ABC Family to Celebrate Rebrand With Virtual Launch Celebration

The most socially engaged television network will celebrate its rebrand from ABC Family to Freeform in an exciting and innovative way with a daylong virtual event across multiple social media platforms. Launch partnerships will include a Social DNA Project with Twitter; a live stream of events via Periscope; a Vine booth; a BuzzFeed Facebook Live chat and a custom “Pretty Little Liars” Facebook icon; a “Pretty Little Liars” Snapchat filter and Instagram content.

The Freeform Social DNA Project with Twitter will kick off on January 12 at 11:00 a.m. EST and continue tthroughout the day. Fans who interact with @FreeformTV using the hashtag #FreeformLaunch will receive a reply tweet including a unique piece of 3D digital art based on a sentiment analysis of their Twitter feed. Fans will then have the opportunity to enter an instant win sweepstakes to receive one of 5000 prizes – a one-of-a-kind piece of 3D printed wearable art representing their Twitter personality.

Fans can take part in the virtual celebration by going to FreeformLaunch.com, or any of the social outlets listed above. Fans will also have the chance to interact on those platforms with musical artists including Lela B, Bianca Oblivion, Dan Wilcox and P.O.P. Unplugged; visual artists Dancakes (Dan Drake) the pancake artist and Carlos Vera; and network talent including Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Ian Harding, Shay Mitchell, Janel Parrish, Sasha Pieterse and Keegan Allen from “Pretty Little Liars; and Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood, Harry Shum Jr., Isaiah Mustafa, Matthew Daddario, Emeraude Toubia, Alberto Rosende, and Maxim Roy from “Shadowhunters” who will be creating moments, art and activities of what it means to be Freeform.

This will all build up to the on-air debut of the new network brand spot, the result of a unique collaboration between a diverse mix of designers, animators and illustrators in an effort to create the ultimate artistic expression of Freeform programming. Participating artists in the collaboration of the network sizzle included Ruffmercy, Gustavo Torres, Saiman Chow, Dusty Studio and Audrey Aquino, and their individual efforts were meshed together and set to the music of rising star Alessia Cara’s upcoming single “Wild Things” (from her Def Jam debut album Know-It-All).

The casts of “Pretty Little Liars” and the much-anticipated “Shadowhunters” will be live Tweet during their premieres. Twitter will give the casts special tools including the Twitter Mirror, Twitter Challenger and Video Q&A to enhance the experience. The sixth season premiere of “Pretty Little Liars” will air at 8:00 p.m.EST followed by the series premiere of “Shadowhunters” at 9:00 p.m.EST.

A Day-In-The-Life of Freeform Launch Day January 12

7:00 a.m. PST​​: Emeraude Toubia takes over @ShadowhuntersTV on Instagram.

7:30 a.m. PST​​: Katherine McNamara takes over @ShadowhuntersTV on Instagram.

8:00 a.m. PST​​: Freeform Social DNA Project with Twitter begins.

​Pancake artist Dancakes and muralist Carlos begin soliciting ideas for pancakes and art throughout the day.

10:00 a.m. PST: “Shadowhunters” stars Harry Shum Jr. and Matthew Daddario use Twitter Challenger and Vine booth.

10:30 a.m. PST: ​“Pretty Little Liars” Keegan Allen Twiiter Video Q&A and Vine Booth.

11:00 a.m. PST: ​“Shadowhunters” stars Isaiah Mustafa and Maxim Roy answer questions on Instagram and Facebook.

12:00 p.m. PST​Performance by POP Unplugged.

​​​Buzzfeed Facebook Live chat with “Pretty Little Liars”.

1:00 p.m. PST: ​​Performance by POP Unplugged.

1:30 p.m. PST: ​“Shadowhunters” stars Dominic Sherwood and Alberto Rosende take over @ShadowhuntersTV on Snapchat and use the Twitter Vine booth.

2:30 p.m. PST: “Shadowhunters” stars Katherine McNamara and Emeraude Toubia host a Twitter Q&A and Vine booth.

3:30 p.m. PST: Janel Parrish takes over @PLLTVSeries on Twitter.

4:00 p.m. PST: ​Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Ian Hardin, Shay Mitchell and Sasha Pieterse take over @PLLTVSeries for a Twitter video Q&A from Twitter HQ in New York City.

5:00 p.m. PST: ​“Pretty Little Liars” cast live Tweets the premiere.

6:00 p.m. PST​​: “Shadowhunters” cast live Tweets the premiere.

The day also includes a “Pretty Little Liars” marathon.