A single destination for fans, talent, and creators of wholesome, family-based entertainment to meet, discuss, experience life together.

Hearties Platform

Opportunity for Fans

Curated, Quality Content

Users will be able to get all of their news regarding wholesome, family-based entertainment in one place, with curated articles and media from trusted sources: leaders in the community, and the talent they love to watch.

Virtual-to-Personal Relationship Building

This app aims to build community and real-world relationships by creating and managing events, offering care requests / reminders, and connecting local users together in a safe way.

Creative Outlet

By offering tools for users to create content, they have an opportunity to showcase, and be recognized for their talents; whether that’s fan fiction, fan art, or simply creating funny memes.

Safe, Tailored Environment

The entire platform will be based around the mission statement for the community (Whole, family-based entertainment and community?), with safety features built in place to protect user identities from untrusted users, ensure authenticity in events and event participants, and a curated community board.

User Types

Fan

These users are looking to connect with others, share their passion, and delve further into their favorite shows, while being appreciated for their unique contributions.

Admin / Community Leader

As leaders, they are looking to build a safe, purpose-filled community, while enjoying the benefits as a fan themselves.

Talent

Branding-building, and audience building are huge parts of modern entertainment, and these users are looking to build authentic connections with the fans as real people who continue to entertain off-screen.

High Level Use Cases

Immersive Interaction

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• Quick Catch-up
• Chat with other Fans
• Discuss Family-based shows and books
• Delve Deeper into the world of WCTH
• Discover new content
• Find out about local events
• Seek and give prayer-based support
• Share user-generated content

PLATFORM BREAKDOWN

Where Hearties find what they want most

Main Feed

Whether a Fan wants to quickly catch up, or delve deeper into curated posts for the community, this will be their destination.  Fans will be able to consume, share, and favorite items in this feed.  This Feed will customize to the fan, showing them upcoming events in their area, and new local fans.  Potential items in the feed will include:

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• Articles (show, lifestyle, episode recaps, etc.)
• Photos (ex., behind-the-scenes, exclusives)
• Videos (ex., interviews, BTS, promos, watch latest show through Hallmark Channel Everywhere etc.)
• Quizzes
• Polls / Votes
• Take Action Feature
• Community Posts (from Admins, or if a post receives a lot of activity)
• Care / Prayer Requests (from Admins, or if a request receives a lot of activity)

We asked fans how they engage w/ the community:

Total results: 1349

•iPhone: 570 (42%)

•Computer: 527 (39%)

•Android Mobile: 349 (26%)

•iPad: 302 (22%)

•Android Tablet: 119 (9%)

•Other SmartPhone: 10 (1%)

•Other Tablet: 20 (1.5%)

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One fan Katie Guinn, wrote: ”Are we getting a #hearties app? That would be so cool!”

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Hearties Poll

Platform Compatibility

Availability

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• Web: Desktop, Tablet, Mobile
• iPhone App
• iPad App

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Initial Mockup (on iPhone)

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The design will be clean, and uncluttered with several sections. Each area will be designed to focus the user on the specific use case of that section.

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The foundation of the design and development will be around a community platform that can grow and adjust to fan and brand needs.

Community

Where Fans Connect

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• This section will consist of a feed that all users will be able to post to.  
• Unlike the Main Feed, this is less curated and is a place for community connection though discussions and sharing of ideas.  
• Some of the posts may end up in the Main Feed if they have a lot of positive activity.

Care Board

Community Support

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• All people go through struggles in life, and this section allows the community to share and support one-another through those struggles.  
• Users can post struggles, or show support by clicking the Hug Button (name TBD) or setting reminders for them to pray.  
• Users can post encouraging messages on a care request, and it is only shared with the user who shared the request.
• Users can find others with similar issues and share encouraging outcomes

Events

Fan Gatherings

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• Small groups and gathering help solidify a community, and an intelligent event engine will need to manage those connections.  
• This area will showcase all upcoming events, allowing users to filter by specific needs, and prioritizing events based on individual user location and likes.
• These include: pajama parties, episodes screenings, potlucks, prayer groups, tea parties, etc.
• All events are tracked, allowing for analytics on real-world engagement.

Take Action

Utilize an already engaged community to take part in meaningful actions that help drive the shared agenda of furthering the progress of family-based values and entertainment.

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• Taking Action is a way for the community to come together for the greater good of some real-world event.
• This section only appears when there is something for the community to actively participate in, such as community-based art projects, communicating with TV show sponsors, or supporting a good cause based on themes in the show.  
• Admins are the only one’s that can create these Features.

Trivia & Polls

Trivia

• Users will be able to review all previous trivia quizzes in one place, while seeing a running tracker of their trivia progress and score.  
• When users have engaged with the community long enough, they will be able to create their own trivia quizzes here.
• Admins can engage with the fans for good questions, and can acknowledge those users when the trivia is posted.

