A&E TELEVISION NETWORK: WHISPERING WALLS

Name	Position	Company
Lizzie Blades	Account Supervisor	Horizon Media
Dennis Camlek	VP Brand Group Director	Horizon Media
Fahad Khawaja	Out Of Home Supervisor	Horizon Media
Jill Nickerson	VP Director Out Of Home	Horizon Media
Melissa Zeoli	Account Executive	Horizon Media

Every day, we pass out-of-home that speaks to us. Figuratively, of course, and only to the degree that the message is relevant. But what if it really spoke to you? For A&E Network's "Paranormal State", a show chronicling students seeking the truth behind terrifying real life mysteries and hauntings, we used out-of-home with directional-audio-technology (DAT) to build and define the new show's brand. We wanted to "scare up" the premiere's success and make a big impact by leveraging the show's spooky-factor and the phobias that people carry everyday. Beyond ratings, a secondary objective was to garner organic (non-PR-driven) buzz. Our DAT application was restrained and understated, allowing consumers to unravel the experience on their own - eliciting primal emotional reactions. Our 'Whispering Wall' was adjacent to a cemetery, further playing upon the 'paranormal.' Finally, the wild postings used solar panels and motion-activated-audio, which had never previously been used. Innovative, and green!

As consumers walked by the Paranormal State wallscapes and wild postings, a faint whisper could be heard: "It's not your imagination" "What was that?" "Who's there? Undoubtedly, the creepy voice of a woman who seems to be hiding, and scared, is enough to get busy consumers amidst a highly-cluttered outdoor environment to pause and examine their situation: in this case, leading their eyes to our postings promoting "Paranormal State" and its season premiere.

The 'Whispering Walls' were an amplifying force to the campaign. A mix of traditional and non-traditional OOH at multiple touch points anchored by these "Whispering Walls" was designed to complement the campaign-at-large to achieve the client's objectives. The 'Whispering Walls', placed strategically around the market, undoubtedly led to increased awareness of and attention to the campaign's remaining (non-DAT) elements, such as magazine ads, transit ads, digital jukeboxes, and street teams. After exposure to the Walls, the diverse elements of the OOH campaign encountered around the market reminded consumers not only about "Paranormal State's" upcoming premiere, but brought them back to the "emotional state" they were in when they first heard the whisper...

The Paranormal State campaign not only achieved its main objective, generating the best ratings for an A&E original series since 2004, it created buzz for the network. The publicity was immediate upon campaign launch, with attention from Gawker.com, adfreak.com, NY Times (online/print), the Guardian, radio programmes and even international newspapers.