Social TV: Cougar Town Creator Offers Ponies, Drunken Raves to Loyal Fans

Courteney Cox, Cougar Town Cougar Town creator Bill Lawrence is going to do nearly almost anything to get individuals to watch his show, which returns to ABC on February. 14 after an eight-month hiatus. He's provided to buy fans ponies and throw drunken raves at Disneyland when they promise to look at a ten-minute spoiler reel for that approaching season. OK, so he was clearly kidding (we believe), but all joking aside, Lawrence themself released a significant social-media push to spread the term concerning the low-ranked Cougar Town when traditional marketing techniques - like advertisements and talk-show looks - were not doing enough to determine any significant alternation in rankings. During the last couple of several weeks, he's used both Facebook to reward fans with swag, exclusive content, and viewing parties, with the hope it might really possess some effect on the fate from the show. "The exciting part is to ascertain if we are able to slowly move the dial just a couple of little ticks," he states. "The main difference for me personally from a 2.4 along with a 2.6 rating may be the distinction between being restored immediately, and needing to hold back until May to determine what goes on.Inch Same goes with his over-the-top social networking campaign result in better rankings? We requested Lawrence to weigh in on his anticipation for his social-media gamble.What exactly is it about social networking you like?Expenses Lawrence: The best factor about social networking is you can immediately see first-hands that individuals are really setting it up. Someone sent us a picture of the vehicle they saw around the freeway which had "Cougar Town returns February. 14 at 8:30 on ABC" colored on its home windows, as we requested people to achieve that on Twitter. It is so much better to achieve the visual representation.Apart from telling individuals to stay tuned, what message would you hope depict?Lawrence: The show is not canceled! Every day I recieve individuals who say, "I am so annoyed out Cougar Town is canceled," and I must respond and say, "It isn't really. It is simply been horribly handled by ABC." Also: It is the worst entitled show within the good reputation for television. It isn't a good old woman chasing after a more youthful guy for 3 years.Social TV: Will Whitened Collar use Twitter to allow fans decide the show's ending?But how can you even start to explain that to those who have never viewed?Lawrence: We come up with a large clip reel from the show, which is stuffed with spoilers. I am not really a large spoiler guy, but it is something that somebody can display their buddies and say, "Hey, it isn't about cougars. Watch this clip and when you laugh whatsoever, you may really search it." Like a group, the cast is delivering the catch an e-mail to any or all our acquaintances. We are asking these to do us a good, and similar to a series email, send it to 10 others.As well as for those who are already Cougar Town fans - what's happening to ensure that they're hooked?Lawrence: Because the times of Scrubs, I have always felt that you ought to reward loyalty with extra content and accessibility cast and crew. So we are delivering do-it-yourself party kits to anybody who posts an image of on their own Twitter or Facebook with 25 others holding an indication saying, "We Would Like a Cougar Town Party." We are shipping them swag and episodes out of this season that haven't broadcast. I am confident that people published them online I'd be arrested. In the finish from the evening, a cast member will get on Skype together for fifteen minutes to reply to questions.Social TV: Understand why Nathan Fillion will get a remove of TwitterIs there any kind individuals that worries all this is a big total waste of time?Lawrence: You can easily result in the argument, "I might have convinced a couple of hundred 1000 individuals to take a look show out, but when not one of them have been in Nielsen, then who cares? I have never met a Nielsen family during my existence." But when fans of Cougar Town are buzzing about this a lot to ensure that a couple of Nielsen families watches it when it is on television, then... Do It works? I'm not sure. However I could be annoyed out when the show did not survive and that i did not seem like we'd attempted everything. The main difference between remaining on and becoming canceled is really slight nowadays, and there is an opportunity that you could really use social networking to maneuver a dial. I am not nervous though. I have been carrying this out forever.All this crazy campaigning that you are doing - did the network provide you with a difficult time about this?Lawrence: Whenever we began, ABC was cautious about what we should used to do, but they have since become very encouraging, and i believe that like a network, they'd like it if their showrunners counseled me out marketing their very own shows.Social TV: How Survivor's Shaun Probst bridged the space between CBS and it is audienceDo you're thinking that eventually all showrunners will be utilizing social networking such as this?Lawrence: It'll either slowly move the dial a little, and it'll be awesome, and individuals will attempt it later on... or free can change, we'll disappear, with no you will ever need to do it again.Browse the 10-minute spoiler reel for Season 3 of Cougar Town. Bill Lawrence on WhoSay Cougar Town premieres Tuesday, Feb 14 at 8:30/7:30c on ABC.