The annual EMMY awards are one of the highest honors in the entertainment industry.The awards are not only an award ceremony amongst peers, but can be a career-boosting platform for the nominees, and recipients. The event itself is televised, and featured in the press, making it a great opportunity to generate publicity for those nominated. Although many equate winning at the Emmys with hearing your name called and taking home a golden statuette, there is more than one way to win at the Emmys.
PR expert Ronn Torossian looks at three Emmy losers that actually won:
Bryan Cranston
Bryan Cranston, lead in the hit show “Breaking Bad” has won three Best Actor Emmys for his role as Walter White. But, in “Breaking Bad’s” final season, Cranston lost the honor to Jeff Daniels. This may seem like a disappointing way to end five seasons of work, but Cranston was not only able to celebrate a win for the show in the “Best Drama Series” category (a first for the show), but he received an abundance of beneficial publicity that will offer him a career boost that he can take with him into his future projects.
Since the Emmy nomination and the retirement of “Breaking Bad,” Cranston’s name has seen a surge of popularity on Google. According to Google Trends, interest in Bryan Cranston increased 400 percent since nominations were announced. In the months since the Emmys, his internet popularity has decreased slightly, but it is still much higher than it was during the run of “Breaking Bad.”
Kevin Spacey
When Netflix greenlit the first season of “House of Cards” without so much as a pilot episode, Kevin Spacey anticipated that a change in how television would be made would soon be on the horizon. The show’s first season, released all at once, in a unconventional move, garnered rave reviews, and a handful of primetime Emmy nominations. Becoming the first non-broadcast television series to win an award, “House of Cards” has altered the course of television history.
Kevin Spacey himself was nominated for a Best Actor Emmy, but lost. Regardless, he is a winner due to the fact that he is the first to be nominated in the best actor category for work done on a web-based series. The nominations, in and of themselves, are a huge step forward for the development of web-based series. He is being celebrated across the film and television industry for taking a big risk with Netflix, and it is paying off for his career in a big way. This unfettered publicity has increased Kevin Spacey’s already considerable clout in the entertainment industry.
Kerri Washington
One of the biggest controversies (or dare we say… Scandals) of the Emmys was Claire Danes’ win over Kerri Washington. Her role as Olivia Pope in the breakout hit “Scandal,”has been universally acclaimed as one of the best performances not only of her career, but of prime time history. Not only was her nomination guaranteed, it has historical significance as well. In the Emmys’ history, Washington is one of a few African American women to receive a nomination in the Best Female Actor category. The last woman to receive the honor was Diahann Carroll over 40 years ago for her role in “Julia.” It was virtually guaranteed that Washington would win the Emmy, becoming the first black woman to win the category, but Claire Danes won in an upset.
This has created a tidal wave of outcry on social media. Hashtags such as #KerriShouldHaveWon generated a worldwide conversation about Kerri Washington via Twitter and Facebook. Today, the show is more popular than ever. The viewership of Scandal has been higher than any of the proceeding season and it should be no surprise that the added viewership can be attributed to the extensive publicity afforded to the Kerri Washington Emmy snub.
Image via beersteak.com
It starts innocently enough. A minor league ball game where the ball girl leaps up the wall to make a circus catch, while the lazy outfielder watches embarrassed. The video has all the elements of a viral missive. And so, that’s exactly what happens. Everyone who watches it is amazed and quickly spreads it around to family and friends. Eventually, someone wonders: “Can this be real?”
Of course, it isn’t. The superhuman ball girl is another in an increasing line of guerilla marketing and public relations campaigns targeted at capturing the attention of the masses on social media. The ads work and they are a great boon for public relations in the digital age. Why?
#1 – These ads capture hearts and minds
It’s a simple case of the unexplained, or incredible. You can’t watch this video and not react to it. That is the key. To succeed, these ads need to capture heart and minds, get people engaged without ever realizing they are being “sold.”
#2 – These ads compel the “thinkless” share
Ads like these viral videos work, because they are set up to generate what some marketers call the “thinkless share.” These videos are so compelling, people don’t think, “should I share this,” they think about specific people to share it with first. It bypasses “no” entirely.
#3 – Ads like this spawn entire industries
Best of all, these ads get people talking, which in turn, provides content opportunities for a host of new media outlets. From social media, to blogs, to news, and entertainment sites, content such as this generates conversation and media outlets provide forums and direction for that conversation. This, in turn, benefits the marketers, because it keeps interest hot longer.
Image via Zeta Interactive
This is a guest post from Zeta Interactive, a 5WPR client.
While social media marketing and viral video sharing may be the hottest marketing trend of the “now,” focusing all your dollars on those forms and neglecting more traditional forms of digital advertising will drastically diminish your success potential.
