experiential marketing example and case study

overview

The popular whodunit show starring Gary Sinise and Sela Ward ran for a successful nine seasons. When it moved to Saturdays and Sundays on NYC’s CBS affiliate station, it was only fitting to promote the time slot change with a mock crime scene, which entailed a reporter, camera man and two detectives outfitted with the officially branded CSI:NY Weekends ball cap, wind breaker/pullover and 100% authentic NYPD CSI detective badge. Over the course of a four-day campaign and in high traffic areas of Times Square, SoHo, Rockefeller Center and subway stations in Manhattan, the team created virtual crime scenes, each including yellow caution tape and chalk body outlines. With our “reporter” and “camera man” on the scene, it looked like an alarmingly real news story was unraveling! This PR stunt gained over 197,000 estimated impressions and our street team distributed 7,000 branded hats and flashlight key chains to the campaign’s target demographic.