Beyond Your Twilight Zone Screen

On Saturday, March 30, I went to The Grove in LA to go shopping with a friend when we were confronted by a HUGE box blocking our path with The Twilight Zone logo. We soon noticed two lines waiting to enter, and we realized it was an experiential marketing event for CBS’s reboot of The Twilight Zone series. Our knowledge of The Twilight Zone was very limited, but we were still tempted to see what was inside the box.

This event was held for several days leading up to the official relaunch date on Monday, April 1. The line was about 10-20 minutes for a 45 second experience inside. We got in line at 2 pm, and by then, 400+ people had already been in that day. When you were in line, CBS representatives explained the reboot of the series, and that you could only access the show on CBS all access, BUT they were giving out 1 month free for choosing to take part in the experience.

Experiential marketing events are not very common, so when there is a pop up, more than the target market is attracted. CBS’s reboot of the show is going after two target markets. Their first one is young adults ages 18-25 who may not have seen the show before. This age group commonly binge watches shows, and this reboot of the series may inspire them to do so. The second target market is an older target market around ages 30-50 who are more hard-core fans. At the experience, there were males and females from ages 10-50 and of every race, but most were from ages 18-25, perfect to fit that younger target market who are not looking for The Twilight Zone information. The strategy fulfilled the objective proven by my friend (20) who I went with when she randomly texted me a couple days later thinking about binge watching the series so she can be included in the new reboot. The Grove has expensive stores and is in a nice area of LA, so I am assuming that majority of those attending were middle to upper class. This can also play into the target markets in that the show reboot can only be accessed through CBS All Access which requires a monthly subscription fee after the first month.

The premise of the series is about entering this different dimension called the twilight zone. The insight was to provide the audience with that experience – entering the twilight zone. We were able to enter a reality previously we could only view on a screen allowing us to become involved in the story universe. Inside the box was the music of the famous intro, and the stars all around us. Swirls, eyeballs, and the creepy writing of the logo spun around us creating an eerie, disturbing effect, the same feeling the audience would get from watching the show.

Experiential marketing is gaining popularity. However, this is different than anything I have seen because it is marketing a TV series rather than a tangible product like the museum of feelings for Glade. Instead of a cool event put on by a brand, this experience allowed their audience to enter the story universe.

The biggest strength of this campaign was how it captured so many people’s attention. Capturing and holding audiences’ attention is becoming increasingly more difficult, but people were willing to wait for 10-20 minutes to satisfy their curiosity in a 45 second experience of what could be shown inside this box. Another strength by CBS was to put the experience in the middle of a busy area, because it was the lines of people that attracted more people. They saw other curious people, and wanted in on the action. The CBS agents were not begging for attention, but let the event speak for itself. Additionally, the experience was not just inside the box.

The man who controlled the door was part of it too allowing those waiting to be included in the experience as well. He would rarely blink and it felt like he was staring into my soul. He looked like he came out of the TV series himself. The event included those who couldn’t physically be there by encouraging participants to share their photos under #TheTwilightZone. And although the hashtag has 60.4K posts listed on Instagram, only few seemed to be about the CBS experience. This ties into its biggest weakness of including those who were not there. If I did not randomly go to The Grove that day, I would not have known about this event. CBS also posted a trailer to raise awareness about the reboot, but I did not personally come across it on any of my social platforms beforehand.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I am excited for the reboot! I am looking for a new show to watch, and I think The Twilight Zone may be the one…

My Experience: