LeadDog MarketingGroup organized quite a stunt for ABC in early September by bringing dancing stars to the streets of New York as part of a guerrilla marketing action to hype up the latest season of its popular show Dancing With the Stars.
110 dancers showed off their moves on September 12th while visiting 25 landmarks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Black cocktail dresses and golden star costumes appeared at a stop at Good Morning America before making other appearances at Times Square, the Staten Island Ferry, the Brooklyn Bridge and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At each stop, ambassadors handed out about 25.000 star magnet premiums with information about the show and the surrounding events.
Greta Palmer from LeadDog MarketingGroup said: “Dancing is part of New York City’s rich history. It’s a perfect way for ABC to celebrate [Dancing With the Stars] and to tap into all of the talent New York has to offer.”
Passersby were star struck by dancers traveling around the city on an ‘English style’ doubledecker bus with a live band. The bus made various stops while dancers showed off their moves. The dancers also made a makeshift parade in Midtown complete with a live band.
Dancing With the Stars unites celebrities with professional ballroom dancers who compete each week by performing dance routines in front of a panel of judges. The third season features such celebrities as actress Vivica A. Fox, football player Emmitt Smith, actor Harry Hamlin, talk show host Jerry Springer and singer Sara Evans. Dancing With the Stars premiered that same day at 8 PM (NY time)
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Here in Belgium we’ve had a concept alike, but it was called ‘Dancing on Ice’. Local celebrities engaged in a contest, pulling dance moves on their ice skates. It resulted in funny moves and some bruises, but there were some ‘good’ moments as well. At the end, some celebs actually got the hang of it.
Quality TV, ain’t that nice? :) [link here]
Given the concept, we didn’t had a guerrilla to promote the show. All we had were some lame print ads with local celebs showing off their bruises and an occasional black eye. *Sigh*