Dive Brief:
- With Trevor Noah taking over Comedy Central’s Daily Show on Sept. 28, “How old is Trevor Noah?” has become such a popular search phrase that the network is leveraging that interest in a new marketing campaign.
- The campaign includes a Google search ads, a YouTube video and native ads on BuzzFeed’s fledgling news app.
- According to Comedy Central, the campaign is part of a push to introduce the show to new, younger viewers.
Dive Insight:
Sometimes real-time marketing opportunities just fall into brands' laps; the key for marketers is to see and seize that opportunity. Comedy Central has done just that after realizing how often people were searching for the Daily Show's new host Trevor Noah's age.
Seeing a chance to capitalize on that search traffic, the network crafted a YouTube video of Noah answering the question, which now shows up as a Google search ad for anyone looking up that phrase. The campaign also includes the first ads on the new BuzzFeed news app video, native posts and other content about the new version of the Daily Show.
Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless told Ad Age, "It's a broader, more targeted and largest campaign we have done in some time. It's our marquee program so we are leaving no stone unturned."
The network intends to ramp up marketing around the show as the debut gets closer in an effort to reach new, younger viewers. Ganeless added the idea is to reassure previous fans the show will still be the same entertainment with the new host, as well as reach both lapsed viewers and people who have never watched the Daily Show.
As for using BuzzFeed's platform, Walter Levitt, Comedy Central CMO, told Ad Age, "It's the perfect place to find millennials who are news consumers."
A new ad for the new show, reads: "Brand new host. Brand same show."