THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Special Project

Special Project
From the 17th Annual Shorty Awards

Smile 2 Curses Twitch

Gold Honor in Other Platform Partnership

Objectives

For Smile 2, our goal was to reinvent digital horror marketing by transforming Twitch into an immersive, influencer-led storytelling platform. Instead of traditional ads or influencer endorsements, we sought to turn streamers into unwitting protagonists in a real-time horror experience - leveraging their authentic reactions to drive organic engagement.

Recognizing that Gen Z and Millennial horror fans favour interactive entertainment over passive advertising - we strategically embedded Smile 2’s core horror motif (a sinister, contagious curse) into Twitch’s live Raid mechanic; allowing influencers to “infect” one another - creating a chilling daisy-chain effect.

Key Goals:

This was influencer-fuelled horror storytelling at its most ambitious; setting a new standard for digital film promotion.

Strategy and Execution

To make Smile 2 a Twitch-first horror experience; we crafted a live, evolving nightmare - adapted to each influencer’s unique stream.

A New Kind of Interactive Horror

Instead of hiring influencers to promote the film through pre-scripted content, we turned streamers into Horror victims - activating participants who were trapped in a terrifying, real-time narrative.

  1. Bespoke “Terror Toolkit” for Streamers
    • Each influencer received a custom horror admin panel for producers to control at random moment, which included VFX glitches, sound cues, and movie footage jump scare overlays 
    • An admin-controlled dashboard allowed real-time activation of jump scares, ensuring unpredictability
  2. Twitch Raids as a Horror Mechanic
    • When a "cursed" streamer ended their broadcast, they “Raided” another influencer, passing the “Smile curse” live on air. This created an organic, must-watch event, as fans followed the curse across multiple Twitch channels, eager to see what happened next!
  3. Integrated Gameplay Elements
    • Streamers played as Call of Duty Smile 2-branded skins and weapon -embedding the film into real-time gameplay

Challenges & Solutions

This wasn’t just a sponsored stream or ad - this was a true real-time horror event, where influencers became both the audience and the victims! 

Execution

The live stunt was executed in three distinct phases:

We also included interactive call-to-actions where scannable QR code banners appeared during streams, leading viewers to a geo-located ticketing platform for Smile 2 showtimes, without disrupting the immersion.

Results

The Smile 2 Twitch Terror Raid set a new benchmark for influencer-driven horror marketing, breaking records for engagement, and redefining how film campaigns can live in the streaming world.

Eerie Engagement & Reach:

Organic Influencer Buy-In:

Real-World Impact:

The stunt helped to rewrote the Horror playbook showing how movie studios can authentically engage audiences through interactive storytelling across multiple platforms. 

Media

Video for Smile 2 Curses Twitch

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Powster, Paramount Pictures

Entry Credits