Hulu New Original Series Deadbeat Launches With Whisper Campaign
AdWeek › Garett Sloane
The paranormal, unfinished business and unlucky love—these are all themes you might find talked about on Whisper, the app that lets anonymous users post secretive messages. They are also the themes in Hulu’s new original series Deadbeat, which will launch with a Whisper campaign today.
Deadbeat is marketing on Whisper, the first open example of advertising on the app. It makes sense that Hulu would be the first marketer to officially use the app because the two companies have a connection: Eric Yellin, Hulu’s former vp of marketing, left to join the startup earlier this year.
Whisper, which doesn’t release official user numbers, is among the new mobile messaging-style apps with a sheen of anonymity built in, a reaction to the overly revealing nature of traditional social media. Users post text messages laid on top of photos, and the members can be as candid as they want because their words aren’t traced back to a real identity.
Brands have clearly played around there, at least under the radar, as there are many messages related to fast food companies, soft drinks, movies and other products. But the team at Whisper is only just now starting to work with the ad world.