​In a cluttered and ever-evolving industry, marketing teams must learn to embrace passion if they’re going to be successful.

That was the key takeaway from a Wednesday panel of broadcasting and social media execs there to help PromaxBDA’s annual conference audience in New York navigate the “new world order” of entertainment marketing.

“The onus is on us to find the thing about a show that will develop passionate response and viewership,” said Tina Exarhos, executive vp of marketing and multi-platform creative at MTV. “If you’re not tapping into that passion play, you’re not creating materials that live beyond a couple weeks of airing on a linear screen. What are those things that will incite and excite and audience?”

Marketing execs have to assign show teams based on who best understands the fans of a particular program. There are a lot of things that can help to build a successful show, but you have to prove to audiences that you love the show as much—or more—as the fans do, Exarhos said.

She pointed to a recently releaed spot for the upcoming season of “Teen Wolf” where MTV wove several Easter Eggs into the spot that wouldn’t necessarily be picked up by casual viewers. But those cues were intended to show loyal fans that MTV understood why they loved they show. And apparently it worked.

Exarhos read one reaction on Tumblr to the spot that proclaimed “it’s like a promo made out of Tumblr fan art, covered in ash, and drowned in my emotions.”

Fred Graver, Twitter’s head of TV, said that taking that extra time to embrace fan passion can also help you convert new viewers, because with social sharing becoming more prominent in our lives, those pieces aimed at fans can also demonstrate to their social networks why they love a show.

“Listening to the fans makes them more invested in the show,” said Marla Provencio, executive vp and chief marketing officer at ABC Entertainment Group. “That investment is key to a show’s survival, since engagement is one of the new metrics driving success in the television business. Marketers need to find ways to keep viewers engaged 365 days a year, not just during the season.”

“For all of us the job has changed so dramatically,” Exarhos said. “Gone are the days that you drive to the premiere and then pray the show does well.”

Photo: (left to right) Tina Exarhos, Fred Graver, and Marla Provencio. (John Minchillo/AP).

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