Polls

• An engaged focus group. This is a great way for Talent, Producers, and Admins to gather data on the fans, while allowing the fans to feel as though they are part of the process.
• Fun polls about life in the show allow fans imaginatively delve further into the world.

Created by the Fans

Memes

Memes provide a quick, and simple way for users to showcase their creativity.  This section will contain a meme generator with all approved artwork for the show, allowing users to quickly create and share a meme.  Users will also be able to scroll through a wall of previously created memes.

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Fan Art

For users that have more skill and time, they can post their own fan art to the platform.  Artwork can be viewed, discussed, liked, and shared from this section.

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Fan Fiction

This is a section for fans that love to write, or those that want to continue exploring the world.

CONTENT STRATEGY

Building on wholesome entertainment

Platform Content Strategy

Let the “Hearties” take the lead:

Create a mobile platform for the fans, migrating them from TheHearties.com and Facebook to a central location. Let the content be sourced and driven by the natural leaders of the fan communities.

Show-Based Articles

Admins are alerted of the show themes prior to an episode airing, allowing them time to find or create relevant articles for fans.  This will help extend fan discussion beyond just the events of the show, to how the lessons / theme of the episode is relevant to their real lives.

Topic-Based Articles & Events

Admins can write about topics that are central to the community, and follow-up with real-life events where fans can further discuss and support one-another.  These could be topics like [a] dealing with the loss of a loved one, [b] preparing for kids to go to college, or simply [c] how to cook low-priced, healthy meals for the family.

Platform Content Strategy (part 2)

Content Examples Include:

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• Behind the Scenes
• Locations
• Casting
• Costumes
• Writers / Directors
• Character Diaries
• Episode Flashbacks
• Character Backstories
• Digital Content enhance stories
• Retrospectives on story
• Live Producer Chats
• After Show Events

Build for Additional Content Opportunities

By building a versatile community platform, Hallmark and MPCA will be able to experiment with news way of engaging the audience and build brand-loyalty with strategies that layered in-and-out of show seasons. These could include:

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• 30-Minute Webshow recap with App Interactivity
• Cosplay Photos with voting for featured placement
• Casting suggestions via polls
• Interactive experience to put fans in Hope Valley
• 3D VR Tours of locations
• Fan videos
• Photo Collages / Wallpapers
• Hearties Holiday Cards (Print/Digital)
• Curated Hearties Calendars (Print/Digital)

Platform Launch Events

Heartie Convention on set

• Tutorials on creating and sharing content
• Involvement on desired functionality
• Featured videos of attendees
• Build the loyal base for content sharing
• Drive support of wholesome entertainment
• Talent tutorials and involvement

Web / App Award Submissions

• Represent Hallmark and MPCA as forward-thinking companies that drive authentic connection with their fans.
• Submit for awards as a new ways to engage with fans and build communities that meet their individual needs.

TEAM & SCOPE

Multi-Platform Producing Team

Executive Producer: Nicole Hansen (Producers Guild of America)

• Executive produced mobile app game, BattleKasters, launched across American ComiCons 2015
• Branding producer for King of the Nerds, Expedition Impossible and The Taste
• Producer of viral digital media PSA, Save It. Co-producer of feature-films, Beyond the Ashes and Tinseltown.

Transmedia Producer: John D. Heinsen (Producers Guild of America)

• Digital creative liaison between the producers and network’s show executives, marketing/pr
• Help shape transmedia plans
• Assist in expanding platform to other IPs and production companies to use platform
• Former FOX Current Programming Executive, Transmedia Producer (Director, Production) 84th-86th Academy Awards / Oscar.com, VP, New Media Producers Guild of America (PGA)

Product Director/Producer: Mitch Lusas (Producers Guild of America)

• Produced International Apps, Games, and Web-Platforms with Multi-Million Downloads
• Producer and Creative Director for "Paramount Enhanced Movies"; the precursor "XBOX SmartGlass Movies“
• Conceptualized and Produced Paramount’s "Star Trek App", the award-winning contextually-aware app for "Star Trek Into Darkness“

Schedule

Content / Marketing Strategy

November

December

January

February

March

April

Hearties Special

Web Alpha Release

Hearties Convention

Web Beta Release

Web Gold Master

iOS Alpha Release

iOS Beta Release

iOS Gold Master

Hearties Season Premiere

Platform Budget: $XX.000

Testing (Compatibility & Basic Security)

Android app could be added at a cost of ~$10,000 / Windows app could be added at a cost of ~$XX,000

Please note: there will be ongoing server fees between $50 - $150 / month, depending on usage.