Best Audience Integration
Who Killed Alejandro Valdez?
A virtual premiere and first-of-its-kind, interactive murder mystery—set within the gritty world of TNT’s The Alienist: Angel of Darkness.
New York City, 1897. Thirteen characters, seven iconic locations and one burning question on everyone’s lips…Who Killed Alejandro Valdez?
Armed with a handful of clues, guests to the exclusive virtual premiere of The Alienst — TNT’s psychological thriller set amidst the vast wealth, extreme poverty and technological innovation of turn of the century New York—were hurtled back in time, transformed into New York Times journalists investigating a grisly murder.
With 13 performers streaming live from remote studio locations—an escape artist, a shabari opera singer, a circus duo and more—each integrated into a thrilling storyline as characters interacted directly with the guests to help solve clues. For example, in one of the virtual rooms was hosted by an escape artist, trapped in a box slowly filling with water — the only way for him to escape was for the guests to solve puzzles through the chat.
This first-of-its-kind remote immersive production was produced twice. Once for press, influencers, talent, and industry executives and a few days later, a large-scale consumer activation open to fans of The Alienist all over the world. We democratized the idea of a ‘premiere’ by performing live not only for VIP’s, but also for free, for a general audience.
To great results in press, engagement and retention, we opened the door for anyone to inhabit the world of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness.
The experieNce
What made the virtual event noteworthy — aside from the thoughtful thematic and aesthetic connection to the series — was the unique narrative of live performances, audience integration and how the evening seamlessly linked the digital and the physical.
Each of the performances integrated into a thrilling storyline as characters interacted directly with the guests to help solve clues. For example, in one of the virtual rooms was hosted by an escape artist, trapped in a box slowly filling with water — the only way for him to escape was for the guests to solve puzzles through the chat.
Ahead of the event, guests discovered a mysterious package on their doorstep.
Inside: All the essentials for a crack reporter. An array of mysterious, meticulously crafted clues and investigative tools like a quill pen, magnifying glass, and compass. As well as a curated selection of snacks paired with signature drinks crafted by premiere cocktail lounge Death & Co. Each libation was inspired by the main characters in the show and used Old Forester 1897 — a featured partnership. We also produced a content series with head mixologist Shannon Tebay, highlighting the cocktails along with a happy hour tutorial with The Alienist cast members.
interactivity & user interface
Presented on our proprietary Live Screen Technology platform, the level of control, interactivity and user interface design afforded to the events was unparalleled. Each guest could participate in a live, hands-on way that far exceeded the traditional reach of a screen.
The UI in combination with our narrative event structure encouraged an extraordinarily high retention rate. Participants could interact directly with the performers via the chat feature and new content was unlocked throughout the event as they solved the mystery.
THE USER EXPERIENCE
The Results
To great results in press, engagement and retention, we opened the door for anyone to inhabit the world of The Alienist: Angel of Darkness. Importantly, we democratized the idea of a ‘premiere’ by performing live not only for VIP’s, but also for free, for a consumer audience.
Our goals for the event were to have a high RSVP and retention rate, which we outlined as an over 80% retention rate and above 1,000 RSVPs. We were also targeting for over 20 million social impressions and an engaged, reactive audience.
With the premiere event, we exceeded our expectations with an 84% retention rate and 1,577 RSVPs. Our audience was highly engaged with participants sending 27 chat messages a minute over the course of the 156 minute event.
During the consumer event, we outdid ourselves again with a 91% retention rate and 2,253 RSVPs. Engagement skyrocketed as the number of chat messages sent per minute almost quadrupled with about 107 chat messages sent per minute over the course of the 96 minute event.
14,525
Chat messages sent
1,892
Clues Downloaded
AR Photobooth
To encourage even broader social reach while providing a fun, unique experience for the target audience, we created an AR photobooth that was used by 871 people. As a result, 1,742 photos were created with more than 9.2 million social impressions generated from those photos alone.
Premiere Event Influencer Reach
28,500,000+
5,700,000+
2,300,000+
The more engaged users were with the content created through our specialized platform, the more organic and pervasive the social reach was for the event overall, far exceeding our client’s expectations.
Influencers we successfully engaged as our target audience included fashion, entertainment and mixology influencers such as Angela Bassett and husband Courtney B. Vance, Doug Benson, Wayne Brady, Tom Cavanagh, Dexter Darden, David Dastmalchian, Daveed Diggs, Bradley Everett Young, Shiloh Fernandez, Colin Ford, Ashley Graham, Penn Jillette, Atandwa Kani, Peyton Kennedy, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Heather Matarazzo, Tristin Mays, Paola Nunez, Steven Ogg, Adina Porter, Mery Racauchi, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Alysia Reiner, Angelica Ross, Hannah Simone, Kia Stevens, Alisha Taneja, George Takei, Rumer Willis, Justin Willman, Nikki M. James, Bellamy Young and more.
Cast members of The Alienist also attended the virtual premiere including Douglas Smith, Matthew Shear, Robert Ray Wisdom, Ted Levine, Melanie Field, and Rosy McEwen. Other key cast members, Daniel Brühl, Dakota Fanning, and Luke Evans not only attended the VIP event, but also introduced the screening virtually.
Press
TNT TAKES VIRTUAL TRIP TO GILDED AGE FOR “THE ALIENIST”
by Paige Abiniak, July 27, 2020
“So on the night of the show’s actual premiere, Sunday, July 19, TNT reran the murder mystery game for consumers.“If you open the virtual space, that [allows] more consumers to partake,” said Tabuas. ‘COVID has been a hurdle but it’s also created an opportunity. We’ve gotten so much better about what can be done digitally and people are more open to that now.’”
Steal-Worthy Ideas From TNT's Virtual Murder Mystery Party
by Claire Hoffman, August 4, 2020
“In addition to the official premiere party, TNT and [Agency] opened the experience to a select group of consumers on July 19, the day of the show’s premiere. ‘During the quarantine, we realized we had an opportunity to bring a traditionally private and closed experience to our consumers,’ said Tabuas. ‘Through the use of our unique virtual platform, we were able to give our fans a peek into what has usually been accessible to Hollywood insiders.’”
THE ALIENIST: ANGEL OF DARKNESS HOLDS VIRTUAL PREMIERE
July 20, 2020
"[Agency] has evolved the virtual event experience on their dedicated platform by creating a narrative-driven, 60 minute, three-act, interactive theatrical murder mystery experience set in the world of The Alienist in Gilded-Age New York.”
