truTV partnered with entertainment marketing agency The Syndicate to promote upcoming series Big Trick Energy for an exciting and interactive viral moment around the show’s launch in May 2021. The Syndicate built a campaign that would encourage participation from hundreds of fans across the globe: setting a unique GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Title. Utilizing the stars of Big Trick Energy, led by popular magician and YouTuber Chris Ramsay, truTV called on magic fans with hashtag #BigTrickTokChallenge to come together virtually. Fans and magicians across the globe were going to attempt to establish a never-before-broken GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Title: the Largest Online Video Chain of People Performing a Magic Trick. The record to set was a minimum of 250 participants.
With the rules and guidelines set by the adjudicators at GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS, truTV and The Syndicate set out to achieve the record-breaking title. Engaging the existing fans of magicians and YouTubers Chris Ramsay, Alex Boyer, Wes Barker, and Eric Leclerc was an essential piece of the campaign, as truTV galvanized these cult magic fans on social.
The campaign kicked off with the show’s “Bad Boys of Magic” announcing the challenge and exciting fans through their YouTube and TikTok profiles. Utilizing hashtag #BigTrickTokChallenge on TikTok, fans were taught by the magicians how to perform a specific card trick that would match the hundreds of other participants in the attempt. Fans were instructed to follow an extremely specific set of directions in order to successfully perform the trick and qualify for the submission. With the guidance of truTV instructions via TikTok, fans made sure to perfect the trick to secure their spot in the attempt - some fans even admitted to practicing the trick for hours and recording multiple takes to get it just right! Submissions were seen across fans of every age, gender, location, race, and ethnicity, making this a challenge that anyone with a deck of cards could join.
Once the submission was stitched together, viewers could see hundreds of fans receiving a card from off-camera, magically turning the card into a different card, and passing it along to the next participant. With 2.5 million views on #BigTrickTokChallenge, the teams at truTV and The Syndicate were able to accomplish the goal of engaging enthusiastic magic fans with the show Ultimately, 274 fans were triumphant in their flawless performance of the trick in order to earn their spot in the official submission.
Through the 2.5 million views on #BigTrickTokChallenge and the perfect participation of 274 fans, truTV and The Syndicate achieved our main objectives: being awarded the honor of a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Title for the Largest Online Video Chain of People Performing a Magic Trick, and driving social buzz around the premiere of Big Trick Energy. With over 52K total views on the recap video across all truTV and talent platforms, our efforts were successful in engaging and attracting an existing audience to the new television show, drawing in new fans by utilizing the popular social media network TikTok, and creating a new standard for the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS Title. Additionally, the campaign was recognized by Clio Entertainment as a 2021 CLIO Entertainment Silver Award Winner - Television/Streaming: Original Content (Fan Driven).
