No.3 Most Read Article of 2013: AMC's 'Breaking Bad' Name Lab App Lets Fans Mimic Credits
The app has been used by over 1.4 million fans since its debut on June 26.
This story was originally published on July 9, 2013, and comes in at No. 3 on our countdown of the 10 most popular ClickZ stories of 2013. As ClickZ looks back over the past year, we’re celebrating the best of 2013, as determined by you, our readers. Enjoy!
For five seasons, each episode of AMC’s Emmy Award-winning series “Breaking Bad” has begun with a title sequence that includes the symbols for bromine and barium, Br and Ba.
And now, thanks to AMC’s Breaking Bad Name Lab app, the show’s fans can generate images with symbols from the periodic table in their own names.
Since its launch on June 26, the Facebook app has been used by over 1.4 million people – including 20,000 who accessed it in the first four minutes it was available, says an AMC rep.
What’s more, Breaking Bad has gained 80,000 Facebook fans since the app launched, bringing it to a total of 4.7 million likes. (The show also has 338,000 Twitter followers.)
Calling the end result a “personalized periodic table name,” the Name Lab app is accessible via Breaking Bad’s Facebook page and www.breakingbadnamelab.com. Users click “Get Started” and the app automatically generates a “personalized periodic table name” with element symbols replacing various letters in the fan’s name.
Fans are then given the option to download a cover photo or profile picture and can share these images on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
The images also include the hashtag #allbadthingsmustcometoanend – a nod to the critically acclaimed series’ eight final episodes, which will begin airing in August.
The app is not the only promotional element to feature names – AMC has also released images with actor Bryan Cranston, who plays central character Walter White, and the text, “Remember My Name.”
“We launched the app to complement the tease campaign that is out in the marketplace now, ‘All Bad Things Must Come to An End,'” says Gina Hughes, AMC’s senior vice president of marketing, in a written statement. “We wanted to give the fans a unique and organic way to engage with the series and build excitement for the final eight episodes, which premiere this summer.”
The season finale for the first half of season five, which aired in September 2012, had 2.8 million viewers. AMC says that was up 47 percent over the season four finale.
Created by writer, producer, and director Vince Gilligan and produced by Sony Pictures Television, AMC says Breaking Bad follows “the story of a desperate man who turns to a life of crime to secure his family’s financial future.”
The series has received seven Emmy Awards and a Peabody and been named to the American Film Institute list of the Top 10 Programs of the Year in 2008, 2010, 2011, and 2012.
