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Emmys uses Peel to drive online engagement with ticket sweepstakes

The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards leveraged smart remote mobile application Peel to drive online engagement with enticing social posts, driving retweets and shares to rope in viewers by offering free tickets to the show.

The Television Academy?s Facebook and Twitter accounts posted occasional notices, directing followers to set reminders to watch the Emmy?s using the Peel app. By retweeting and sharing those posts, followers entered themselves for a chance to win free tickets to the show, which aired on Monday night. 
 
?Social media is a great medium to generate more interest and awareness in TV programs,? said Thiru Arunachalam, founder and CEO of Peel, Mountain View. ?However, in the past it was very difficult to gauge intent to watch or, more importantly, how many people are actually tuning in.

?Our Peel.in tune-in platform is designed to solve this problem. It doesn't just inspire a like, share or retweet, but gives the viewer a mechanism to set a reminder, program their DVR or tune-in to the actual program in real time. This is revolutionary since for the first time TV networks and producers can close the social media loop.? ?

Getting a gauge?
With Peel?s technology, the Emmys were able to see how many click-throughs and tune-ins, and how many users set reminders and their DVR systems.

The Peel.in links give the viewer a way to click on a unique URL and change the channel on their TV instantly if they have the Peel Smart Remote app installed on their smartphone. Even if consumers do not have the Peel Smart Remote app installed, clicking on the link can set a calendar reminder on users? computer or smartphone.

For the Emmys, Peel created an easy-to-remember URL: peel.in/emmys. Peel believes that creating a simple link causes more click throughs. The link could be shared, which was hoped to enhance the Emmys' efforts during the days leading up to the awards event. 


Peel integrates with Twitter Cards and Facebook's Open Graph to create experiences that aim to grab attention from viewers, using a clear call to action called View on TV. All of these actions are traceable, so a client, such as the Emmys, would know exactly how many people clicked to tune-in or set reminders.?

The Peel Smart Remote app is now preloaded on a number of Android phones, and is also available for download on iPhones. 

Tracking results
Television network National Geographic also sought the Peel platform by using TV-to-mobile advertising to promote its show Life Below Zero, driving an increase of viewership by 100 percent and ad recall rate by 50 percent because of the dual-focused ads.

By engaging viewers with a TV ad that was later displayed on the app, the partnership employed a multichannel strategy given the prevalence of mobile?s role in the entertainment industry lately. If users have access to promotions or advertisements across many sectors, marketers can rest assured knowing that consumers are more likely to wander across them and become more engaged (see story).

Beauty brand Dove also took advantage of the Emmy awards by encouraging a multi-screen experience that incorporated social media and free product samples.

The campaign marks Dove?s first effort at product sampling through Twitter, where the Unilever-owned brand has more than 120,000 followers. It marks another step in the efforts among brands to leverage social media as a platform to escort customers down the path to purchase (see story).

Live television events mark an advantageous opportunity for brands on social, and the Emmy?s itself are undoubtedly attempting to continue to grow the social experience during its annual event. The Peel platform allows for measurable data to track the efficiency of these efforts. 

?Other social media measurement platforms can measure clicks and other simple engagement mechanisms, but Peel is the only one that can tell you how many people actually tuned in to watch,? Mr. Arunachalam said. 

Final Take?
Caitlyn Bohannon, editorial assistant for Mobile Marketer, New York