THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Industry

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Auto See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Beauty See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Business to Business See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Consumer Brand See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Education See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Entertainment See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Financial Services See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Fitness, Health, & Wellness
<br>See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Food & Beverage
See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Gaming See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Government & Politics See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Hospitality See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Insurance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Live Events See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> News & Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Non-Profit See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pets & Animals See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Pharma & Healthcare See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Estate See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Restaurants See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Retail & E-Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Activism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Sports See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Television See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Travel & Tourism See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Wine, Beer & Spirits

Strategy & Engagement

See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Brand Partnership See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Call to Action See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Community Management See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Creative Use of Technology See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> CTV/OTT See previous winners and honorees for Insights and Trends here.</a> <a href=https://shortyawards.com/17th/"https://shortyawards.com/category/16th/data-visualization">See previous winners and honorees for Data Visualization here.</a>"> Data & Insights See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Earned Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Event & Experiential See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Gamification See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Humor See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Innovative Media Buying Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>""> Integration with Traditional Media See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Internal Communications See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> LGBTQ Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Micro-Influencer Strategy See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Multicultural Community Engagement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Music & Dance See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> On a Shoestring See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Organic Promotion See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Paid & Amplification See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Physical and Digital Convergence See previous winner and honorees here.</a>"> Public Service Announcement See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Real Time Response See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> SEO & SEM See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Social Commerce See previous winners and honorees here.</a>"> Storytelling

Dial 9-1-1

Entered in Art Direction

Objective

"9-1-1" is an American procedural drama series on ABC that follows the lives of Los Angeles first responders: police officers, paramedics, firefighters, and dispatchers.

The three-part season premiere for "9-1-1" Season 8 brought an intense, high-stakes threat to first responders, with a huge swarm of killer bees descending on Los Angeles. ABC looked to create shareable social promos that would grab viewers' attention and build excitement for the premiere. With an intense, unique scenario, ABC knew it needed to capture the tension, panic, and confusion growing in the rapidly escalating story, showing viewers the new level "9-1-1" Season 8 would go to and creating relatable posts that fans couldn't help themselves but share.

Strategy

ABC created a promo designed to use the unique framing of social media to bring viewers right into the action of the "9-1-1" premiere and the killer bee attack on Los Angeles.

The first half of the ad was designed to look like screen recording software that most smartphone users would be familiar with in their everyday lives, to immerse the viewer and startle them with its uncanny familiarity. The ad shows swarms of bees, including many crawling over the interface of the app, before a visual of an outgoing call to 9-1-1 appears.

The clever application of familiar media applications and social sharing, and the blending of the diegetic advertisement elements and viewer experiences, created a post that helped make the idea of a killer bee swarm visceral and immediate for viewers in a fourth-wall-breaking promo. It ensured a startling and memorable ad even for new "9-1-1" viewers or those previously unfamiliar with the long-running series.

 

Results

The social campaign was a major success for ABC, helping the "9-1-1" season 8 premiere garner 9.8 million viewers in seven days, and 12.64 million viewers in the first 35 days. This social post had fans buzzing with anticipation and continued to grow the conversation around the premiere.

Media

Entrant Company / Organization Name

ABC