BLACK MIRROR OR REALITY?
During our brief stint at Martin Agency London (RIP) we were lucky enough to launch the new series of Black Mirror for Netflix. With big tech developing all kinds of spooky sorcery, some of the disturbing and dystopian themes in Black Mirror didn’t seem too far from reality in the heady days of 2018. So we leaned into some of those real life examples of terrifying tech and put them alongside storylines from episodes of the new series and posed the question, “Black Mirror or Reality?”
We designed our unsettling and unbranded campaign to look some kind of guerilla movement (ohhhh edgy) and the focus was around Old Street Station aka “Silicone roundabout” - where 75,000 people pass by each day. After building intrigue in the tech-wanker community for a few days we began to reveal who was behind it, before launching a pop-up in Old Street station that gave out webcam covers, with nearby posters declaring “millions secretly watched through their webcams”
Half the posters displayed lines alluding to Black Mirror episodes, whilst the other half referenced real stories about unnerving technological advancements, blurring reality with Black Mirror episodes to unnerve the viewer. Side by side, it is difficult to tell which is fact and which is fiction.
Alongside this activity, a retail shop window display appeared to show hundreds of peoples' webcams being live streamed without their knowledge. A poster next to the display read “Millions secretly watched through their webcams”.
After provoking interest and intrigue for a few days, we then revealed who was behind it, by handing out thousands of Black Mirror webcam covers to commuters.
The posters also appeared in various flyposting sites across the UK.
