A quarter century after the start of the American Revolution, you can find our nation’s fledgling heroes emblazoned on bus stops and billboards. It’s not just a sign of patriotism; its evidence of a widespread marketing campaign for History’s three-night miniseries Sons of Liberty, a reimagining of the American Revolution seen through the eyes of the “American Five:” Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin.

For History, their scripted content revolution has already begun. Guy Slattery, EVP of marketing at A+E Networks (which includes History), points to the successes of Hatfields & McCoys and Vikings as proof.

“History has found an [approach] in scripted drama of telling historical stories in a fresh and new way… Sons of Liberty is another example. I think there’s a real appetite for stories based in historical fact.”

History’s marketing campaign hinges on this, promoting the era’s famed historical figures rather than the famous actors portraying them.“The whole basis of the campaign is to [show] the most influential names in American history in a modern and fresh way,” says Slattery.

The promos pair recognizable heroes like Sam Adams (quick character portrait featured below) with Rolling Stones’ indelible track “Paint it Black,” an unusual choice made “to change people’s perceptions of the ‘American Five.’” They aren’t “old stuffy guys.” These young rogue/rebel/heroes “changed the course of history.”

Key art, some of which resembles the paintings from that time, emphasizes the characters. While History is focusing on the series’ famous characters, the show also offers star power and strong performances: the network already is getting positive responses online to Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris as Benjamin Franklin (below).

Since the end of November, when History first started building awareness for the show, it’s gradually been building its efforts. History started by promoting Sons of Liberty across its family of networks (Lifetime, LMN, A&E, H2 and FYI are all under A+E Networks’ purview). The network launched the second, bigger phase over the holidays, when they did some activations “where we took over the Wi-Fi in a bunch of airports, [unveiling] the Sons of Liberty promo while people were traveling during the holidays.”

The out-of-home component also featured movie theater spots and station domination in Union Square. History teamed up with Jackthreads, an online clothing store, for a free Sons of Liberty T-shirt promotion that quickly sold out. It also has marketed the site on different websites including IMDb and ESPN.

In other words, “now you’re seeing it everywhere. It’s a really robust 360 media campaign.”

As with any revolution, it didn’t really crystallize until beer entered the equation. Sons of Liberty and Samuel Adams beer is “a perfect fit.” The partnership has produced two clever vignettes merging the Boston Beer Company with the show.

In “The New Guy,” a new employee is hired at Samuel Adams Brewing Company. He’s actually a Red Coat, sparking a “revolution” amongst the brewery staff. Samuel Adams the man is traced to Samuel Adams’ Boston Lager in “6 Degrees of Celebration.” Online digital content is prefaced by a Samuel Adams beer commercial. Samuel Adams also sponsors the Rebel to Revolution Sweepstakes, a four-week contest featuring weekly prizes and a Grand Prize trip to Boston for a historical tour. Each week, fans vote on the most exciting fights for America’s freedom, and are entered to win by sharing the results on social media.

For history buffs, History has outfitted its website with a bevy of facts on the Revolution, highlighting creative licenses.

“We’re definitely very open about that with the viewer, so they know what really happened, [and] can go to History.com and get the full facts.” The site is interactive, with an infographic and Personality Quiz (“Which of the Sons of Liberty are you?”).

History’s relying on its own massive social media platforms: the Facebook page (boasting more than 21.7 million likes), Instagram and @HISTORY Twitter account (1.16 million followers). Since early December, the network has posted content featuring actors and the show’s creators retelling stories from the American Revolution. “They’ve really been getting a lot of traction.” History is “trying to get all the conversation” around the show’s hashtag, #SonsofLiberty. During all three nights, “we’ll be live-tweeting with talent, promoting stuff that’s organically trending and getting [it] out to a wide audience.”

History has plenty more ammunition for the show’s premiere on Sunday Jan. 25 at 9 p.m. There will be “a lot of homepage takeovers with Sons of Liberty graphics on all the big sites, like Yahoo, IMDb, ESPN and IGN.”

During the last hour before the premiere, “we’ll have what we call a cable roadblock, where we’ll see Sons of Liberty spots pretty much across all networks on cable.”

In many ways, Sons of Liberty’s marketing campaign mirrors the American Revolution itself. As Slattery says, “start with a spark and hopefully take over the world.”

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