RESIDENT ALIEN
SEASON 3 • SYFY
Harry Vanderspeigle (Alan Tudyk) is an alien, disguised as a human, doing his best to blend in with the citizens of a small Colorado town. His original mission was to destroy our planet, but now he may be the only one who can save it; and although he’s still fine-tuning his interpersonal skills, it’s clear that the more time Harry spends on Earth, the more human he becomes on an emotional level.
Our creative strategy for Season 3 was guided by three key learnings…
Harry (and Alan Tudyk’s performance) was the heart of the show.
Fans wanted to see more aliens and sci-fi elements.
The show was beloved not just for its humor, but for its careful balance of humor and heart.
After two seasons of treating Resident Alien as a pure comedy, our season three campaign made a significant shift, positioning the show as a high-stakes sci-fi drama and allowing its genre-blending elements (humor) to shine through more organically.
Across the campaign, we made an effort to inject more sci-fi wherever possible. We highlighted sci-fi royalty Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Star Wars: Rogue One) and Linda Hamilton (Terminator, Beauty and the Beast) in our hero trailer, on-air promos, social campaign, and key art. Our assets featured more VFX than ever before. From a design perspective, our updated key art and promo packaging shifted significantly from the colorful and playful palette of seasons past to the moodier, alien-centric vibe displayed here.
The end result was a refreshing campaign that encouraged viewers to take a look at Resident Alien through a new lens, regardless of their prior affiliation with the series. I’m incredibly proud of the work my team and I accomplished, a (very) small sample of which is shown here.
While linear ratings on SYFY remained relatively constant (a feat in itself in today’s cable landscape), streaming numbers on Peacock increased steadily over the course of the season. Our long-form behind-the-scenes pieces also saw an enormous increase in views across digital platforms.
Resident Alien was renewed for a fourth season on USA Network.
HERO TRAILER
Our Season 3 Hero Trailer placed a heavy emphasis on Alan Tudyk, aliens, and all the VFX we could have finished in time. Our updated promo packaging played a huge role in hammering home our shift towards sci-fi.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Ariel Frost • Motion Designer: Marina Antonowicz • Agency: Trailer Park
SERIES RECAP, NARRATED BY ALAN TUDYK
In order to prepare fans for Season 3, we created a recap of the first two seasons. This was a particularly fun project, as we had the opportunity to collaborate with showrunner Chris Sheridan on an original script, which Alan Tudyk narrated in-character as Harry Vanderspeigle.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Writers: Shawn Gioiosa, Kevin Hartman, and Chris Sheridan • Agency: Floodlight Creative
KEY ART
Our Season 3 Key Art leaned heavily into the sci-fi, placed Alan Tudyk front and center, and organically showcased Resident Alien’s humor with Alan Tudyk’s subtle middle finger to the invading aliens (okay, maybe it’s not that subtle).
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Ariel Frost • Agency: Leroy & Rose
GREY ALIEN SPACESHIP SET TOUR, Ft. ALAN TUDYK
In this behind-the-scenes social piece, Alan Tudyk gives fans a tour of the Grey Aliens’ spaceship - a much-anticipated new set for Season 3.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Editors: Juan Cadavid and Suzette Mercedes
THE ARK
SYFY • SEASON 2
100 years in the future, Earth is on the brink of destruction and humanity’s last hope is to abandon the planet for a new home. Mankind’s best and brightest develop The Ark program, a fleet of high-tech spaceships that will strategically carry Earth’s inhabitants to a habitable new world deep in outer space. However, when Ark One is badly damaged mid-journey, it’s ragtag crew must work together to fill an empty leadership void, keep the ship running, and ensure humanity’s chance at survival.
Our creative strategy for Season 2 was guided by four key learnings…
Viewers were most interested in elements of the show that reinforced the comfortable familiarity of good ole’ fashioned science fiction.
Viewers appreciated Ark One’s optimistic vision of a bright future for the human race.
