• by Brian Olsen , June 13, 2011

Marketing Challenge: It was the end of 2009 -- a big year for Syfy.

Earlier in the year, Syfy had undergone a new network rebrand, and with the cable landscape as competitive as ever, it was important to find success in the year-end miniseries "Alice" -- Syfy's modern-day reimagining of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland.

Although most people had not had a personal experience with the original tale in years, we needed a way to fuel anticipation for Syfy's two-night movie event.

Research showed that the iconic white rabbit character was the first thing people recalled from the classic. We also learned that the white rabbit in Syfy's version -- now a dark-suited assassin with the head of a giant white rabbit, hired by the Queen of Hearts -- was the most striking and intriguing character in the new version.

We decided this updated icon would be the focus of our efforts, and we invited our audience to "follow the white rabbit" on a multimedia adventure that spanned the digital and real worlds.

Creative and Media Solutions: Take consumers down a multimedia rabbit hole of our creation. Follow the White Rabbit Banners: We placed rich media banners on prominent sites across the Web; however, visitors to these sites were surprised to see the rabbit bounding beyond the confines of his banners and across the sites' content. Engaged users were beckoned to follow the White Rabbit as the search for Alice continued down the...

• ... Digital Rabbit Hole: This trail of faux microsites, each teasing prominent elements and characters directly from the movie, eventually led participants to the Alice page at Syfy.com. The live site trail can be found at http://thewhiterabbitinc.com/.

• Rabbit Projections: We brought the rabbit off the Web and onto the streets of NYC. The rabbit was seen throughout NYC at night in larger-than-life video projections -- climbing, running, and jumping across historic building facades such as the FIT, The Maritime Hotel, and the former Union Square Virgin Megastore.

• White Rabbit Invasion: On the Friday before the premiere, 50 street team members, dressed as the updated character (complete with giant white rabbit head), invaded the streets of NYC. People who came upon our white rabbits as they walked around Manhattan posted thousands of tweets, photos, and videos.

• Twitter "@WhiteRabbitInc": We tied the entire campaign together on Twitter, with digital banners, OOH projections, rabbit street teams, and even on-air plugs driving interested consumers to http://twitter.com/whiterabbitinc. The Twitter account talked back to followers, posted photos and videos, and allowed anyone to experience what was happening in NYC.

Results: The "Alice" miniseries premiere beat rating expectations and historical benchmarks in key demos and markets, becoming the highest-rated and most-watched Sunday night on Syfy since 2007, with a total of 3 million viewers.

We generated buzz across the Web and through digital word of mouth that garnered thousands of visits to our site trail of faux microsites -- and through to Syfy.com.

For ourselves and our client, the best part about the success was that we were able to achieve it using the most imaginative and creative ways possible, aligning with the call to "Imagine Greater."

All winners were presented June 7 during the 2011 EFFIE Awards gala in New York.