Scream TV picked up the hit U.S. show Supernatural and needed to get people so excited that it would help contribute to their aggressive goal of increasing annual subscriptions by 45%. Telling people about this exciting new show wasn’t enough. In order to truly understand how thrilling it was, we needed to create the experience of Supernatural.

To do this, a completely new communication medium was required: the inside of people’s heads. For the first time in advertising history, an Ultrasonic Sound Cannon was used. The Sound Canon uses special frequencies that can directly target someone out of a crowd so only that person can hear anything. If you’re in the beam you hear it, if you aren’t you won’t. Spooky voices, rattling chains and ghastly cries were put directly into unsuspecting people’s heads literally freezing them in their tracks -- until the ruse was exposed. The fright was immediately paid off with guerilla signage and an accompanying street team and the whole thing was filmed.

For a moment people were freaked out. Then excited. Immediately, there was a 30% subscription increase, which help contributed to Scream TV’s annual goal of 45%. People had never experienced a freaked out moment like this and they were buzzing about it. There was ongoing dialogue on video sharing sites, blogs, and fan sites and you can bet it was the exciting topic of chat around the water cooler at work the next day. The Canadian press was all over the promotional spook of Supernatural. But best of all, thousands of people across Toronto got to directly experience a Supernatural thrill before they even tuned into the show.

It’s one thing to be told about a thrilling experience but there’s nothing like personally experiencing it yourself. Torontonians needed to feel, first hand, the memorable thrill of fear and intrigue that Scream TV is known for and needed to experience the suspenseful and shocking content of their new show Supernatural.