Ingenious hidden secret in BBC’s billboard ad for Dracula

The TV drama has already left millions of viewers terrified with some claiming it was going to give them sleepless nights.

But two billboards advertising the new BBC adaptation of Dracula in London and Birmingham which come to life in the dark are likely to do exactly the same.

Bram Stoker’s character cannot be seen in daylight on the posters, but he suddenly appears at night in a shadow thanks to specially-arranged lighting over stakes.

Dracula appears at night in a shadow thanks to the specially-arranged lighting over stakes

An ‘In case of vampires – break glass’ box containing a stake also sits below the billboards – on Brixton Road in South London and Upper Dean Street in Birmingham.

The work was created by a creative team including Reuben Dangoor, a London-based Instagram artist known for his interpretations of British grime artists as gentry.

The BBC has created a number of unusual adverts for major series in recent years, including a polar bear appearing to jump out of a billboard for His Dark Materials.

It also came up with a Peaky Blinders advert using fan art and a Killing Eve poster campaign which simply said: ‘Has anyone seen my girlfriend? #Crazy4Eve’. 

Also involved in the Dracula campaign before the series began yesterday were Vikki Stephenson, James Fairfield, Dominic Lea and Mathew Rees from BBC Creative. 

The advert has been praised on Twitter, with one social media user saying: ‘Dracula billboard that only comes alive – or undead – at night?! Genius.’

Others called it ‘next level advertising’ and ‘pretty clever’, while a fourth called it ‘inventive, unique marketing’.

BBC Creative creative boss Olly Harnett told The Drum: ‘Our campaign for Dracula leaves the audience in no doubt they can expect something fresh and unexpected from this extraordinary adaptation of the vampire classic.

‘Our unique campaign is one of the most ambitious special builds we’ve ever undertaken – by day, a random assortment of stakes hammered into a billboard but by night, transformed, as the Count springs to life in the form of a looming shadow.’

Chris Hooper, head of marketing at BBC One, added: ‘Coming from the makers of Sherlock, this version of Dracula is laced with dark humour and rock star swagger.

‘We wanted our campaign to reflect Steven and Mark’s fresh take on a classic character.

‘So each element has been designed to surprise – from the cheeky campaign line, ‘Bloody Legend’, to the use of Lust For Life on the trailers, and this special build, which takes a playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to the legend.’

Dracula is played by Claes Bang in the new BBC adaptation, with Dolly Wells as Sister Agatha

Claes Bang, who has been tipped as a future James Bond, stars in the lead role as Dracula

The spooky billboard in London has been advertising the new BBC adaptation of Dracula

Mr Dangoor put up this Instagram post last week featuring some of his recent artwork 

The much-anticipated gruesome adaptation, created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, who were behind Sherlock, kicked off on New Year’s Day.

Yesterday’s episode carried on the bloodshed with scene after scene of vampire gore, as the crew and passengers on a ship were stuck with Dracula on board.

The scenes have featured repeated shots of the vampire gorging on human blood across the first two episodes along with other gruesome images of the undead.

But despite the heavy promotion of the drama by the BBC, the opening episode was only the fourth most watched show on BBC One on New Year’s Day with 3.6million.

However it created a huge impression with many viewers, who claimed it had been terrifying. One wrote on Twitter: ‘How the hell am I supposed to sleep tonight?’