Channel 4's 'Synth' Campaign Causes a Stir

On Sunday 10 May, a shop mysteriously popped up on London's Regent Street advertising a synthetic product to imitate humans. The shop front heralded the arrival of a company called Persona Synthetics – a brand of highly developed of the robotic servants or ‘Synths’, as they have been labelled. To support the placement a mysterious commercial was aired to Channel 4 viewers during a primetime ad slot and it has since emerged that the broadcaster is behind the clever activity.

The curious campaign has been baffling Twitter users and was the number one Google trend after sparking a spate of search activity around the subject.

Channel 4 has since claimed responsibility and revealed that the Persona Synthetics store and brand are part of a marketing campaign to promote upcoming ambitious drama Humans set to air on the channel this summer.

The series, starring William Hurt, Colin Morgan, Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson and Tom Goodman-Hill is set in a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’.

Every element of the campaign activity carries #Humans and encourages audiences to visit this website for more details. The site has received 423,000 visits to date.

Social accounts for the brand and an eBay store were also set up, featuring a first of its kind mock auction inviting visitors to the site to bid on a ‘Synth’, with 200,000 people viewing the auction in its first 72 hours.

Those curious to know more and searching the brand online have found the company’s fictitious website which houses the reveal that this is, in fact for the show, Humans.

Passers-by will continue to be beckoned over by the life-like sophisticated 3D male and female ‘Synth’ models showcased in the shop front until Saturday 17th May. The shop is located at 172-178 Regent Street, London W1 and is owned by The Crown Estate – the Humans activity represents the first time an activation of this kind has been permitted by the owners.