A Guest of Honor is satirical campaign, mocking celebrity endorsements,
and testing the limits of famous Georgian hospitality.
Leading TV network in Georgia – Caucasus Online with a tagline “Closer To You”,
wanted to highlight their partnership with international brand – F
ox Channel, by promoting popular series Walking Dead.
While the main competitor used foreign celebrity endorsements in their campaigns,
we wanted to mock the trend and also test levels of famous Georgian hospitality.
We decided to invite a “star” from TV series – but this one would not be your typical celebrity.
Supporting Actor – appearing in a scene in minute 23 of Episode 1, Season 6 would visit Georgia –
never once breaking a zombie character, enjoying a deserved vacation among
warmhearted and welcoming Georgians.

The strategy was to treat our guest just as real celebrity.
We had prepared a full cultural program – the one we use in case of any high profile guest visit.
We also notified TV series fans, bloggers, and reporters about his exact trip schedule,
guaranteeing that he was in the center of attention and media coverage during his whole trip.
We made sure that our guest of honor visited every national landmark and tourist attraction
during his stay – guiding our Walking Dead “star” to the walking tour of Tbilisi –
Sightseeing, wine-tasting, national cuisine, etc…
After the first day of huge media buzz he became the most wanted [dead] man in town.
12 out of 14 local TV channels, newspaper reporters, and bloggers volunteered
to follow his trip almost everywhere.

Besides earned media coverage, every smartphone of dedicated fans or confused observers
also turned into tools of social media display, as the sight of zombies enjoying
tourist attractions of Tbilisi became unskippable content.
During just two days of his visit, the brand has generated $120k worth of earned media,
and huge buzz on internet after zombie became a meme.
So when the series returned on air after mid-season hiatus, the viewership rose by 16%.

Credits


Agency Credits:
Executive Creative Director – Bibi Asatiani
Creative Director – Vato Kavtaradze
Creative Strategy – Lado Malazonia
Account Planner – Tamar Tsintsadze
Copywriter – Beqa Meparishvili
Copywriter – Nino Gordeladze
Copywriter – Iko Sakvarelidze
Art Director – Matassi Sulakauri
Art Director – Mari Sukhishvili
Designer – Zakharia Metreveli
Designer – Sandro Paliachi
Designer – Mishka Nemsadze
Digital Planner – Merab Kechkhoshvili
Digital Planner and SMM – Sandro Javakhishvili
Print Manager – Tika Dolidze
Traffic Manager – Sopo Kechkhoshvili
Production Credits:
Director – Beqa Meparishvili
Executive Producer – Ringailė Leščinskienė
Producer – Zuka Gharibashvili
DOP – Makho Khipshidze
Assistant DOP – Giorgi Dzotsenidze
Assistant DOP – Alexandre Sujashvili
Making Of – Nino Menteshashvili
Casting – Windfor’s / Misha Apkhazava
Make-up Artist – Madona Chanturia
Make-up Artist Assistant – Irma Datuashvili
Make-up Artist Assistant – Nanuka Lavrelashvili
Make-up Artist Assistant – Eka Chixradze
Costume Designer – Natia Inckirveli
Boom – Lasha Ugulava
Boom – Tornike Karchxadze
Runner – Giorgi Gurgenadze
Driver – Giorgi Guruli
Driver – Dato Shengelia
Host – Sulkhan Latsabidze
Hostess – Nino Gordeladze
Zombie – S6EP1MIN23 Zombie
Post-Production Credits:
Post Production Manager – Natia Nikoleishvili
Editing – Makho Khipshidze
Editing – Goga Tsikolia
CGI – Sandro Nakashidze
Sound Editing – Paata Godziashvili
Special Thanks To LOUDspeakers
No human was harmed in the making of this project