ABC’s "Not Dead Yet" follows Nell Serrano (Gina Rodriguez), a broke and newly single self-described disaster, working to restart the life and career she left behind 10 years ago. When she lands the only job she can find – writing obituaries, Nell starts getting life advice from an unlikely source.
To draw attention to the new supernatural comedy series and drive tune-in, ABC aimed to create an organic piece of social content that felt more “editorial” than “ad.”
While promoting “Not Dead Yet” on social media, ABC was faced with a unique challenge. TikTok seemingly shadowbans content that uses words like "dead" and "kill.” A common trend among users is to substitute the word “unalive,” and so ABC ran with that concept to create “5 Lessons from the Unalive.” Made specifically for TikTok, this listicle-style piece shares the five best lessons that Nell has learned from the “unalive.”
“5 Lessons from the Unalive” went live in support of week 2. It was later repurposed without licensed music and added in the TikTok-native voice-over as an organic post as well.
“5 Lessons from the Unalive” helped introduce the show and its unique concept to viewers in a compelling and platform-native way.
Content like this contributed to largely positive social conversation and social sentiment, where ABC saw very positive early follower growth. The most successful platform for the “Not Dead Yet” promotion has been TikTok where – less than two months after the premiere – ABC had amassed 14.3M video views and almost 600K likes.
