WE DID
Objective
The Genie Company, the leading manufacturer of garage door openers and accessories for more than 60 years, had an opportunity to partner with popular reality TV star, Paul Teutul, Jr., to build a one-of-a-kind chopper that would reflect the iconic American brand. The chopper was to be unveiled at an industry trade show and filmed as a featured debut on the Discovery Channel’s fan-favorite show, “American Chopper.” Genie sought Sunwest’s help in leveraging Teutul’s appearance as a celebrity influencer to generate buzz (or should we say a thunderous roar) beyond the tradeshow floor where the unveil was to take place.
Approach
Sunwest hit the ground running by developing strategic elements that would ensure the brand was well represented in a highly visual and engaging way while publicizing Teutul’s tradeshow booth appearance. Sunwest created a suite of graphics ranging from booth pop-up banners perfect for social media selfies to 5”x8” keepsake autograph cards that highlighted the brand alongside Paul Jr.’s celebrity name. Concurrently, the team developed clever pre-show teases that hinted at the debut to entice the garage door industry attendees to swarm the booth in anticipation of the unveil and autograph session.
Sunwest also helped the Genie team understand the importance of capturing and owning their own high-quality images from the event, given that Discovery would own any footage taken for their own television show purposes. Sunwest directed its own camera crew onsite to ensure all key moments of the unveil and autograph session were captured by a professional photographer and videographer for maximum post-event ROI. Acting as photo director, Sunwest helped generate an impressive portfolio of high-res images for corporate usage in a variety of capacities.
results
Sunwest provided a vast array of photos from the event and oversaw the video editing process to produce impressive content to utilize on the company’s social media platforms, website and sales team presentations.
Upon Genie’s feature episode airing on Discovery Channel, the Sunwest team blitzed key national and local media to generate coverage for Genie’s national TV appearance. Fans of the show and the brand raved about the coverage showcasing Genie’s unique and exciting opportunity. Social engagement rose and the client was thrilled to have customers contact them upon seeing the news and photographs splashed throughout the media.
