Imagine a story so frightening, it makes you afraid to open your eyes and afraid to close them.

This was the premise “Possession Begins,” an interactive trailer controlled by the user’s eyes.

When people close their eyes, they’re immersed in the virtual audio story of their possession by a terrifying demon. If they open their eyes to escape his grasp, they see horrifying possession imagery, their mind altered by his dark power.

There is nowhere to hide.

We believe this idea and its execution have the power to change how the industry creatively approaches trailers for television and the movies, and for audiences to look forward to the powerful experiences they can provide.

We asked fans to don headphones and enable their webcam. The moment they closed their eyes, our eye-tracking technology triggered a binaurally-recorded virtual audio story.

Outcast’s demon whispered in their ears. They heard the visceral sounds of bones cracking, and flesh tearing. We created this hyper-realistic soundscape so that everyone feels like they’re trapped with the evil presence.

And as fans opened their eyes to get away from the demon, our tech would catch it, and they’d see horrifying visions that mirrored moments from their possession—intense montages created from show footage.

By the end, there was no doubt Outcast’s new breed of evil burrowed deep.

To ensure scale, we adapted and optimized for mobile, where a simple, intuitive long-press allowed fans-on-the-go to shift seamlessly between the audio story and the dark visions. The experience was embeddable on partner sites.

Timeline: Six Weeks

“Possession Begins” innovative brand of horror helped propel Outcast to become Cinemax’s most watched premiere ever, with 4 million views across streaming and broadcast.

From industry to fan culture to the technorati, the impact was clear, as the campaign generated over 68 million original impressions in less than a month.

Here’s what the press had to say:

”...Rethinks the way ads and trailers are displayed today.” -PSFK

“...If you're prone to screaming during scary movies, maybe don't test this out at the office.” -ADWEEK

“...The twist here is that the trailer is actually interactive, using, get this, your own eyes to control the video.” - BLOODY DISGUSTING

“...Forces you to keep your eyes closed in order to progress, and makes sure everyone that watches it gets into the right frame of mind to do so.”- ENGADGET

“Possession Begins” re-imagines what’s possible in television and movie trailers. We’ve taken a conventionally passive format and made the viewer a main character—the victim of a demonic possession. The audience has a chance to be part of the story and experience Outcast’s terror firsthand. There is enormous potential for traditionally passive formats like trailers and ads to build stronger relationships with audiences through techniques and stories that create immersion, as demonstrated in this piece.

Our strategy was to help Cinemax build credibility in the horror genre through an unforgettable, terrifying and shareable experience. Our creative solution would need to amaze even the most jaded horror fans, who are accustom to frightening and shocking material. The work would need to be emotionally and viscerally impactful.

We’re often impressed by virtual reality’s ability to create an intense sense of vulnerability in users. We wanted to create that same feeling, but without needing VR technology, which is much less scalable than what we’re able to achieve when designing for web and mobile.

Through eye-tracking software and binaurally-recorded audio, we were able to deliver that effect through an interactive trailer, expanding what audiences (and industry) thought a trailer can be and creating a sense of intense fear and claustrophobia as they were forced to enter the darkness.

Our client, Cinemax, needed to earn credibility in the horror genre leading up the premiere of their new show, Outcast, from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman.

We were enlisted to create an experience to introduce its possession theme and generate buzz, leading to increased fan excitement and confidence.

Smartly, Cinemax didn’t want to give away too much frightening footage prior to premiere. Regardless, we knew we needed to deliver a scare-factor worthy of Robert Kirkman’s reputation.

To overcome this challenge we considered the tradition of great horror films, like Jaws and Rosemary’s Baby, where what’s not shown can be even more powerful than what the audience sees. From this insight, we worked to exploit the most powerful effects engine of all: our imagination.