On August 29, TF1 and NT1 brought back "Secret Story", the French adaption of "Big Brother," for a tenth season. To create buzz and get fans excited ahead of the season premiere, boxes of '#SecretCookies' were sent out to fans, social influencers and media outlets.
Secret Cookies by TF1 / e-TF1, Endemol Productions
ICI LA VOIX
Découvrez en EXCLUSIVITÉ les secrets des candidats de #SS10 !
The fortune cookies contained real and fake secrets on the future housemates and encouraged recipients to discuss the truthfulness of the content. The boxes each contained different fake and real secrets. Fans were encouraged to share photos of them on social media using #SecretCookies and give their predictions on whether they could trust the messages or not. Active participants also had the opportunity to be selected to attend the taping of the final episode of "Secret Story".
For the chance to receive one of the boxes, fans had to retweet one of "Secret Story's" tweets. Alternatively, they could design a blank cookie box that was shared via the show's official Snapchat account. Selected submissions were also re-shared via Snapchat. Fans that engaged in the #SecretCookie discussion on social media and correctly predicted which secrets were right or wrong had the opportunity to receive a box as well.
Besides the #SecretCookies campaign, TF1 and NT1 gave fans the opportunity to submit photos of themselves that have the chance to be integrated into the "Big Brother" house and to 'play an important role during the game'. More details on the exact usage have not been revealed yet.
An instructional video was shared via social media and the "Secret Story" website, where users also have to upload the images. Until August 26th, they could submit four different images. For the images, fans had to wear a white shirt and stand in front of a white background. In addition, fans had to make a different facial expression on each of the photos: a duckface, a winking face, a smiling face, and one on which a participant holds his index finger in front of his mouth. After uploading all four of them, participants had to fill in a form with personal information. They also needed to answer questions regarding what type of hair color or eye color they have. More information will be revealed once the show premieres.
The uploading tool was powered by Qualifio, a company that provides comprehensive software that allows customers to engage their digital communities through interactive applications.
Nicole Greiner is a research analyst at VAST MEDIA, a media research and consulting company based in Berlin that provides international television industry leaders with qualitative competitive market analysis of digital entertainment and content marketing.
