom that PBS had any programming for them. PBS wasn't even on their radar. Teens saw the network as either Sesame Street or boring documentaries for their parents, with nothing in between. We had to prove that PBS and American High were relevant to them and worthy of their interest and attention. Our strategy involved a multi-faceted penetration of teen life. We wanted to empower our target to learn about American High on their own and spread the word to their friends. Our messaging and environments had to be interactive and provide a forum for discussion. We also wanted to empower teens to put their stamp of individuality into the advertising. As we set out to associate American High with established brands that teens perceived as cool. Because our target spent more time online than they did watching TV, online became the driver in this plan.We chose media partners based on their ability to reach large numbers of our target in environments they spend a lot of time with and already deem cool. We were selective and chose only four top teen/young adult web portals: MTV.com, bolt.com, Alloy.com and launch.com.We concepted and oversaw the production of American High microsites on bolt and Alloy, featuring quizzes and poll, case member profiles, member reviews, message boards, chat rooms and episode synopses. We partnered with MTV to create an American High TRL (Total Request Live) Sweepstakes, the winner of which received over 35,000 entries. Our digitized: 30 TV spot ran after videos viewed on launch.com as well as their monthly CD-ROM magazine.While our campaign did include flash banners, button and skyscraper creative units, we went beyond the banner with our unique interstitial placed on top-trafficked areas of the sites to get noticed by our multitasking target. The interstitial was not merely an ad; it was an interactive quiz that served as a forum for our target to express their individuality. The quiz focused on questions about the kids (e.g' I am_; I would never_, etc) using our insight for their love of self-expression and individuality. The interstitial also featured "send to a friend" functionality, a viral component that created buzz and empowered users to spread the word. Media took the strategic leadership of this assignment, conducting extensive primary and secondary research including a comprehensive look at today's teen audience. We developed a strategic architecture for the campaign as well as connection and creative briefs. We conducted focus groups to evaluate media and creative paths. Additionally, we collaborated with the creative team and designers to create the fully interactive "I am" creative ideas to ensure that we were effectively connecting with teens. The media team concepted and directed the creation of the interactive microsites placed on the pertnering websites to ensure the correct information and tone for the show was reflected. Because we were able to attract teenagers to the last place they'd think of going: public television. We used out target insight to reinvent the way teen TV programming is marketed, and let teens truly make this program their own.Because we rejected the traditional online buy. Rather than buy an off-the-shelf solution, we developed a unique way to connect with teens and then convinced the media to adjust their product accordingly.Becuase we used media placement - not just creative - as a tool to make the program (and PBS) cool by association.Because we achieved phenomenal results against phenomenal odds. The PBS teen audience increased 90% above average and ratings grew 50% in households with teens in them. Our online plan producted staggering results: we had a 48% click-through rate on our interstitial, and our banner ad click-through was 13x the industry average. Our plan drove 250,000 unique users to the American High website, generated 1,200 discussion threads on the message boards, and enticed over 35,000 people to register for our contest on MTV.com.

Media took the strategic leadership of this assignment, conducting extensive primary and secondary research including a comprehensive look at today's teen audience. We developed a strategic architecture for the campaign as well as connection and creative briefs. We conducted focus groups to evaluate media and creative paths. Additionally, we collaborated with the creative team and designers to create the fully interactive "I am" creative ideas to ensure that we were effectively connecting with teens. The media team concepted and directed the creation of the interactive microsites placed on the pertnering websites to ensure the correct information and tone for the show was reflected.