UKTV's Alibi hid a secret message in anamorphic type across UK cities

Take Alibi's new brand proposition out of the idents and into the real world, engaging 'curiously-minded' crime drama fans in key British cities.

Developed by Havas Entertainment with Talon Creative Solutions, Ambient Media and UKTV Creative, the modular 2.4m-tall installation toured key UK cities on weekends through March 2022. Members of the public explored the build, worked screens and information boards, and hunted for a hidden secret message, with Alibi brand ambassadors on hand; TV, VOD and social activity kept the channel in the spotlight all month.

Toured UK cities through March 2022 as the real-world centrepiece of a month-long push across OOH, TV, VOD and social for the 'More than meets the eye' proposition.

In March 2022, broadcaster UKTV took crime channel Alibi's new 'More than meets the eye' proposition onto the streets with a nationwide out-of-home and brand experience campaign across key British cities, developed by Havas Entertainment in collaboration with Talon Creative Solutions, Ambient Media and UKTV Creative.

The centrepiece was a 2.4-metre-tall pop-up installation, touring cities on weekends through March, that put the investigative skills of would-be sleuths to the test. Members of the public explored the modular crime-scene build, where screens and information boards supported the hunt to uncover a secret message, and Alibi brand ambassadors worked the crowds.

UKTV's head of design Peter Allinson said the team developed the installation around the optical illusion of anamorphic type, which can only be seen and deciphered from a certain point and with a certain perspective — the form enacting the proposition that on Alibi there is always more going on than meets the eye. Havas Entertainment client partner Alex Sherr said the aim was to blur the lines between art, experiential and outdoor, with supporting TV, VOD and social keeping the spotlight on Alibi through the month.

Anamorphic type makes the audience work for the message, which is exactly the behaviour a crime channel wants to trigger.

The 45-plus crime drama audience was engaged in the real world rather than through yet another trailer.

A touring weekend build turned a media buy into a public event people could stumble into and talk about.

The illusion's single correct viewpoint dramatised the channel proposition without a single line of explanation.

When your proposition is 'more than meets the eye', don't say it — build something that literally cannot be read without changing perspective.

The installation completed its weekend city tour through March 2022, supported through the month by TV, VOD and social activity around the new brand proposition.