Bates Motel has a passionate fan base, especially on social media with over 1.3 million followers on Facebook and over 31 thousand Instagram followers. Noticing hundreds of postings from fans containing art that was inspired by the show, we decided to reward fans with the best creative and drum up buzz in the between-season-lull.
We invited fans to enter their work into a Tumblr fan art contest and picked a total of 50 pieces, five of which were commissioned works from artist Akiko Stehrenberger. We printed the winning artwork and placed them in a beautifully designed Bates Motel guest book. On the back of each piece of art, we asked the artists to supply us with a quote as to why they love Bates Motel, and we included these heartfelt declarations in a well cut within the book.
1,000 lucky fans received a guest book in the mail, including all of the fans whose artwork had been selected. The social response from the book's recipients was enormous. Lucky press received the mailer as well, with People Magazine posting on Instagram, and glowing articles from Mashable and Dread Central. All of this culminated in the show returning to another successful season premiere.
