Rising to the challenge of bringing one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious reality shows to Colombia, RCN Televisión rose to the occasion by creating a top-notch launch campaign full of choreography and festivity to show that everybody is dancing in Colombia.

Bailando con las Estrellas premiered January 12, and started a nightly run over 11 weeks. The reality show features a cast of well-known Colombian contestants including actors, singers, models, athletes and others. It is a production of Fox Telecolombia for RCN, based on BBC Worldwide’s Dancing with the Stars, a top-rated series that airs in more than 40 countries. RCN Nuestra Tele reaches more than 12 millions subscribers in 25 countries.

The launch campaign, which aired one month prior to the premiere, consisted of three phases. Using the core concept of “in Colombia, dancing is in our blood,” the first phase showed how Colombians turn any gathering into a party.

Storyboards were created and filmed in different cities across the country, showing Colombians of all styles dancing at christenings, birthday parties, wedding receptions, carnivals or even on the streets.

“This worked as a hook to appeal to a Colombian audience alien to ballroom dancing,” says Alejandro Prieto, in-house creative director at RCN. “In the Colombian culture, there is no special attraction to ballroom dancing, but we could indeed explain how we Colombians truly have dancing in our blood,” Prieto says.

The second phase of the campaign focused on the fact that Bailando con las Estrellas is already internationally recognized. Pieces were created using material from the format’s international versions, and introducing the Colombian version’s hosts and participating celebrities.

True to the show’s name, the promos features the contestants as real stars on stage and under showers of confetti.

“In relation to aesthetics, the campaign needed to show the greatness for which the program has been known from the beginning. It was an important guideline we followed,” says Prieto.

In-House Director Piedad Cruz added that “as creative people, we wanted to design a beautiful campaign that reflected the image of the program and the channel. We developed pieces that matched the product that was later going to be presented to the audience.”

The spots were filmed in collaboration with the show’s choreographer, using a well-thought-out music strategy.

“We created covers of a variety of internationally known songs to engage both young and adult audiences. The music ranged from singles of the 80s to tropical Colombian style songs,” says Prieto.

The same stage was used to create other individual pieces with some celebrities, such as Daniela Ospina, Tigresa del Oriente and Debi Nova, greeting the audience. These greetings were presented in sensual close-up shots, with the body and its curves as the invitation to the premiere.

The third phase was based on reinforcing greetings from the stars by presenting them to viewers every day, and on explaining the reality contest’s mechanics.

Also, three pieces were designed to show each of the three judges in their countries of residence. In each piece, the judges explain their dreams, their careers and what they expect from the stars. In this case, the script guideline was developed by RCN and the production was carried out by a channel correspondent and an external team.

The campaign also was distributed on the Internet and social networks. Some spots were posted on the section Exclusivas web of the RCN website and were shared on the channel’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. In addition, specific Twitter and Instagram accounts were created for the program, together with the official website of Bailando con las Estrellas.

Prieto explains that “an important work was carried out on social networks to get people talking” but the “greatest effort was done through the celebrities,” who were invited to promote the program themselves on their own accounts.

Some exclusive backstage images are still being posted on social platforms as a call to action to attract users to the show’s voting and weekly polls.

Currently, two promotional pieces are being aired daily. One previews the next episode, while the other recaps the last show.

Assessing the campaign strategy, Alejandro Prieto says that “it turned out to be a wise move. Television viewership [in Colombia] drops heavily in December and the previous program’s rating was around 3.8. In the January 12 premiere, we were able to achieve almost 10 rating points during a time when people were returning from their holidays.”

With this campaign “we were able to …focus on making beautiful things, with a touch of glamour, trying to present an extremely good production,” said Piedad Cruz.

To read this story in Spanish, go here.

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