The range of new Philips light bulbs allows people to dramatically transform and personalise their homes, however most can’t visualise the impact lighting can have on the look and feel of a room. So rather than creating boring content about how to improve the lighting in homes, we set out to prove the right light can transform the ambiance and mood of ANY home, even the most haunted. We set about designing a light makeover with a difference. We used lighting to ‘unhaunt’ an actual haunted house. Before the renovation, a paranormal expert visited the site and confirmed it was one of the most actively haunted sites in the country. The Philips Unhaunting was pitched to media and journalists in the lead-up to Halloween. Highly targeted films ran on social media to spark conversation about lighting.

Launching on Halloween, we challenged brave media to come and see the transformation for themselves – knowing they would be entering ‘The Demon Room’ at their own risk. They all survived. And some even said they’d like to spend the night as it looked beautiful and had a great atmosphere. To continue the conversation, we invited media and influencers to do their own home #lightover and see for themselves the impact of lighting on their mood. The couple were genuinely shocked when the truth was revealed. They couldn’t believe the difference Philips Hue and light can have on a space and our mood. Their stunned faces and words told Australia about the benefits of great light in the home better than anything that could be scripted.

Proving the right light can transform the ambiance and mood of any home, even a haunted one:

• Sales increase of 27%

• 521,835 video views

• The video click rate (VCR) was over 20% more than the average benchmark

• Over 300 pieces of coverage with a reach of over 48m, all showing the impact of lighting on the home

• Nearly eight minutes of TV coverage, including Sunrise, Today Show and The Project

• Nearly 150K views of the video

We needed to convince Australians to try a new type of light bulb – the Philips HUE. A new connected lighting system that can alter the mood of a room at the touch of an app. It’s difficult to convey the feeling of warm lighting through traditional media alone, so we created a unique environment to demonstrate the power of lighting. We created the Philips Unhaunting. A light makeover with a difference. An experiment to turn a reputed haunted house into a media moment to talk about light bulbs, resulting in a 27% increase in sales and mass TV coverage.

Previous sales data showed that most consumers buy new lighting when their old bulbs expire or if they are renovating property. We planned media buys around the cultural moment of Halloween and targeted the Unhaunting at consumers most likely to renovate their property. First we inspected the house with a paranormal investigator to confirm the house was as haunted as possible. It was. Next we renovated the house showing how the products work with a lighting designer, all captured as content. Finally we invited a real unsuspecting couple to stay the night and captured the experiment on camera. They were none the wiser they were spending the night in what paranormal experts had referred to the night before as ‘The Demon Room’. All became content which we could push out through social media and targeted facebook video ads.

Our client, Philips Lighting briefed us to launch the latest iteration in the brand’s connected LED lighting range called Hue. The challenge: Australian consumers don’t care much about light bulbs. We needed to educate consumers that the right light can make a difference to the mood of your home and improve sleep and concentration levels. We were given the challenge of Increasing sales of Philips Lighting by 10% in a market where no one cared or knew about them. All without relying on traditional media.