Fox Traveller brings Zombies in your living rooms!

The world we knew is gone. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months society has crumbled. The world is ruled by the dead and staying alive is the only thing that matters. Does this send a chill down your spine? Get ready to experience the blood thirsty ZOMBIES as Fox Traveller launches its brand new show ‘The Walking Dead’.

The show‘The Walking Dead’ is a terrifying and exhilarating story of a small group of survivors living in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Based on a comic book series of the same name, the show follows a police officer, Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma to find the world ravaged with zombies. Looking for his family, he and a group of survivors attempt to battle against the horrifying zombies in order to stay alive.

The channel teamed with digital agency Flying Cursor and together they decided to exploit the much loved format of Prank Videos and literally go to town with it. In Mumbai, they invited unsuspecting youngsters to try out a free photo-booth. What the youngsters didn't know was that there were people dressed as Zombies hiding behind the booth. As the zombies attacked, all hell broke loose, and a video capturing their reaction was created. This hilarious prank video is now online, and is getting eyeballs to pop as it gets shared across social networks.

Adgully caught up with Debarpita Banerjee, VP Marketing, FOX International Channels and Shormistha Mukherjee, Partner, Flying Cursor Interactive.

The new show seems to be quite different from the ones in the channel's kitty. When asked how this show will add value to the channel's philosophy, Banerjee said, “Fox Traveller believes in making any journey a lot fun. Literally  and laterally; Which is why, we introduce a generous dose of experimentation and fun on FT- The Walking Dead. An international hit, we are confident that this series will be hugely appreciated here as well. It will break the conventional mould and be a touch of excitement and surprise on this journey called Fox Traveller. “

Demographically, they are looking at 18+plus male and female and psycho-graphically, they believe that this show will appeal to any thrill seeker.

Apart from playing pranks etc, FOX Traveller is also creating excitement among its Twitter and Facebook followers by giving hilarious Zombie survival tips, in case of an attack. The channel is also replying to people on Twitter, with Zombie Twitpics and memes that are cheeky and promise dire zombie consequences if people don't share! Countdown for the show on Facebook will start with a zombie hand on the FB cover photo where with each passing day, one finger will disappear. Along with this are contests on FB that is giving out zombilicious prizes to the winners.

Apart from all the online antics, The Walking dead is being heavily promoted on Fox Traveller, [SD+ HD] National Geographic Channel, Star World and Star Movies [ SD +HD].

Looking at the look and feel of the show, when asked whether Indian audience is ready for something like this, Banerjee said, “Crime and horror are very popular genres on Indian Television. Our country has innovated with this genre by combining different genres like comedy as well, with horror. So we are pretty confident that this zombie special will also find its fan following.”

In terms of brief given to the agency by the client, Mukherjee said, “Our brief was simple. Walking Dead is a cult show that will be aired for the first time in India, on Fox Traveller. How would we take the idea of zombies and create surprise and expectation for the show? And at the same time how would we maintain the cult status of the show, by creating a loyal fan following?”

Mukherjee believes that Digital is a great medium for a visually shocking idea like zombies. Plus those who were interested in The Walking Dead, or zombies, or a sub culture that revolves around graphic novels, would be digital citizens. Also if you use digital in an interesting and surprising manner, its a great medium to get people talking about shows, concepts, ideas, new things.

Leveraging their extremely active Facebook page and Twitter handle, FOX Traveller is also creating excitement among its followers by giving hilarious Zombie survival tips, in case of an attack. The channel is also replying to people on twitter, with Zombie twitpics and memes that are cheeky and promise dire zombie consequences if people don't share!

Also, the countdown for the show on Facebook will start with a zombie hand on the FB cover photo where with each passing day, one finger will disappear. The channel is also running fun show related contests on its Facebook page to engage its followers and is giving out zombilicious prizes to the winners. FOX Traveller is also running on-air promos, bugs and aston bands on its own network- FOX Traveller and FOX Traveller HDto promote the show.

To catch the cult, spine-chilling show, tune into The Walking Dead starting 29th March 2014 every Saturday and Sunday night @ 11 p.m on FOX Traveller.