MOTOR MYTHBUSTERS
Content Marketing
The announcement was quickly followed up with a prelaunch campaign; we had to move fast as we knew the assets that were in the marketplace weren't strong enough to fully promote a series tied to a high-level household name. We had some fun on set by building an actual full scale logo which allowed talent to interact with it (Bisi is actually grinding on a metal plate in the artwork, we didn't fix that in post!). Additionally, the ever ambitious Tory Belleci allowed us to set him on fire. Controlled burn of course! As fun as these tactics were, the strategy behind those decisions were that we had to demonstrate the real science and chaotic fun that made the franchise so popular in the first place.
I can't describe the excitement I felt when I found out Mythbuster's franchise was getting an automotive spin-off. That excitement quickly subsided when I learned I had to announce the campaign in less than two weeks and only had 5 minutes of pretty rough footage to work with. Creative is all about overcoming challenges, though, and we put together a very compelling talent-led piece to introduce the new series to the world.
Social Motion Poster, Creative Director
Designer: Jeff Dokken
Animation: Chris Jordan
The launch spot was a masterpiece, in my opinion, as it balanced both MotorTrend's and Mythbusters' brand characteristics. The line "build to bust" made it for me as it played into the fact that MotorTrend fans are most interested in the car build (how things are made), as well as the fact that Mythbusters fans are all about the reveal (is it real?). It also helped to have a lot more footage of course. The luxury of picking moments that balanced general interest (flintstones, explosions) with automotive interest (engine shots, driving, and customized hot rods) gave us the flexibility to develop a spot that nailed the mission strategy. We also chose a female voice artist (the incredible Cissy Jones) for the campaign. Although vastly male-skewing, MotorTrend had an automotive to promote to the passionate and growing women in the automotive base. Faye was also a growing influencer in that space, so trying to boost female presence in creative was a subtle strategy in the campaign.
Launch Promo :60
Creative Director, producer, copywriter
Partner: Alter Ego
The launch artwork once again took advantage of the custom built show logo. This time we played up the storylines in the show with inclusions of pigeons (do birds have a favorite color car to poop on?), an engine hood on fire (does adding a turbo do a hybrid help with gas mileage?), and an air fan (does the person immediately behind the driver get the worst smell when the driver farts in a car?). There a few other nuggets in there as well, but it truly made for a visually arresting and appropriately chaotic image.
However, amazing imagery wasn't the only tactic used on social. The team also developed some very compelling talent-led social vidoes that once again played to both automotive and mythbusters fans.
Two Truths and a Myth
Two Truths and a Myth
Two Truths and a Myth
Talent Profile: Tory Belleci
Talent Profile: Faye Hadley
Talent Profile: Bisi Ezerioha
Social Video
Creative Director, Writer, Producer
For this show, the essential portion of the campaign was the episodic. The myths themselves are what primarily drew interest from our target audience. On the automotive side, if the promotion didn't feature enough car footage, we'd likely lose them. On the mythbusters side, if the promo didn't show the process of either proving or busting the myth, we'd probably lose them. We also wanted to inject enough humor to satisfy the mythbusters fans as well as promote to a wider audience.
Motor Mythbusters Episodics
EPISODIC S1 E2
EPISODIC S1 E2
EPISODIC S1 E6
EPISODIC S1 E1
Episodic Videos
Role: Creative Director, Writer, Producer
Editor: Cary Sachs
The campaign performed relatively well given the niche nature of the streaming service. With almost 200K adds, over 1B impressions and almost 70K views for the premiere episode - it was a satisfying campaign to work on. As a sign-off, the launch campaign was followed up by a "binge" or "stream all episodes" campaign for the season finale episode.