Tvo: FIRST BOOK ON TWITTER

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Social Media Marketing

Advertiser: TVO

Product/Service: TVO - PUBLIC BROADCASTER

Agency: LEO BURNETT TORONTO

Date of First Appearance: Mar 10 2010

Entrant Company: LEO BURNETT TORONTO, CANADA

Entry URL: http://www.arc-awards.com/tvo-twitter/

Chief Creative Officer: Judy John (Leo Burnett)

Creative Director: Judy John (Leo Burnett)

Group Creative Director: Kelly Zettel (Leo Burnett)

Art Director: Mike Cook (Leo Burnett)

Copywriter: Steve Stahl (Leo Burnett)

Group Account Director: David Buckspan (Leo Burnett)

Account Supervisor: Brenda Chung (Leo Burnett)

Media placement: Book On Twitter - Twitter - March 2010



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

Our strategy was simple: use content and contact in tandem to contemporize and recolor TVO in the minds of viewers as well as promote an upcoming documentary series Empire Of the Word, which examines the history and relevancy of the written word. The target was twofold: Boomers, 45-6,4 who were interested in watching television that informs as well as entertains, and younger people, 18-34, who are tech and social media savvy but who may have preconceived notions about TVO as boring, educational television. To many young people, the written word in the form of novels seems antiquated and irrelevant, and to many older people, twitter seems like a frivolous waste of time that serves no purpose. So we thought we would combine the technology of twitter and traditional literature to prove them both wrong - by publishing the world’s first novel entirely on twitter.



Creative Execution

We decided to ask critically acclaimed author Tish Cohen to abandon traditional publishing channels for her latest novel, Littleman… and tweet it, instead, 140 characters at a time.

We used Twitter as the primary channel in a way it had never been used before. That’s where the author tweeted her entire novel over six days, making it the first novel in history to be published entirely on twitter. The twitter feed also led directly to the TVO website where people could learn more about TVO and the documentary special “Empire of the Word”.



Results and Effectiveness

The innovative use of twitter garnered huge coverage amongst the social media community as well as substantial press coverage in traditional media, and massively increased ratings for the documentary special Empire of the Word

The perception of TVO was reframed and became more relevant to a younger audience.

• 7.2 million free media impressions

• Facebook friends increased over 1000%

• Traffic to the TVO website grew 10-fold

• Ratings for the documentary were TVO’s highest ever, with a staggering 656% increase over their standard viewership for the Twittered ‘Empire of the Word’ series.