The Walking Dead cast have made themselves very public and have done many interviews, panels and talks. One panel they were one, which could be one of the most successful things they have done to advertise the show was to appear at Comic Con 2012. Comic Con travels through America to show case new movies, Tv shows and lots more and sees over 125,000 people in each city.

With The Walking Dead making an appearance at Comic Con, showing trailers, answering question and signing autographs is a great way to hook new viewers and reassure the old ones. This is great for personalising the cast and meeting the famous survivors, this would have to be one of the best things they could have done to help increase viewers and with the US viewers of season 2 being an average around 8 million, the first episode of season 3 rising to 10.87 million viewers only in the US I believe this panel made a great impact.

Along with personalising the cast by joining a panel, some of The Walking Dead cast have also had interviews  with magazines to answer any personal or Walking Dead related question. By using a form of traditional media ie. print, improves awareness and widens their marketing ads. Also by doing this it prompts people to purchase the magazine to find out any goss or important information about the upcoming season. This is another great tactic used by AMC to increase viewers, with a total circulation estimated for 2012 to be around 1,780,000 in the US this could create great awareness for the show. With the front covers being interesting and not dull it could also bring some new viewers in.

References

The Walking Dead at the 2012 Comic Con in San Diego | 401AK47 | A Zombie Survival Plan. 2012. The Walking Dead at the 2012 Comic Con in San Diego | 401AK47 | A Zombie Survival Plan. [ONLINE] Available at: http://401ak47.com/the-walking-dead-at-the-2012-comic-con-in-san-diego/. [Accessed 30 October 2012].

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 3 Covers ‘Entertainment Weekly’ Magazine | Pink is the New Blog. 2012. ‘The Walking Dead’ Season 3 Covers ‘Entertainment Weekly’ Magazine | Pink is the New Blog. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pinkisthenewblog.com/2012-08-22/the-walking-dead-season-3-covers-entertainment-weekly-magazine. [Accessed 31 October 2012].

With season 3 only starting a few weeks ago AMC has been very active with the marketing and advertising. Billboards, posters, interviews, trailers, video games,TV ads, Facebook pages, blogs even a Facebook social game has been developed, along with a little experiential marketing campaigns to help with the awareness of the show. 

There has been many advertisements to make viewers very aware when the show was set to start again. Billboards were place placed on the sides of roads, clearly stating the date and time the show will be airing, along with hints of what is to come in the season for the die hard fans. With the slight hints of the background of the prison, excites the comic book readers of The Walking Dead, I'm not sure if it shows anything to look forward to, to new viewers of the show or fans that haven't read the comic book's like myself. I had to look up what the deal with the prison was, which then got me excited about the season. Im not sure if that's what they wanted to achieve for people to research about the prison or maybe to start reading the comic books to find out ? 

Though this was their best billboard that was advertised some of their others I had no idea that it was in relation with the show until I looked closer and read all of the writing, though the idea of a billboard is to have minimal print and make it relevant enough to the show that people don't have to analyse it while their driving. Though I understand its link towards halloween I don't believe it is one of their best, therefore I don't believe this was very well integrated with there current campaign.

References

Daily Billboard: HALLOWEEN WEEK: The Walking Dead season three TV billboards and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights billboards... Advertising for Movies TV Fashion Hot Guys Girls and More. 2012. Daily Billboard: HALLOWEEN WEEK: The Walking Dead season three TV billboards and Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights billboards... Advertising for Movies TV Fashion Hot Guys Girls and More. [ONLINE] Available at: http://dailybillboard.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/halloween-week-walking-dead-season.html. [Accessed 29 October 2012].

Quick Background:

New to the show ?

"Waking up in an empty hospital after weeks in a coma, County Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) finds himself utterly alone. The world as he knows it is gone, ravaged by a zombie epidemic. The Walking Dead tells the story of the weeks and months that follow after the apocalypse. Based on Robert Kirkman's hugely successful and popular comic book series, AMC's The Walking Dead is an epic, edge-of-your-seat drama where personal struggles are magnified against a backdrop of moment-to-moment survival. A survivalist story at its core, the series explores how the living are changed by the overwhelming realization that those who survive can be far more dangerous than the mindless walkers roaming the earth. They themselves have become the walking dead" (amctv, 2012).


About AMC

"AMC reigns as the only cable network in history to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series - Drama for three consecutive years. Whether commemorating favorite films from every genre and decade or creating acclaimed original programming, the AMC experience is an uncompromising celebration of great stories. AMC's original stories include Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Hell on Wheels. AMC further demonstrates its commitment to the art of storytelling with its slate of unscripted original series, as well as curated movie franchises like AMC's Can't Get Enough and AMC's Crazy About" (amctv,2012).




References

The Walking Dead - About – AMC . 2012. The Walking Dead - About – AMC . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead/about. [Accessed 29 October 2012].

The Walking Dead - New to Show – AMC . 2012. The Walking Dead - New to Show – AMC . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead/new-to-show. [Accessed 29 October 2012].