Fans were less interested in the interpersonal conflicts among members of the crew and more interested in external obstacles the crew could overcome as a team.
Fans were interested in seeing Ark One move on from what we described as Season 1’s “survival mode” (constant ship malfunctions and crew disarray) and shifting focus to the larger mission at hand.
For Season 2, it was important for us to embrace the comfort and familiarity of the classic sci-fi tropes present in The Ark (we wanted fans to feel like they were watching something akin to Star Trek, not Westworld). We also wanted to highlight our lead, Sharon Garnet (Christie Burke), lean into her positivity and hopeful nature, and portray her as a strong captain, leading a united crew working together to overcome external conflict rather than one constantly fighting amongst themselves.
Ultimately, this campaign was one of the most rewarding achievements of my career, not only because the creative is beautiful, but also because everything (and I truly mean everything) was done entirely in-house. No budget, no problem!
Presented here is a small snapshot of the campaign, which included additional on-air launch spots, weekly episodic promos, and a plethora of social and digital content.
HERO TRAILER
Our Season 2 Hero Trailer was cut in-house and used a beautiful music track with lyrics thematically aligned to the show’s plot in order to create something that truly felt premium.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Editor: Tyler Law • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Motion Designer: Michael Luckhardt
ON-AIR LAUNCH SPOT
This Launch Spot emphasized the litany of unique adventures our crew would embark upon this season, preparing fans for a classic “monster-of-the-week” viewing experience.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Editor: Tyler Law • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Motion Designer: Michael Luckhardt
HERO KEY ART
Our Season 2 Key Art (also done entirely in-house) paid tribute to “retro sci-fi” and evoked a sense of hope and optimism through its beautiful use of color and texture.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Designer: Gary Claire
BEHIND-THE-SCENES SOCIAL CONTENT
In this behind-the-scenes social piece, stars Christie Burke, Richard Fleeshman, and Stacey Read tell us who in the cast is most like their character. This fun, bite-sized social content was incredibly popular among fans.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Producer: Nia Howe-Smith • Editor: Jack Hillyer
DEADLY WATERS WITH CAPTAIN LEE
OXYGEN TRUE CRIME • SEASON 1
Deadly Waters was a new true crime series that uniquely set itself apart from other shows of its genre in two ways: it focused exclusively on water-based stories and it was hosted by mainstream talent - Captain Lee Rosbach, of Bravo and Below Deck fame.
Needless to say, Captain Lee’s popularity offered us a really unique opportunity to dip into the Bravo audience (a group that actually shares a few commonalities with the true crime audience, including a significant female skew and a citation of “escapism” as a tune-in driver).
Our main goal for the campaign was to feature a variety of creative assets that were individually tailored to different audiences. We highlighted the unique selling proposition of a series that focused exclusively on water-based stories for the more traditional true crime audience, and strategically tapped into the secondary Below Deck // Bravo audience by placing Captain Lee front and center in on-air and social promo content.
The creative in this campaign was driven by custom shoot footage we captured with Captain Lee, and featured a stunning, water-themed promo packaging (designed in-house). Both of these elements helped set this show apart from other Oxygen True Crime series.
ON-AIR LAUNCH SPOT #1
In our first Launch for Deadly Waters, Captain Lee outlines the premise of the series for traditional fans of the true crime genre.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Motion Designer: Michael Luckhardt • Agency: Fresh Cut Creative
ON-AIR LAUNCH SPOT #2
Our second launch for Deadly Waters appeals a bit more to Bravo fans, as Lee personally invites them to join him on his latest escapade.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Motion Designer: Michael Luckhardt • Agency: Fresh Cut Creative
HERO KEY ART
Our Season 1 Key Art prominently features Captain Lee, making him easily identifiable for fans scrolling through a sea of shows on Peacock and other streaming platforms.
Creative Director: Jon Weiner • Design Director: Travis Spangler • Agency: IconArts Creative