Source of Inspiration: Humans

Humans // Channel 4

• Humans is a eight part sci-fi drama aired on Channel 4 every Sunday at 9pm. It as set in suburban London in a parallel present and the series is based around the emotional impact of the blurring of the lines between humans and machines and how the development of technology alters the way we live.
• Channel 4 first released a trailer promoting a new business called ‘Persona Synthetics’. This was an advertisement broadcast on national television via Channel 4. The first advert was 30 seconds long and included no information about the drama series.

•  An extended trailer was later aired which included an end screen with the title of the drama, website and social hashtag. Also to promote the programme, a fake shopfront for Persona Synthetics was displayed on London's Regent Street in May 2015, allowing people to create their own Synth using interactive screens. Actors were also sent who pretended to be cyborgs around central London.

•  An accompanying Channel 4 trailer for the series in the style of an advert for Persona featured "Sally” – the female synth being ‘sold’.

• The teaser/announcement trailer was uploaded to Persona Synthetics YouTube channel on May 8^th 2015 and aired on television shortly after to launch the marketing campaign. The trailer featured a nuclear family in a regular household – instantly creating an applicable situation for the majority of viewers, creating the personal identity use and gratification.

                                         

•  The synthetic is then introduced as ‘Sally; your new best friend’. The robot looks like a regular human however her posture and movement create an non-human sense, increasing audience uncomfortableness as the robot’s uncanny resemblance to a real human is eerie and almost disturbing. 

• Sally’s pristine appearance makes her seen threatening to humans and her unnaturally emerald green eyes add to the eerie appearance and actions of the robot.

•  The robot is seen doing everyday household chores and she is seen holding the young sons hand guiding him up the stairs. The low key lighting creates an unnerving atmosphere.

•  The trailer ends with a screen with the logo and brand name on screen to make it seem like a real product. 

• Viewers instantly took to social media to discuss the advertisement however an official hashtag wasn’t officially introduced until the extended trailer was released less than a week later.
• #Humans was used in each of the aspects of the marketing campaign including the website, extended trailer, shopfront and print. This created a successful media buzz, generating 862 tweets in the last 24 hours alone.
• The clever campaign increased the popularity of the programme due to the realistic advertisements and bizarreness of the idea – as the idea of suddenly introducing such advanced technologies seems unexpected to a first world audience. Also the similarity to real life situations makes the robots seem disturbing and the audience therefore feel uncomfortable yet the enigma created through teaser marketing intrigues the audience to know more about the storyline. This promotional campaign created a huge social buzz which helped it receive 6.1 million viewers on the first episode.