We don’t need to tell you how difficult it is to compete for consumers’ attention these days, but some recent ads for The Santa Clarita Diet found a new way to eliminate the distractions in three busy urban hubs.

Audiences got their first taste of the Netflix comedy during the Golden Globes, when the show’s star Drew Barrymore appeared in what appears to be a standard ad for a new fad diet. But as she described the “diet,” the more sinister side of her new eating habits are slowly revealed: she is actually undead, and her new diet consists only of feasting on human flesh.

Later, online exclusives featured co-star Timothy Olyphant, as well as one particularly appealing to Canadians where Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod of “BodyBreak” return to show how the “diet” can fit into modern, healthy lifestyles. But an out-of-home execution also brought the “more than meets the eye” approach to promoting the show to the streets.

Digital video billboards in New York’s Times Square, Los Angeles’ L.A. Live and Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square showed what appeared to be a basic, adapted version of the show’s TV spots. But as they went on, Barrymore’s character gets a bit peckish and climbs into the ads playing on other video screens nearby. She devours the actors in as many ads as she can, while Olyphant follows her around and tries to clean up the mess, until Barrymore (and Netflix) has taken over every screen in the square.

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Credits:

Brand: The Santa Clarita Diet (Netflix)
Agency: Doner LAZihla Salinas – EVP, Managing Director

Jason Gaboriau – EVP, Chief Creative Officer
Sara Schwartz – VP, Brand Leader
Drew Brooks – Design Director
Lauren Culbertson – Senior Art Director
Ryan Sims – Copy Writer
Sophie Gosseto – Jr Designer
Ariana Delfini – Jr Writer
Sierra Moore – Jr Art Director
Leslie Harro – Producer
Tayo Ola – Content Producer
Anthony Foster – Editor

Production Company
Logan TV

Director: Grady Hall
ECD: Alexei Tylevich
VFX Supervisor: Stephan Kosinski
CG Supervisor: Brandon Thomas
Creative Director: Kaan Atilla
Executive Producer: Matt Winkel
Line Producer: Steve Gould
Post Producer: Dan Lombardo
Associate Producer: Ryan Hitch
Production Coordinator: Joe Mackedanz, Jesse Silva
Editor: Mike Merkwan, James Connelly
Flame: Carl Edwards
Compositor: Robert Hubbard, Jon Sadonsky
Roto: Kyle Hause
Design: Eunha Choi, Eun Kim, Josh Childers, Amy Wang, Alex Hanson
2D Animation: Scott Ulrich, Ivan Cruz
Previz: Brian Weaver
Previz Editor: Ruben Proenca