Foxtel faces tough competition in Australia's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market, with category spend increasing 28% YoY.

Although it's a premium entertainment provider, Foxtel's subscriber growth has been under increasing pressure recent years due to increasing competition, particularly from Netflix, Apple TV+, and many more, which have entered the Australian market. And most SVOD players focus their marketing on TV and Video, and it’s difficult to differentiate in key OOH environments.

However, Australians favour locally produced shows, giving Foxtel an advantage. But, its last major original launch was back in 2021, with the final season of hit Wentworth.

So, the stakes were high to stand out to promote Foxtel’s new locally produced crime-drama, The Twelve, as the lack of a pre-built audience was a significant marketing challenge in a crowded market.

Crime content is top tier in Australia, with Casefile being number one podcast and Criminal Minds the most streamed, acquired show on Netflix. Watching TV or listening to content is a safe way to explore our innate fears and our curiosity for the worlds in which they occur through a view of society and humanity that we both understand but can’t comprehend acting on.

The Twelve was about a jury who have power over someone’s life, but all harbour their own secrets. We needed to harness this dark side, with an idea that would make it unmissable and unmatched.

We create a live, immersive 3-hour radio show, recreating the dynamic of a jury.

That’s right, radio!

Australians listen to commercial radio for nearly 13 hours weekly, with 4 out of 5 tuning in to AM/FM/DAB+ radio over-the-air, online or via catch-up podcasts.

We had three pillars to support the core idea and maintain buzz during the show's release:

• Connect to the content: Build reach in environments that convey The Twelve's depth.

• Experience the deliberation: Generate interest, allow audiences to explore The Twelve.

• Remind audiences to tune in: Support weekly drops and encourage end-of-season bingeing.

Through mirroring the show, and giving people insight into real jury, we brought to life the nature of the show and reiterated Aussie’s love for crime content.

We gave our jury $20,000 on the table. The catch? They had to unanimously decide who should take it all. If at end of the three-hour trial the12 jurors couldn’t unanimously decide, the first lucky caller takes it all.

Alliances would form and healthy speculation about who was lying and whose excuse was most deserving of the cash.

Interviews with the TV show cast kicked off our radio partnership and drummed up excitement for the first episode, after which 12 jurors were selected for our unique live juror radio integration.

The launch was supported by an extensive radio plan as well as OOH, video, display and social, heroing the trailer and the recognizable Australian cast. Our OOH executions used lenticular technology to create intrigue, with bars appearing/disappearing in front of the jurors' faces.

To maintain interest in The Twelve’s weekly drops we sponsored a popular true crime podcast where the host teased upcoming episodes and encouraged listeners to text in their verdicts.

To encourage ongoing speculation and viewer engagement, we set up a Twitter voting campaign.

For the finale and verdict reveal, we used talent interviews and live Twitter poll results, pushing them into OOH via an API feed for broadcast scale and increased voting.

Ultimately, the task of jury duty proved too difficult in such a short time frame and no unanimous decision was met. Meaning a lucky caller quick dialled their way into $20,000 at the end of the segment, changing the single mum of 5’s life in an instant.

The Twelve ranks as Foxtel’s #1 new local production launch since 2018.

As the entire radio show was dedicated to the tactic, all content across the day was talking about this and The Twelve. The total show length was 73 minutes (once all the ads/news/songs etc. get removed) providing roughly 60% more content than a normal show and a total added value of $843,150.

The radio show episode for the one-day takeover has had 5,228 podcast downloads - 93% higher than average.