Fox is hoping you “fail in love” with host Terry Crews in a new digital video that channels the best of ‘90s-era R&B to promote its Friday night comedy series World’s Funniest Fails.

WFF showcases the best #EpicFail videos from the web with Crews—a former NFL player and current Old Spice spokesman—and a panel of comedians who each pick their personal favorites on the way to crowning the ultimate “Fail of the Week.”

Fox ordered an additional eight episodes of the series on Friday. The show is scoring high with younger viewers, winning its Friday 8pm time slot among men 18-34, and tying for second with all adults in that same age bracket.

The Boyz II Men-esque ballad is the brainchild of Santa Monica-based Jingle Punks, who have made a name for themselves recently with their work matching up-and-coming and established artists with unscripted series looking for an original theme that can help support the show’s marketing.

The company previously penned the theme for History’s Biker Battleground Phoenix (“Ride On”) featuring country star Dierks Bentley, and recently rolled out an original song for TLC’s Welcome to Myrtle Manor (“Rock This Trailer Park”) with up-and-coming rapper JellyRoll.

Jingle Punks co-founder and CEO Jared Gutstadt said the company was willing to do whatever it took to land the job with Fox.

“We did a spec theme song and a spec promo,” Gutstadt said. “We literally just went ahead and did this wacky promo as a way to get our foot in the door.”

Fortunately for them, WFF Executive Producer Nicolle Yaron has a soft spot for ‘90s R&B.

“The minute I heard it I said ‘you guys get it,’” Yaron said

The show also fit well with Jingle Punks’ own agency culture, Gutstadt said.

“This show is ridiculous. It’s funny, it’s smart. It’s stupid but it’s also intelligent. It’s kind of very much akin to our business. It’s highbrow-lowbrow,” he said.

Crews was on board right away, (“He’s willing to do whatever it takes to get you the best show possible,” according to Yaron,) and the network used Ellen Degeneres’ EllenTube platform to propel the resulting video around the Internet.

The entire project fits with a broader strategy for WFF that sees Yaron and her team leaning heavily on digital video to attract family viewers to a Friday evening time slot that lends itself nicely to co-viewing.

“I have always been a huge proponent of digital media and social media,” Yaron, who previously served as co-executive producer on The Voice. “I don’t believe there is an across-the-board strategy that works for everyone. Every show needs a digital strategy based on who they want to reach.”

World’s Funniest Fails has a wealth of video at its disposal, making it easy to craft a social marketing strategy full of shareable short videos and fun GIFs.

“Our strategy for this show is to make things that people want to use or share themselves,” said Yaron.

Tags:


  Save as PDF