Mitchell Goes Down in Flames in Mad Men Contest*

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (September 21, 2009) - Woodbine* fought gallantly to help its President & CEO, Peter Mitchell, win a role on AMC’s runaway hit, “Mad Men.” He danced in and out of the top ten for a week, an impressive feat considering the competition: young-gun models and actors. The office party, however, did not last. Mitchell lost, but he did wind up in the top 8%, finishing 315th out of 4,000 contestants.

Mitchell may have lost the battle. But Woodbine won the war.

The Mad Men Casting Call was a contest from AMC TV to promote the show’s third season. Twenty semifinalists were selected by site visitors who voted over a two-week period in August. One final winner will eventually be selected by the show producer for a small role in one Mad Men episode. After Mitchell decided to enter the contest, Woodbine decided to put all its online assets to work to help him win, using the promotion as a learning lab for digital strategies and as a new business tool.

Warning: The next paragraph is long. But it’s the “how” and the “what” in this story.

Woodbine documented Mitchell’s effort on film, creating short clips of his preparation for the photoshoot where he would get his entry photo. The vignettes were posted on MadManMitchell.com, and promoted through a dedicated Facebook fan page and with postings to the agency’s Twitter account. The agency also posted a press release on www.woodbine.com and on an online news distribution site, garnering a few media hits. Finally, good old-fashioned email and individual LinkedIn accounts were used to enlist the help of family, friends and colleagues. Woodbine tracked hits to all the online properties, reviewed analytics chronically and altered tactics as needed to drive traffic and increase votes.

The results: a top 8% finish, 1,100 MadManMitchell.com unique visitors, half of whom went on to Woodbine.com, media coverage, including an AMC blog post mention, and best of all, a honing of best practices when it comes to a social-media-based publicity campaign.

"This was a great experience for Woodbine and a powerful demonstration of the impact social media and viral digital marketing can have," said the Mad Man himself. "Think about it, if Woodbine can generate a top 8% finish for somebody like me, imagine what's possible if we actually had a good brand to work with!"

Woodbine says the learning was invaluable but has vowed it will never support Mitchell in such an effort ever again. Ever. Nada. Donesville. See ya.

About Woodbine

Founded in 1985, Woodbine is a Brand Revitalization agency in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Woodbine develops creative marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive solutions for clients such as Lowe’s Home Improvement; Family Dollar; Piedmont Federal Savings Bank; Conrad Fafard, Inc., a Syngenta Group Company; Burlington footwear; Ekornes home furnishings, and Farr Associates leadership development. www.woodbine.com

# # #