Evil Dead: The Musical hopes to convince audiences that the play provides a bloody good time, minus the gore, with its Toronto-based campaign.
The campaign, by Saatchi & Saatchi, includes posters, newspaper classifieds and outdoor video boards.
The agency’s challenge was to convince theatre goers that Evil Dead isn’t gory and that it’s like the musicals they love only with an evil and comedic twist, said Lyranda Martin-Evans, associate creative director.
The musical is based on Sam Raimi’s low-budget horror film that tells the tale of five college kids who travel to a cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash an evil force.
The posters parody well-known musicals like Hairspray, Forever Plaid, Les Misérables and Mamma Mia.
In each case, the faces from the musicals’ marketing have been bloodied and “evil-fied.” For example, in the Hairspray take-off, the once cheery blue haired girl now has dark circles under her eyes and blood trickling from her mouth. Each poster reads: “It’s like the musical you love, only evil.”
The posters have developed a cult-like following, says Martin-Evans. People were ripping them off of walls around the city and at the Diesel Playhouse Theatre, where the musical is showing, so the theatre decided to sell thicker glossier versions for $10.
Digital video boards throughout the GTA showcase killer reviews from well-known characters and personalities like Freddy Krueger and Lorena Bobbit. A quote from Norman Bates suggests that theatre goers take their mothers.
A classified, placed in the Globe and Mail’s real estate section, highlights the show’s wood cabin, touting it as a “very secluded rustic dwelling” that will “take your breath away.”
Ticket sales have increased 30% since the campaign launched last month, and Saatchi is now translating the campaign for various international markets, said Martin-Evans.
The campaign wraps up in September.
