Небольшая заметка от TV Guide о создании логотипа Snakes on a cane и о том, что в сентябре нас ждет еще одна промо-кампания: The mystery began with a mysterious word: Caduceus. Say it with us – Kuh-doo-she-iss. It’s the name of the ancient symbol for medicine (that winged staff thingee entwined by snakes), and it was Hugh Laurie’s inspiration for an underground ad campaign he conceived for the new season of House.
“Hugh thought we should do snakes on a cane to represent the show,” says House producer Katie Jacobs. Working with the Fox art department, Laurie designed the logo – which signifies both medicine and the cane his character uses – as a gift to House crewmembers, but producers quickly saw its potential for viral marketing. “The last thing we wanted to do in our sixth season was show the typical line-up of cast members on a bus ad,” Jacobs says. “Thanks to Hugh’s idea, we suddenly had a guerilla ad campaign in the making.”
The image began appearing alone – with no reference to the show – last June in major cities across America. The team also put up posters, did 150 sidewalk chalk drawings in various cities and passed out 15,000 tattoos at events, “but nobody knew what it signified at first,” Jacobs says. By mid-summer, Fox launched a teaser site, www.snakesonacane.com, with a countdown clock to House’s premiere date, Sept 21. “People were still baffled,” Jacobs says. “They thought it part of Obama’s health plan.” Once Fox started airing the image during five-second teasers on Hell’s Kitchen and So You Think You Can Dance, fans started figuring it out.
“We pride ourselves on having a smart audience and our fans, especially the teenagers, like to solve any mystery having to do with House,” Jacobs says, adding that the final reveal will clear the confusion up for good. “All I will say is it involves Hugh Laurie and a bunch of live snakes.”
Laurie also helped oversee a second House campaign airing in September that involves narratives about the show’s characters. Why has the actor suddenly gone all Madmen on us? “If anyone knows the show and its characters and fans, it’s Hugh,” Jacobs says. “If it clicks with him, it’s going to click with our audience. And, hey, he was willing to play with live snakes. How can you say no to that?”
Плюс еще одна:
Tonight, the network revealed the first image of Hugh Laurie wearing a t-shirt featuring the snakes on a cane logo.
The picture is the first time Fox has copped to connection between Laurie's character and the caduceus-themed campaign, even though many fans had figured out the mystery a while back.
But here's the biggest reveal: According to Fox marketing chief Joe Earley, the snakes on a cane campaign was the brainchild of Laurie.
"I got a call months ago from ('House' executive producer) Katie Jacobs, and she told me Hugh had come up with this idea," Earley told TheWrap.
Laurie had been mulling some images in his head and one day decided to sketch a version of the classic medical symbol, the caduceus.
Except in Laurie's head, the staff was replaced with a cane, much like the one his character on "House" uses.
"That one change instantly connected the image to 'House'," Earley said. "It was so striking."
Earley and his team were so psyched by the imagery, they began plotting a way to turn it into a promotion for the show. Thus was born the Snakes on a Cane viral campaign, which has been quietly unfolding since late spring.
Starting in May, Fox began hiring street teams to hand out temporary tattoos with the SOC image in major cities such as LA, New York and Chicago. The network also enlisted "House" producer Universal Media Studios in its plans: The studio got NBC to begin handing out the tattoos to customers who shopped at the NBC U store in New York or online.
"If you bought something at the NBC store, this image just quietly showed up in your bag," Earley said. "We handed out something like 20,000 of the tattoos through NBC alone."
Street teams also began sketching chalk images of the SOC symbol on walls and abandoned buildings in four big cities. Fox quietly began seeding messages about the logo in online communities, sparking discussion about the symbol online.
Fox then launched a website -- snakesonacane.com -- that featured the SOC image but no mention of "House." In recent days, the site began hosting a clock that counts down to the season premiere of "House" on Sept. 21 (even though there's no mention of the show on the site).
To add to the whole subliminal messaging idea, Fox even began airing five second teaser spots build around an animation of the SOC symbol. But the network made sure never to run the spots during "House."
In recent days, the on-air spots and online imagery began including a peek at Laurie's chin. An ad ran in Entertainment Weekly. TV critics were sent SOC t-shirts (but without any explanation, resulting in some comical media Twitter banter).
But not until tonight did Fox show off the full Hugh.
"There was nothing really budgeted for this campaign for the summer," Earley said. "So we had to be very creative and efficient in how we got impressions. We didn't want to take away any (money) from the actual season six launch campaign. So what we've done is come up with a grass roots campaign that very efficiently engages viewers from the ground up."
Indeed, it's unusual for a network to soak so much energy into a six-year-old show. But Earley said Laurie's idea inspired his executives.
"We could have just put on ' "House" Returns' ads, but this was much more fun," he said. "This whole campaign was done because it was a great idea. It got everyone in the company engaged... and it was a challenge."
Fox still plans a fairly traditional on-air push for "House," with show-specific spots touting the two-hour season premiere. "It's too important not to (do traditional ads)," Earley said.
But even as the show's premiere date draws closer, look for Fox to continue with the SOC theme.
In the days leading up to the "House" premiere, Fox plans to have vintage ambulances drive around LA and New York, handing out the SOC tattoos. And two weeks before the Sept. 21 season premiere, on Sept. 7, Earley said Fox will unveil "a really fantastic visual image" featuring Laurie that will tie together the whole campaign.
"We're going to take things one step further," Earley teased.