#1 – Keep decisions simple
If you want your target market to opt in then MAKE IT SIMPLE to do that…and ONLY that. Don’t bombard them multiple initial options or blast them with strings of choices that lead nowhere. Keep it short, sweet, simple and easy. One question. One desirable option.
#2 – Make it mobile friendly
The days of everyone except a handful of MACophiles using Outlook or a Yahoo clone are over. An increasing number of people get their email all but exclusively on their phones. Your email marketing, particularly your HTML offers MUST be responsive for ANY platform or screen ratio.
#3 – Encourage aggressive opt ins
Incentivizing subscriptions may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s amazing how many people send out emails and NEVER EVEN ASK! As an email marketer, you should NEVER send out an email without giving people the option to get more, and more regular, information. Ever.
#4 – Baby steps are best
We all know people would rather read it short and click than to land on a never ending page or an opt-in form that looks like it was created by the IRS. So why make subscriptions complicated??? Short forms, only the information you need and a single-click submission. No clutter and no exhaustive lists.
#5 – Design for easy scanning
How you write your email is every bit as important as WHAT you write in your email. If you think anyone is actually reading your entire email start to finish, you, my friend, are incorrect. People scan everything they get to see if it’s WORTH reading. So design your messages for easy scanning, quick reviews that communicate one simple message – THIS EMAIL WILL MAKE YOU HAPPIER.
More information on Zeta Interactive is available at www.zetainteractive.com – the company was named one of America’s most promising companies by Forbes Magazine. Read the piece at: http://www.forbes.com/companies/xl-marketing/
Cable network, Animal Planet, may have found a winner with its Treehouse Masters program. While not – at all – about animals, the show is interesting and offers a broad appeal. The producers also know how to work the crossover angle. In a recent episode of the program, the crew on the show built an incredible treetop music studio for a recording outfit out west. To provide the necessary tension and build for the show, they also teased that the first act to record in the studio would be popular musician, producer and composer, Cee-Lo Green.
The show worked out exactly as producers hoped. Fans loved it for its uniqueness and the crossover appeal to both pop watchers and music fans landed well. Ronn Torossian explains why it worked and how you can use a similar strategy in your own business.
#1 – Stay true to the brand
When trying new things or exploring new opportunities, the temptation always exists to go too far toward something and to leave who, and what, you really are behind. Don’t lose what you are when trying something else.
#2 – Cross over, don’t cross out
When a company chooses to expand its brand, the transition should be gradual, not sudden. Don’t just jump from one market to another. Seep into it gradually, inviting new fans without alienating others. No one ever appreciates it when you turn your back on the ones that got you to where you are just so you can take a step in the direction you want to go.
#3 – Honor the new tire kickers
Any time a different, or new market group engages with your brand, make sure to set the table for them properly. Show them that you honor, and respect where they are coming from, and most importantly, that you care enough to treat what they care about, right. Treehouse Masters did this by bringing in elements that musicians, and producers would definitely care strongly about…and doing it right.
There is nothing at all like hard work. Those who get ahead work really hard all the time. Some great quotes on hard work:
- “Things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” Abraham Lincoln
- “I’m not afraid of dying, I’m afraid of not trying.” Jay Z
- “Plenty of men can do good work for a spurt and with immediate promotion in mind, but for promotion you want a man in whom good work has become a habit.” Henry L. Doherty
- “Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all you heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.” Dale Carnegie
- “The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” Harry Golden
- “Great work is done by people who are not afraid to be great.” Fernando Flores
- “Hard work builds character and gets people to the top.” Henry Swieca
- “Everyone enjoys doing the kind of work for which he is best suited.” Napoleon Hill
- “’I can’t do it’ never yet accomplished anything; ‘I will try’ has performed wonders.” George P. Burnham
- “I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work.” Margaret Thatcher
- “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Theodore Roosevelt
- “The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.” Denis Waitley
- ”When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.” Henry J. Kaiser
- “The secret of joy in work is contained in one word – excellence. To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.” Pearl Buck
- “Make yourself aware of what motivates the leaders of your organization.” J.J. Goldwag
- “If you work hard and push and push more, you will get there.” Vemma Leaders
- “Work while others are wishing.” Thomas A. Edison
- “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” Thomas Jefferson
- “Happiness is the real sense of fulfillment that comes from hard work.” Joseph Barbara
- “There is no substitute for hard work.” Dale Carnegie
- “If what you’re working for really matters, you’ll give it all you’ve got.” Nido Qubein
- “Whatever you do, do it with all your might. Work at it, early and late, in season and out of season, not leaving a stone unturned, and never deferring for a single hour that which can be done just as well as now.” Margaret Fuller
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