The Series 1 storyline had been focused on “synths”, synthetic humans designed to serve humans. The key concept of the second series was that the synths were now malfunctioning and gaining consciousness.

We needed to take this storyline and create an idea that would be clever, provocative and would attract just as much interest as the Series 1 idea.

Our campaign idea involved reintroducing consumers to the fictional brand from the show Persona Synthetics. This time Persona Synthetics were launching a product recall campaign to alert customers that their synths may be malfunctioning.

It was the perfect campaign idea to bring the narrative of Series 2 to life, without giving it away, and continue the successful narrative from Series 1, picking up where we’d left off with our super fans.

First we needed to alert people of the safety message using high reach announcement media: we launched our product recall announcements across national press, on Channel 4’s TV network and across the Persona Synthetic branded social pages. All of these touchpoints directed viewers to our product recall hub.

In a European entertainment first, we programmed an AI-powered Facebook Messenger chat bot to give viewers the chance to interact in real time with a Synthetic Human customer care advisor.

Over 700 lines of dialogue were scripted by the writers of the show at Kudos to make the experience as authentic to the show as possible.

We partnered with eBay to launch a product recall page, complete with disgruntled online synth reviews.

• The Facebook Messenger Bot delivered an astounding 5.1m interactions with a large uplift in tracked ad recall

• Personasynthetics.com had over 500k visits within the first 2 weeks

• Plus, there was a huge volume of earned media - #Humans trended on Twitter on the day of launch and there were 46,000+ tweets carrying our hashtag in the first 30 days of the campaign

• Our Snapchat filter drove a massive 4.2m impressions and 8.5million plays

This culminated in the second series having the highest awareness of any drama since 2008 and being the best performing original returning drama since 2011 – bringing the audience closer to the world of Humans than ever before.

To launch the second series of Humans, Channel 4’s highest rating UK originated drama launch of all time, we created an almighty product recall campaign.

From an Artificial Intelligence powered Facebook Messenger chat bot that allowed viewers to interact in real-time with a customer care advisor to a product recall safety page on eBay complete with reviews from disgruntled customers, we acted in every way like a real brand.

This concept immediately redirected our media behaviour from that of a TV show launch: we needed to behave like a brand doing a product recall campaign by using all of the channels they would normally use which demanded an integrated approach.

The product recall strategy delivered integration across publishers and platforms, interlinking multiple touchpoints to maximise reach and engagement. Our online partnerships with Facebook Messenger, eBay and New Scientist added a playful credibility towards the product recall concept. Our product recall press ads and fleet of recall lorries extended reach and added curiosity to the campaign.

Humans Series 1 was Channel 4’s highest rating UK originated drama launch of all time. The marketing campaign brought Persona Synthetics, the fictional brand from the show, into the real world, creating a huge amount of buzz and helping drive 6.1 million viewers to the first episode. It was an almighty launch.

To launch the second series, we needed to create a campaign that once more delivered significant viewing figures to ensure Humans became an established drama.

Not only did we need to retain viewers, we needed to bring in new audiences to the show whilst fighting off our competitors.

Landing on an idea that would once again deliver on the Channel 4 remit through the campaign itself, not just through the show was our ultimate ambition. Sparking public debate on contemporary issues and innovation were key objectives in order to deliver this.