Case Study
Hysteria | Peacock
What is a fanbase… if not a cult?
Welcome to Happy Hollow, Michigan: a small town where everyone knows their neighbors. That is, at least you think you do. When a Varsity quarterback goes missing and a bloody Pentagram is revealed on his garage, the town is whipped into a frenzy. Dylan Campbell, an outcast musical nerd, sees an opportunity. His metal band Dethkrunch has lived in obscurity, but now they’re going to captivate the youth and horrorify the town as Happy Hollow is shaken to its core. This heavy metal homage to 80’s pop horror pits the outcasts against the jocks, religious zealots, and shadowy cultists. In a panicked Happy Hollow, Satan may be the least of your fears.
Tease
“Roll the Tape” Custom Shoot Spot (above)
An evolution of our spot for Peacock’s upfronts, this spot we concepted, produced, and directed set the nostalgic 1989 tone with an 80s earworm and a vintage set. We leaned into Julie Bowen’s star power, tapping into the quaint familiarity of her as everyone’s favorite Modern Family mom, then twisting to reveal the hellish nightmares she’ll face in the series. Complete with occult visuals, eerie backtracking, and a demonic reflection, we gave horror fans the jump scare they crave.
Pentagram Tease (left)
The sudden uprising of supernatural and occult activity leaves the community of Happy Hollow wondering who is to blame. In our teaser art for the series, we raise the question: has evil been recently invited, or was it running through the streets all along? One thing is for sure: Happy Hollow is one hell of a town. As our first comp for this series, this concept was killer from the start.
Trailer: Do You Believe In The Devil?
Set to the original song “Watchers of Death” from the series’ fictional band Dethkrunch, our trailer captures an occult mystery begging to be untangled. We invite viewers to witness pure evil, cozy late 80s nostalgia, and nods to 80s horror, while maintaining broad appeal and the star power of the series.
Custom Shoot Social
In our “It’s 10PM” social tease (above), we introduce the town of Happy Hollow: a charming suburb infiltrated by the occult and supernatural forces lurking in the shadows. With evil forces, comes parents who care about their children and what they’re interacting with they might not be able to control.
With an ironic tone perfect for social, we captured a special PSA from Anna Camp (below left), to highlight the “wicked and perverse” deeds of the teens in the series.
To highlight the incredible SFX work behind the scenes, we captured a timelapse of Julie Bowen’s demonic look (below center), giving fans an inside look to the hard work that goes into the process of turning her from suburban mom, to something else entirely.
Lastly, to show off the chemistry and fun behind the scenes with the cast, we gave them the opportunity to create the ultimate 80s makeover on a mannequin (above right), while talking about their experiences on the series.
Episodic Social
While staying true to the series and the marketing campaign overall, our social content incorporated humor native to the social platforms, tapped on the relatability of the 80s nostalgia, and captured the broad audience with famous faces front and center. We produced takes on popular formats like listicles, “POVs,” Top 10 13 countdown, and character intros. We stoked the flame of Bruce Campbell’s fan-base with a humorous fan-cam montage of the guest star’s most dreamy moments. We even promoted the release of the DethKrunch’s “new album” with a custom music video. Lastly, we supported social conversation with custom GIPHY stickers.
OOH
For OOH, we translated our custom motion capture into both individual talent-sell motion portraits as well as ensemble compilations for massive OOH placements in Times Square, LA Live, and a full media buy.
