Brainstorming possible new promotional idea
I have this idea for promotion; I think I've probably mentioned it to a few of you already. There are a couple of problematic areas that need to be resolved/decided before the idea can really go anywhere, though, so I'm wondering...does anyone mind if we brainstorm here, in this comm? I was thinking that a more appopriate place might be in the forum at watchsupernatural.org, but it doesn't appear that anyone has been on those forums in awhile. :/
So, if anyone objects to brainstorming here, please let me know and I'll delete and move this to my journal. I just figured we're all here in the same place, so it might be okay.
Basically, my idea came about during all the hullabaloo about "Jericho" fandom's successful campaign to bring back their show. Initially, I thought I might just contact the fan organizers and see if they'd be willing to share pointers on how to run a successful campaign. Then, in reading about the show, I started thinking it sounded fairly interesting to me, and probably would sound good to other SPN fans. It looks to me like there could be a lot of crossover between the fandoms. So then I thought, 'what if we could work something out so that SPN fans agreed to watch Jericho, and Jericho fans agreed to watch SPN'? Both fandoms and both shows would benefit.
I've never heard of anything like that being done, but "it's never been done before" has never stopped fandom before, has it? *g*
So, I emailed a few of the organizers of the Jericho fan campaign, basically just saying "your show needs viewers; my show needs viewers. What if we could combine the fandoms and bolster ratings for both shows?" Unfortunately, I only heard back from one person, and at the time, he was sort of exhausted from their campaign and flying high from just having heard that their show was coming back. He didn't seem very interested then.
But. We could always try again, look in different places Jericho fans gather, and see if we could drum up interest in the idea. Jericho averaged 7 or 8 million viewers, IIRC. If even a fraction of them could be pursuaded to tune in to SPN, we could conceivably double our ratings from last season. And knowing how passionate SPN fans are, you know we could be an asset to the Jericho fandom, and bump their ratings a bit, too. Jericho was only given eight episodes for this season. The CBS brass said in order for there to be more episodes, the show's numbers need to increase. They still have work to do in order to keep their show safe. Now that the dust has settled from their victory of getting the show back from cancellation, they've got to be thinking towards making that happen.
It wouldn't even necessarily have to be Jericho fandom, though they're obviously pretty well-organized and well-mobilized, and the two shows seem to be of compatible genres. What other fandoms are out there that might be interested in a little quid pro quo viewing/participating in promotional activities? Stargate: Atlantis comes to mind, though they probably don't have a burning need to increase their viewership. Anyone know what other shows might be struggling or on the bubble?
Anyway, I thought I'd throw the idea out here and see what ideas and thoughts the rest of y'all have. There are some stumbling blocks to this becoming a successful campaign, but I really feel like if we could get everything ironed out and get it going, it could really work out for us and for whatever other fandom we combined with.
BTW, CBS is showing the pilot episode of "Jericho" tonight at 9 Eastern, in case anyone wants to check it out and see if you agree that the shows could easily share a fanbase.
I think I'm going to lock this post to comm members for the time being. I think when/if we do come out with this as a promotional campaign, we need to have already hammered out all the details; it'll carry much more of a punch that way.
So. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Rotten fruit to throw my way? *g*
Edit: Entry is now public.
So, if anyone objects to brainstorming here, please let me know and I'll delete and move this to my journal. I just figured we're all here in the same place, so it might be okay.
Basically, my idea came about during all the hullabaloo about "Jericho" fandom's successful campaign to bring back their show. Initially, I thought I might just contact the fan organizers and see if they'd be willing to share pointers on how to run a successful campaign. Then, in reading about the show, I started thinking it sounded fairly interesting to me, and probably would sound good to other SPN fans. It looks to me like there could be a lot of crossover between the fandoms. So then I thought, 'what if we could work something out so that SPN fans agreed to watch Jericho, and Jericho fans agreed to watch SPN'? Both fandoms and both shows would benefit.
I've never heard of anything like that being done, but "it's never been done before" has never stopped fandom before, has it? *g*
So, I emailed a few of the organizers of the Jericho fan campaign, basically just saying "your show needs viewers; my show needs viewers. What if we could combine the fandoms and bolster ratings for both shows?" Unfortunately, I only heard back from one person, and at the time, he was sort of exhausted from their campaign and flying high from just having heard that their show was coming back. He didn't seem very interested then.
But. We could always try again, look in different places Jericho fans gather, and see if we could drum up interest in the idea. Jericho averaged 7 or 8 million viewers, IIRC. If even a fraction of them could be pursuaded to tune in to SPN, we could conceivably double our ratings from last season. And knowing how passionate SPN fans are, you know we could be an asset to the Jericho fandom, and bump their ratings a bit, too. Jericho was only given eight episodes for this season. The CBS brass said in order for there to be more episodes, the show's numbers need to increase. They still have work to do in order to keep their show safe. Now that the dust has settled from their victory of getting the show back from cancellation, they've got to be thinking towards making that happen.
It wouldn't even necessarily have to be Jericho fandom, though they're obviously pretty well-organized and well-mobilized, and the two shows seem to be of compatible genres. What other fandoms are out there that might be interested in a little quid pro quo viewing/participating in promotional activities? Stargate: Atlantis comes to mind, though they probably don't have a burning need to increase their viewership. Anyone know what other shows might be struggling or on the bubble?
Anyway, I thought I'd throw the idea out here and see what ideas and thoughts the rest of y'all have. There are some stumbling blocks to this becoming a successful campaign, but I really feel like if we could get everything ironed out and get it going, it could really work out for us and for whatever other fandom we combined with.
BTW, CBS is showing the pilot episode of "Jericho" tonight at 9 Eastern, in case anyone wants to check it out and see if you agree that the shows could easily share a fanbase.
I think I'm going to lock this post to comm members for the time being. I think when/if we do come out with this as a promotional campaign, we need to have already hammered out all the details; it'll carry much more of a punch that way.
So. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Rotten fruit to throw my way? *g*
Edit: Entry is now public.