WGN America Celebrates 'How I Met Your Mother' Fans With SuperFan Campaign

"Suit up!" This summer, WGN America expands the network's "legendary" commitment to social media by celebrating fans of How I Met Your Mother online and on- air with the debut of the "Summer of the SuperFan."

Beginning this month, WGN America rolls out the "Summer of the SuperFan" campaign which incorporates fans of How I Met Your Mother on WGN America's air. As part of the campaign, WGN America brought four dedicated HIMYM fans who pay homage to the show via blogs and tribute videos, to New York to for a roundtable discussion and promo shoot, which were filmed at McGee's (the NYC pub which is the show's basis for HIMYM's fictional MacLaren's Pub.) These SuperFans will be celebrated in on-air spots to run on WGN America throughout the summer and in SuperFan video profiles on Facebook.com/MeetAtMacLarens and on wgnamerica.com. WGN America has also created a YouTube channel for HIMYM SuperFan videos http://youtube.com/MeetatMacLarens

The WGN America HIMYM SuperFans are:

· Aaron Westerman - author of http://www.beawesomeinstead.com

· Heather Arbiter - administrator for http://how-i-met-your-mother.wikia.com/wiki/How_I_Met_Your_Mother_Wiki

· Tally Deushane - writer/performer of "A Daughter's Lament" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp7NX2cH_SI

· Ryan Narcisco - musician who performed a HIMYM medley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Qe5WcvKE4

Earlier this month, WGN America invited viewers of How I Met Your Mother to share their Mother's Day messages using social media. Viewers tweeted and posted their How I Met Your Mother's Day messages on WGN America's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/MeetatMacLarens and WGN America's HIMYM Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/meetatmaclarens using the #HIMYMothersDay hash tag.

Fan messages then aired on WGN America as snipes in the 9pm E /6pm W broadcast of How I Met Your Mother throughout the week, and culminated in the mother of all marathons... a How I Met Your Mother's Day Marathon on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8th. The marathon featured the highest A25-54 and M18-49 ratings of the quarter to date.

This week, WGN America also kicks off a "Best of Barney" fan's choice event with a Facebook poll for fans to select the top 5 "Barney" episodes. The highest ranking episodes will air on Sunday, May 15th beginning at 7pm E/ 4pm W.

WGN America's social media campaign for How I Met Your Mother using Facebook and Twitter, which began this spring, has been a great success. WGN America's How I Met Your Mother Facebook page Meet at MacLarens http://www.facebook.com/MeetatMacLarens (named after the bar featured in the show) has amassed over 170,000 followers in the first three months.

Meet at MacLarens is filled with Facebook fan-friendly features including: The Barney Bro Burn: an exhaustive database of Barney's best one liners that users can post on their friend's pages; The Robin Scherbatsky Awards: users can send to a friend who deserves public shame for a blatant offense in Facebook journalism; HIMYM Guide to New York: WGN America's geographic guide to HIMYM locations in NY and a Web Guide with a list of our favorite HIMYM bloggers.

"The 'Summer of the SuperFan will hand fans of How I Met Your Mother the keys to the network by giving them the opportunity to literally program their favorite "Best Of' episodes on multiple Sundays throughout the summer. The success of this platform will open up numerous opportunities for both WGN America and our marketing partners to engage fans of WGN America's programming on a deeper, more inclusive level than ever before," said Josh Richman, Vice President of Marketing for WGN America.

As part of WGN America's social media strategy, the network has partnered with Story Worldwide, a global content marketing agency, to help create and curate the ideal fan experience and drive tune-in to WGN America on air.

"The power of the campaign is involving the devoted fan base in helping generate the ideas and create the content themselves," explains Charles Coxe, Story Worldwide's Editorial Director. "Instead of broadcasting at viewers and hoping they pay attention, it lets them help shape the entertainment they most want to see."

HIMYM currently airs on WGN America Tuesday through Friday (9pm E /6pm W,) Saturday (11:30pm E /8:30pm W) and Sunday (7pm E /4pm W.)

In the coming months, WGN America plans to expand the HIMYM footprint and develop additional fan based campaigns on a monthly basis through the summer of 2011.

This fall, WGN America will create separate social media campaigns for new programming coming in September, including 30 Rock, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Futurama.

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ABOUT WGN AMERICA:

WGN America is everywhere America calls home. A broad entertainment network and destination for audiences across America, WGN America (also available in HD) is part of Tribune Broadcasting Company, and is nationally distributed via cable, satellite and telco with entertainment programming consisting of cable exclusives, first-run programs, blockbuster movies and live sports. For program schedules or additional information please visit www.wgnamerica.com

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