Coming off the success of the Season 1 revival in 2020, this new campaign aimed to keep that momentum with fans and recruit news ones into Season 2, “Are You Afraid of the Dark: Curse of the Shadows.”
Given the scary subject matter, we aimed to connect with kids 9-14 that seek quality adventure programming off linear.
In order to break through with this target, our core objective was to create a digital-first content activation that would deliver on:
Converting S1 fans into superfans building fandom around the franchise
Driving tune-in for the season and bringing in new audiences to the network
Driving consumption and time spent with Are You Afraid of the Dark (AYAOTD) and Nickelodeon brands
Capitalizing on the rich franchise and storytelling, our strategy was to leverage The Midnight Society (TMS), the backbone of the series, to bring fans along for the mystery of the new season.
Our concept recruited influencers to start their own chapter of TMS and bring their followers along while they learn and engage with the new season of AYAOTD in a multi-phased rollout from pre-premiere through the entire 6-episode season.
Our influencers were selected based not just on followers and personality, but also those we knew produced popular “scary” content who would be excited to be a part of the activation.
Our fearless chapter leaders were:
Lizzy Capri (Primary Channel YT 6.07 MM)
Joey Graceffa Primary Channel YT 9.44MM)
The Skorys (Primary Channel YT 1.78MM)
Mia Finney (Primary Channel YT 175K)
In the true spirit of AYAOTD, our campaign kicked off with the influencers asking their fans to help them write a scary story to submit for the approval of TMS. Through a series of IG poll stories, followers help build a custom story that they revealed during their “initiation,” which officially inducted them into The Midnight Society.
Each influencer was sent a hand-crafted wooden box that revealed a set of clues to help them solve the mystery of the season, “what happened to Connor” and the themes of shadows and light. This box was FAR from ordinary. Stamped with the official “Are You Afraid of the Dark” logo, it revealed a bright light when opened that would strangely flicker out. The mysterious box included everything from their own campfire (light), magic dust, magic spells, newspaper clippings, a flashlight, and more clues and items hinting at the current season. After each episode, our ambassadors would reveal the meaning behind each item to help solve the onscreen mystery, eventually finding the hidden key to turn the box light back on and defeat “The Shadowman.”
Our four influencers posted 104 custom content pieces over the course of the campaign, garnering 11.9MM impressions, over delivering on our goal by 96%. Fans were intrigued with nearly 320K engagements across all channels.
Lizzy and Joey were our top performing talent seeing the highest reach and engagement across YouTube and Instagram. Lizzy’s unboxing video was the top performing content piece of the campaign with over 690K impressions. All our influencers delivered on compelling story telling across the duration of the activation allowing us to recruit new viewers all season long.
From a linear viewership perspective, the show performed well seeing L3 lifts growing week over week.
Are You Afraid Of The Dark: Curse Of the Shadows was the #1 social Children’s and Family show for 4 out of the 6 premieres and currently ranks the #4 live action series on cable with Kids 6-11 year to date.