The colorful world of reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race has always lent itself well to memorable experiential moments, including eye-catching floats at Pride parades, and this summer, a series of drive-in concerts featuring queens from the show. So to celebrate the Emmy-winning show's 13th season, which debuted Jan. 1, the pressure was on to engage fans in a fun, out-of-the-box way—while also keeping COVID-19 considerations in mind during this winter's spike in cases across the country.
To do so, VH1 tapped full-service creative agency Shiraz Creative to build an experiential campaign—in less than three weeks—that engaged consumers in a variety of ways. It kicked off with a social media-based call-to-action, where fans could register to win a custom-designed season 13 calendar. “We wanted to keep it simple, as the Drag Race fandom is quite loyal and we knew a straight-forward, fan-focused initiative would yield positive results,” explained John O’Malley, director of brand experiences for Shiraz Creative, who said that the team saw thousands of entries in less than an hour, and quickly reached its preset goal of distributing 2,500 units.
Inside the pastel-colored boxes were a 2021 calendar, a plush blanket, a trio of candles and other fun items that tied into the series.Photo: Photography by Emil Cohen
To further engage influencers and VIPs, Shiraz created 350 mailers that were sent out worldwide. On each pastel-hued box, recipients could press a button to hear music from the show; inside was a 2021 calendar, a plush blanket, a trio of candles and other fun items that tied into the series. (The pastel-colored boxes were built upon designs from Studio Moross in London, and executed by Bednark Fabrication, noted O'Malley.)
O'Malley added that VIP packages and mailers are an effective, COVID-safe tool for generating social engagement. “Drag Race has such a distinct iconography and language, a cast of larger-than-life personalities and such a robust following especially with celebrities, that the influencer mailer was a natural fit,” he said. “I think for brands and agencies, influencer mailers will also remain effective as long as they organically speak to the story being told. I most definitely think they will continue in the future and like always, the industry will find unique ways of tying them back into live events.”
Both the social campaign and the mailers were leading into a digital meet-and-greet and show, which was held on a custom-designed virtual platform on the day of the season 13 premiere. Shiraz Creative worked with Kameron Zach at Let’s Stream to develop the site, which was built out of an existing platform Zach had been testing. “He showed us a Bingo platform he created and was beta-testing, and we thought with the right reconfiguring it could be a super successful fan meet-and-greet experience,” explained O'Malley. “We took the framework and rebuilt it custom for the event, focusing on low-latency video (similar to Zoom) and how that interacts in a custom interface."
The campaign concluded with a digital meet-and-greet and show for 250 mega-fans. Select fans were brought into the digital room to ask questions directly to the queens.Screenshot: Courtesy of Shiraz Creative
So, what did the team learn that they’ll apply to future events and activations? “Health and safety first,” said O'Malley. “Then, know your audience. Digital events aren’t a solve for everything in the same way that IRL events aren’t universally effective. This year has been a crash course in adaptability.”
And focus on the most effective ways to communicate with your specific audience, he added. Everything you do “should be because it will make the campaign that much better. We saw that happen in a variety of ways this year, including IRL events that were more effective as digital events, and digital events that work best in person.”
