Marketing and Communications

NICKELODEON

Nickelodeon’s “Kids’ Choice Awards”

Prior to forming Marketing & Communications, Sybil MacDonald was instrumental in turning a little-known annual kids network awards show into today’s much-anticipated “Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards.”  The Awards had been produced by the national cable network for years with little more than insular fanfare.  When MacDonald joined Nickelodeon as Director of Production Publicity she was challenged to guide the show to new heights in its milestone 10th year.

Promotional Strategy - Under MacDonald’s direction, the Network purchased the cover of The Hollywood Reporter and worked with the trade publication to develop editorial content for a special insert dedicated to promoting the 10th anniversary show.  

Announcements of participating stars, award categories and nominees were disseminated to the trades and consumer media.  The trade announcements facilitated the recruitment of rising talent and popular stars in kids entertainment to participate in the show -- and helped to create a “buzz” about the awards.

Contests to win premiums items from Nickelodeon stars were organized with teen magazines while feature stories on past year shows and the evolution of Nickelodeon network helped accelerate momentum for the awards.

Publicity - Rosie O’Donnell was invited to serve as that year’s celebrity host.  MacDonald developed a publicity strategy that maximized her very limited availability to promote the show.  She served as Nickelodeon’s art supervisor for two promotional photo shoots featuring O’Donnell that included cover shots for The Hollywood Reporter special issue and a weekly issue of TV Guide magazine.  Additional images from the shoots were serviced to newspapers across the country and were used for weekly TV guide supplement covers or show information coverage.  In addition, MacDonald supervised the coordination of a satellite media tour with O’Donnell to promote the show on local newscasts and morning shows nationwide. 

Publicity Stunt - MacDonald also conceived a week-long publicity stunt for “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” that included daily giveaways of Nickelodeon gift prizes to each show guests.  The week-long promotion was topped off by a Friday send-off in which a group of kids came onto the show stage, took Rosie “hostage,” and sealed her inside a crate to be shipped off to the “Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards” show.   This publicity stunt helped to increase awareness of the cable show to new audiences and generate an unprecedented level of excitement for the awards.

Throughout the three days leading up to the live broadcast, Nickelodeon ran interstitials showing where the crate was in its travels to the show venue.   These brief segments helped remind the young viewing audience of the show date and time while heightening anticipation of the broadcast. 

The emerging technology of the Internet was maximized with scheduled “live chats” with Nickelodeon stars and guests who were scheduled on the days leading up to the broadcast.  The online chats were also supplemented with “behind the curtain gossip” on the day of the broadcast.

Venue - MacDonald’s suggestions for venue layout were made real with the historical Los Angeles Olympic Auditorium painted “Nick green”  with splashy Nickelodeon logos and a “Nick orange” carpet set-up to receive stars and VIP guests upon limousine drop off at the show venue.  The broadcast opened with the ons-stage arrival of the crate and emergence of Rosie O’Donnell. 

Success! - The show was catapulted to new heights with this unprecedented level and reach of publicity -- as well as television ratings for Nickelodeon.   Since the broadcast of the 10th Anniversary of the “Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Show” the awards have enjoyed the same level of prestige and participation as other premier entertainment award shows.