“FXX? What channel is that?” is a question you would be asking yourself 2 weeks ago. Due to the popularity of some FX programming – which includes the majestic, Louie  – a new channel was formed in order to house some second tier newcomers. Anchored by new episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and reruns of The Simpsons it appeared FXX was going to be FX’s edgier little brother. I heard chatter about shows like Jim Jefferies’ Legit moving from FX to this new channel. I quickly forgot.

Lost in an non-navigable  sea of digital channels somewhere in the 1200s, FXX would be easy to miss. Then come The Simpsons and the Every Simpsons Ever Marathon. Fans of The Simpsons have seen every episode … thrice. Many own the DVDs. What makes this so special? A marathon of all 562 episodes (I think they left the NYC episode out) in sequential order shown day and night for 12 days. The full breadth of The Simpsons glory in a two-week stretch. It was the longest running marathon of the longest running TV show in history. It was an event.

The “event” mindset makes watchers feel like they are part of something. FXX leveraged the popularity of the show and the fun of a marathon to drive watchers to the station. Checking a channel everyday for two weeks will certainly help a fickle public remember where it is. Once watching The Simpsons, we were barraged with commercials for other FXX programming like The League. Social media pages were created and hashtags unleashed thus the buzz continued online, which certainly drew even more viewers to the channel.

We all might not have witty, timeless, award-winning content like The Simpsons on tap, but it should get you thinking about how we can use content to raise interest and drive traffic where you need it.