TORONTO – Showcase is harnessing video game advertising, event marketing, and the fear of contagions to spread the word on its new sci-fi series Helix.
The four-week campaign, targeting adults 25-54 with a special focus on Toronto, Kitchener, London and Ottawa, is anchored by one of the two key taglines – “The Truth will Spread” and “Play God. Pay The Price”. Banner ads are appearing in high profile video games such as Need for Speed Shift, Fight Night, Madden NFL, NBA Jam and NHL. In addition to promoted tweets and trends leading into the launch of the series, display banners and pre-roll are running on entertainment websites including ESPN, TMZ and Extra (the series is carried by Syfy in the U.S.).
In Toronto, brand ambassadors in Hazmat suits were spotted in high-traffic areas ‘protecting’ the public from the mysterious Helix virus by handing out Helix and Showcase-branded hand sanitizers. The campaign also includes radio spots, on-air support across Shaw Media’s 20 channels, out-of-home billboards, and spots in the digital pre-show in multiple Ontario cinemas.
Helix is an intense thriller about a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control who travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to investigate a possible disease outbreak, only to find themselves pulled into a terrifying life-and-death struggle that holds the key to mankind’s salvation or total annihilation. The show premiers Friday’s at 10:00 PM ET on Showcase.
