Branded entertainment is thriving in the United States. Customers, potential customers and target audiences have countless platforms and screens for consuming content and those platforms are almost all now offering their services to produce branded content as parts of robust client services plans that include both content creation and distribution. It takes a lot to stand out, and Hell Week proves that authenticity is the key to breaking through the noise. Hell Week is a docu-series first, and branded content second.

Audiences were drawn to the content through a combination of owned and paid media:

Owned:

Web:DSG.com/hellweek/

Social: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Paid:

Broadcast TV: Two runs on ESPN’s SportsCenter for the full, 5-episode series.

WatchESPN App: AppleTV, Roku, Xbox, Android

Web: ESPN Homepage Takeover, syndicated video with premium sports partners,

Social: Facebook and Twitter buys

The 2014 Hell Week campaign was a huge success for both Dick’s Sporting Goods and our target audience.

More than 3 million people saw Hell Week on ESPN’s Sports Center

More than 18 million people watched the videos online or through the WatchESPN app across all digital platforms

Hell Week: Football had more than 8 million social media impressions (which was a 133% year-to-year increase)

With a campaign average VCR of 67% across both short form and long form content, the campaign effectively captured the attention of the Hell Week target audience

Nearly double the industry benchmark of 0.5%, the campaign average CTR of 1.03% successfully drove viewers to the long-form episodic content