Scare Tactics for Hollywood Horrors

LOS ANGELES Independent davidandgoliath's ads for Universal Studios' Hollywood Horror Nights have had to up the fright ante, according to chairman and CCO David Angelo.

The integrated campaign, which is running through this week, features a creepy director. The character is fleshed out via a MySpace.com bio and stars in black-and-white movies on YouTube and a microsite. The campaign also involves broadcast.

Angelo said it was necessary to make the director darker than typical commercial figures.

"Given the [youthful demographic's] experience with horror films, the director approach is only fitting. Movies are the only nightmares they can relate to," he said. "They are extremely wary of traditional Halloween stuff, the goblins, pumpkins, etcetera. They've seen it all, from great horror films from Czechoslovakia to [domestic] movies that have pushed the boundaries."

In the introductory spot, the director criticizes reality TV as staged and fake. He claims that people say that want to see "real horror, real suffering and they want to be terrified, but when you give it to them, they don't have the stomach for them. … I'll show them my reality."

Looking at empty Universal tour trams at night, suggesting that he inhabits the place after hours, the director talks about putting unsuspecting participants into his movie. "They are the ones who will suffer for my craft," he says.

In a video, the disgruntled director seems to have shot people from secret locations around the City Walk, zooming in on potential victims. He implies Universal hired him to make scary movies, and that he was fired for going too far. The double entendre tagline, referring to the viral casting call, is, "Will you make the cut?"

Universal revived Hollywood Horror Nights after a hiatus of six years, Angelo said.

"It's a tough audience," he said. "But if you talk to them in the right way, you not only earn their respect, but you'll earn their brand loyalty. They are more willing to spend money they don't have than Gen X. This generation trades up for the great experience, they're thrill seekers."

The El Segundo, Calif., agency, which has handled Universal's Orlando theme park since 2002, won the California business last year.