Last Friday, McKinney engaged in a bit of strategic “newsjacking” on behalf of client Travelocity, making the most of the phenomenon that is “Shark Week” with a bit of experiential work.
The brand promoted the “How Far Am I from Sharks Right Now” page on social media via its Wandering Gnome spokesperson, who has his own accounts and played a great supporting role in Amelie.
Get informed: http://t.co/zIGznra73T #sharks pic.twitter.com/aVBBWtxvgT
— Travelocity Gnome (@RoamingGnome) August 9, 2014
The page itself promotes the client’s service by asking users to enter their current location and then listing would-be vacation destinations that place them either as far away or as close(!) to the nearest shark grouping as they so choose.
(Did you know that the sharks are all over Montauk? We thought they preferred the Upper West Side.)
We suppose one could gripe about the connection between point A and point B in this case, but the McKinney campaign is certainly more involved and creative than the one-off promo tie-ins from other brands looking to cash in on the TV phenomenon.
Credits:
Agency: McKinney
Client: Travelocity
Chief Creative Officer: Jonathan Cude
Associate Creative Director/Copywriter: Stevie Archer
ACD/art director- Meg Sewell
Copywriter- Rick Morrison
Creative technologist- Nick Jones
Interactive Producer- Andy Ives