For the season premiere of its serial killer series Dexter last September, Showtime hit 13 major cities with custom fountains that spouted water dyed red to resemble blood. And in a bid to outdo that this year, the television network created temporary fake newsstands to tout the return of its macabre drama. Showtime director of promotions and partnerships Larry Kieran reached out to experiential marketing agency Pop2Life—which also handled the 2007 promotion—to brainstorm a concept that once again could be used in several different markets across the U.S.
Centered around the show's latest advertising campaign—ads featuring actor Michael C. Hall on mock covers of magazines like The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, GQ, and Wired—Pop2Life came up with the idea to create fake kiosks and place these in busy city locations. The two-day pop-up, timed to the show's Sunday-night premiere, debuted yesterday in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Concerned about the stormy weather, Showtime opted not to open the New York and Philadelphia locations today.
Fabricated by Colorado-based company Denver Set Design, the bright red newsstands held candy and snacks—all in red packaging—as well as magazines wrapped in the fake covers from the ad campaign. Showtime also used the opportunity to display videos from its fall season lineup as well as Dexter bobbleheads, bowling shirts, and other merchandise, which are sold online at sho.com. And although Showtime doesn't sell any goods at the newsstands, street teams handed out DVDs that feature the first episode of Dexter's third season as well as content from Californication.
"Sometimes it's hard to tie guerilla marketing to advertising campaigns, but this one was really seamless," Kieran said of the experiential pop-up. "Besides supporting the print campaign, the newsstands act as a sampling vehicle for all Showtime content as well as showcasing our cool Dexter merchandise."
Stationed in high-profile public areas—beside the Central Park-adjacent Apple store in Manhattan, at Philadelphia's 30th Street train station, next to the World of Coca-Cola complex in Atlanta, on the corner of Randolph and Clark Streets in Chicago's financial district, outside the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, and within San Francisco's Union Square—the pop-ups were also designed to work on a viral marketing level. Keiran noted that passersby in New York stopped to snap pictures of the newsstands on their iPhones, and Showtime itself videotaped the New York and Los Angeles locations, which will be used at a later date as a televised piece for the network.
