AvatarLabs and A&E won a GOLD 2010 Summit Creative Award in the Social Media category for the PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE, a Facebook Connect-powered original video experience.

A&E was looking for an innovative way to promote the fourth season of its successful show, Paranormal State that leveraged the show’s large Facebook fan base. AvatarLabs wanted to push the Facebook Connect experience beyond what had been done before. Working closely with A&E, we developed a concept and storyline that extended the show's content and format, and placed the viewer in the middle of the action. A true full-service marketing agency, AvatarLabs’ content production team scripted, storyboarded, shot and produced a short film on location.  In post, the footage was composed into a slick video experience that mirrored the look of the show, with quick cuts, special effects, 400 custom voice over names, and an intense soundtrack.

During the two-minute video, the viewer is “walked” through various rooms of the home with the Paranormal State team where the disturbance has been reported.  They spot their photos on the mantle, see their name and interests on a wall, hear a voice call out their name, and witness other eerie connections to the home.  After the height of the experience, the viewer is literally dragged out of the house, and the tagline for the new series appears, “Believe Yet?”

The experience was enjoyed by 65,000+ of users who spent ~3 minutes with the experience. The piece received universally favorable reviews from Facebook fans, generating a 4.4 out of 5 star rating from satisfied visitors, as well as hundreds of comments from fans including: "OMG!", "How did they do that?”, “That was fricking awesome!”, “I loved it… I wasn’t expecting that at all!”, “This was great, adrenalin rush!!!”. “This was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

The experience lives on, waiting to haunt the next viewer. Check it out here.

AvatarLabs received four nominations for The Hollywood Reporter's 39th annual Key Art Awards.  A big thank you to the judges for taking the time to view and vote, and a bigger thank you to our incredible clients at Sony, Paramount, Warner Brothers HE, and Fox HE for the opportunity to partner with them on these campaigns.  Finally, kudos to the AvatarLabs team for their talent - and hard work!




Theatrical New Media -- Special Recognition -- Most Buzzworthy
Zombieland: Zombify Yourself, created by AvatarLabs and Sony Pictures
Theatrical New Media -- Best Online Banner Advertising
Star Trek: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Paramount Pictures
Home Entertainment New Media -- Best Online Banner Advertising
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Fox Home Entertainment
Watchmen: Online Banner Campaign, created by AvatarLabs and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

For more, including a full list of nominations, read the article at hollywoodreporter.com here.  The winners will be announced at the show at the Vibiana downtown Friday, June 11.  Hope to see you there!