When researching audience viewing behavior and preferences, we asked drama fans for their 3 top sub-genres. Thrillers came out top. The highest score of 40% was for 35-54s, followed by 35% for 55+.

We also knew that these drama audiences are particularly interested in a storyline that is emotionally engaging with twists and turns, where perspective challenges the truth. Some of the most commonly watched titles included Marcella, Westworld and The Missing, and most viewing is done live, closely followed by players on the TV set and SVOD services.

Based on these audience insights, we knew we had an opportunity to focus our creative idea on the protagonist’s different sides of the story, showcasing elements of both sides alongside the line ‘Two sides. One Truth’. We also needed to utilize all media channels to drive an appointment to view the programme live, and catch up throughout the campaign.

To launch our campaign, we began with a teaser trailer that focused on our protagonists and their potential to be lying. This was promoted across AV and digital channels, and adapted for Facebook’s brand new video header format.

We then wanted our viewers to explore the two stories in depth. The launch trailer used layered audio of his and her sides of the story, which was cleverly adapted for social so that viewers could hear his story in the left headphone and her story in the right. Additionally, we targeted people with a bespoke Facebook canvas, where they could further explore the stories.

In OOH and press we needed to communicate the message in a clear, simple and memorable way. We created an iconic key visual to flex across all formats, featuring our two protagonists at the outer edges of the creative to represent their two sides of the story.

The Liar social trailer reached 10 million viewers. Our canvas ad alone reached 2.1 million people, with a total aggregated time spent on the format coming to 3061 hours. The OOH campaign also delivered a huge 54.2m impacts.

Anticipation and sentiment in the lead up to the campaign was extremely positive, with a notable spike in online mentions during the series. The series launched with a staggering 5.7 million viewers and a 26% share, beating BBC One’s Rellik launch by over 2 million viewers.