UKTV’s 'After-Dark' Billboard Haunts the Public Ahead of 'Celebrity Haunted Mansion'

UKTV’s premium entertainment channel W is using disruptive scare tactics to build anticipation for new reality TV show Celebrity Haunted Mansion.

With the show filming in what is said to be one of the UK’s most haunted buildings, revealed on the day of transmission, the sense of fear will be palpable.  To amplify anticipation for the scare factor, UKTV has launched an integrated creative campaign to engage viewers ahead of, and during, the five-day schedule.

Leading the campaign, and tapping into the public’s fascination with horror, is a spooky billboard designed to unsettle onlookers during the day before morphing into a terrifying animated image and sound display after dark. The spectacular outdoor advertising display was hosted at both Westfield Shopping Centres in Stratford and Shepherd’s Bush on Saturday 17 February, with the transformation at 5.17pm, the exact moment the sun sets.

The transformative billboard featured the hosts of the new show, Christine Lampard and Matt Richardson, who morphed into ghostly Victorian characters after dark. As the sun set, the unique billboard saw Lampard and Richardson’s faces become utterly unrecognisable as they were sucked back in time and possessed by Victorian ghost versions of themselves. Christine Lampard became a ‘black-eyed’ ghost in an image based on a real Victorian portrait as she sat inside the Victorian-built Mansion.  A haunting sound shower accompanied the billboard and shoppers took to social media to comment on the arresting creative.

Over 800 national sites and 48 sheet sites promote the launch with the line "10 celebrities will enter. Only one will survive” to build intrigue.

Another 150 digital sites will showcase all the famous faces in the Mansion – each day these will be whittled down as stars are voted out of the show. The digital sites include Waterloo Motion, Liverpool Media Wall and Birmingham Media Eyes. After the first episode airs on Wednesday 21st February dynamic creative will reveal who the public has voted to eliminate, and is left in the running, to battle it out for the celebrity ghost hunter crown.  Alongside video footage is the call to action to tune in live every evening at 9pm and tweet using the show’s hashtag #Celebhaunted. This third phase of the nationwide campaign will run on 950 screens across rail, roadside and retail environments from 21 February through to 25 February.

Zoe Clapp, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at UKTV said: “To celebrate the entertaining new series of Celebrity Haunted Mansion, we wanted to create a thrill-filled campaign that would test the nation’s mettle and get people talking. Our transforming billboard reproduces the shock factor at the heart of Celebrity Haunted Mansion in a way that’s scary and entertaining - just like the show.”

All visuals for the campaign have been created by the broadcaster’s award-winning in house creative shop, UKTV Creative.

Celebrity Haunted Mansion will see two paranormal experts leading a team of ten celebrities into a deserted gothic mansion where they will face a variety of supernatural challenges. Each night, the celebrities, which includes Katie Price, Jorgie Porter and Simon Gregson, will face challenges that truly test their mettle. Their tolerance for the supernatural will be pushed to the limit before the show ends with a live ghost hunt.

Two contestants will be eliminated each night before one brave celeb will go on to be crowned ‘Champion Celebrity Ghost Hunter’.

The first episode will be simulcast on Really, UKTV's free-to-air channel, so loyal paranormal fans can get a slice of the action.

Matt Richardson will host spin-off show High Spirits at 7pm on W nightly giving viewers a chance to catch-up action from the night before.

Celebrity Haunted Mansion will air on for five nights from Wednesday 21st February at 9pm on W, with the first night also live on Really.

The after-dark transforming billboard was created by UKTV Creative with media planning and buying by Rocket and Talon. The digital OOH campaign was conceived by UKTV Creative, produced by Grand Visual, with media planning and buying by Rocket and Talon. The dynamic campaign is managed and distributed by QDOT via the OpenLoop platform and runs across multiple digital OOH media networks. The activity supports linear and static OOH and is part of a broader multichannel drive announcing the show’s arrival on W for five nights from Wednesday 21st February at 9pm.