CableFAXIES Awards—Advertising Campaign for a Single Program: A&E Network for Gene Si

Season 2 of Family Jewels ended with Gene Simmons preparing to take a lie detector test to prove, once and for all, that he’d logged 4,800 sexual conquests. A&E capitalized on the bassist’s fleshly world tours with an ad campaign built around the theme "1 Man. 4800 Women?" (above). The centerpieces were billboards on Sunset Blvd. and in downtown Manhattan. The Sunset billboard was littered with giant bras (upper right), while the NY sign asked viewers to vote on the truth of Gene’s immodest claim. The results: 63% texters said yes, 41% of online voters did, too. Some 2 million viewers said yes to the season 3 premiere (up from 1.8 million for the season 2 premiere).

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Honorable Mentions:

ABC Family for The Secret Life of the American Teenager: An iconic image of young star Shailene Woodley looking at her pregnant belly helped make the series premiere the highest-rated original in ABC Family history (adults 18-34).

Cablevision S.A. de C.V./Mediamates/Pico Adworks Mexico for Mujeres Asesinas ( Assassin Women Mexico): A bloody graphic design for the ad campaign turned on the characters’ expressions of remorseless guilt. This helped Assassin become one of the most-popular soaps in on-demand requests.

Discovery Communications/Animal Planet for Whale Wars Series Launch Campaign: Animal Planet’s ad campaign linked action, adventure and the environment, successfully redefining the network’s image beyond The Puppy Bowl.

ESPN for ESPN’s SportsCenter AM Live Campaign: ESPN’s live ad push for its live morning show, starring a young, behind-the-scenes ESPN employee, seems obvious only in retrospect. At the time it was a daring and cheeky logistical challenge.

Gospel Music Channel for Gospel Dream Bus Tour Presented by Comcast: GMC’s bus tour promoted the network’s linear launch in New Jersey. It also helped Comcast push the message that the MSO provides positive family programming.

IFC for Z Rock: IFC updated its film geek image with an ad campaign for this comedy series that included rocker-dude iconography on billboards and murals near the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC.

A&E Network for The Andromeda Strain: A&E promoted its miniseries with a paranoia-inducing campaign using the slogan, "What happened in Piedmont?" Let’s hope it just happens there.

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