SHOWTIME'S BILLIONS SHAZAM-ABLE DOLLAR BILL
We all walk around with a phone and a dollar bill tucked in our pockets, saved for light emoji texting and that mid-afternoon trip to the vending machine.
For the premiere of Showtime’s thrilling new Wall Street drama, Billions, we transformed one of the central figures of the show – cold hard cash – into a media touch point by creating the first ever scan-able dollar bill. And leverage the distribution of the dollar as a massive media audience.
Produced and executed by OMD’s Ignition Factory, Strategy and Digital teams, this campaign turned the crumpled-up cash in your wallet into a digital key to exclusive experiences and content. Using Shazam’s new image-recognition technology, Billions fans opened the Shazam app on their iPhone or Android device, visually scanned $1, $5, or $20 dollar bills and received premium, behind-the-scenes content, as well as a chance to access VIP series screenings in their area. The bigger the bill, the cooler the content you unlock – so users were quick to whip out those twenties.
Based on its strong showing out of the gate, Showtime
renewed Wall Street drama Billions for a second season. The opening episode of the Damian Lewis- and Paul Giamatti-starring series set a record for the network, claiming 6.5 million multiplatform viewers in its first week, topping the 2013 Ray Donovan debut by 7 percent.
OMD
CLIENT: Showtime Networks
PARTNER: Shazam
PRESS:
ADWEEK: HOW SHOWTIME IS MARKETING ITS NEW DRAMA BILLIONS TO WALL STREET
"In a partnership with Shazam, Showtime will let viewers scan actual currency to unlock Billions content and a chance to attend a screening"
THE DRUM: YOU CAN NOW SHAZAM REAL MONEY AS PART OF THEIR SHOWTIME PARTNERSHIP WITH 'BILLIONS'
"In the run-up to the premiere of its new drama series "Billions" on January 17, 2016, Showtime partnered with Shazam for a dedicated promotion campaign involving real US currency. In order to unlock exclusive content of the new series as well as for a chance to attend an exclusive screening of "Billions", fans are encouraged to use the Shazam app's visual recognition feature and scan any $1, $5 or $20 bill. For each of the three bills, there is different content available."
"Shazam launched a promotion for Showtime’s new drama “Billions,” allowing fans to Shazam dollar bills to unlock content from the show."
BILLBOARD: BILLBOARD'S POWER 100 | SHAZAM
"Recent campaign with Showtime even encouraged using the app on any $1, $5 or $20 bill to unlock exclusive content from the series Billions."
