The One Show
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Category
Innovation / Execution in Branded Entertainment
Annual ID
OS25_BE084M
Background
After the original “Smile” marketing lit up the internet, the sequel needed something fresh.
We asked ourselves: How can we make the film not just watched, but experienced?
The answer: bring the movie to life in such a ridiculous way that you can’t help but try it out. This is how we ended up demanding grins from what turned into a tidal wave of curious participants.
We asked ourselves: How can we make the film not just watched, but experienced?
The answer: bring the movie to life in such a ridiculous way that you can’t help but try it out. This is how we ended up demanding grins from what turned into a tidal wave of curious participants.
Creative Idea
We didn’t just preview the movie, we invited the audience to participate in the film’s central motif: creepy smiles. It was playful, eerie, and oddly on-brand—perfectly capturing the franchise’s vibe.
It also meant that anyone who sustained their smile got to participate in history, by viewing the world's first smile-activated movie. Dystopian enough to make you gasp but clever enough to make you grin. This concept placed the audience inside the maniacal world of Smile 2.
It also meant that anyone who sustained their smile got to participate in history, by viewing the world's first smile-activated movie. Dystopian enough to make you gasp but clever enough to make you grin. This concept placed the audience inside the maniacal world of Smile 2.
Insights & Strategy
The goal was to earn media attention and generate buzz about the film, while staying true to the content and tone of the franchise. It’s sadistic, unrelenting, and deeply discomforting. Horror fans love a challenge and a good scare. By tapping into the scarcity of an exclusive first-look and absurdity of smiling for seven minutes, we created a recipe for buzz. The fomo was real, and people gladly posted their attempts for others to see. Instead of feeling like a top-down marketing pitch, Smile2Watch was a communal dare that fans spread on their own.
Execution
If we build it, they will smile. We built a custom video player and site that watched YOU back, at a whopping 20SPS (smiler-per-second). Open the site, grant your webcam permission and smile to start the video. If your grin slips for even a split second, the film will pause. Users quickly learned that keeping up a forced smile for seven full minutes is no joke. This tension between humor and horror kept people hooked and made their victory (or defeat) something they wanted to talk about.
Results
Over 786 million impressions and 16 million completed streams later, it was clear we’d tapped into something primal: the nervous thrill of holding a fake smile to unlock forbidden content.
Mainstream news outlets, film critics, and everyone in between covered it. Good Morning New York, People, Indiewire, Deadline, Total Film, Forbes, Hypebeast—the works. This wasn’t just a trailer, but a communal experience that millions of fans smiled through together.
Mainstream news outlets, film critics, and everyone in between covered it. Good Morning New York, People, Indiewire, Deadline, Total Film, Forbes, Hypebeast—the works. This wasn’t just a trailer, but a communal experience that millions of fans smiled through together.
2025 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
Loop / Brooklyn
Client / Brand
Paramount Pictures / Los Angeles
Associate Creative Director
Brian Moore
Creative Technologist
Isaac Kogan
Chief Executive Officer
Nick Gallo
DIRECTOR, DIGITAL MARKETING
Carmen Chan
Head of Interactive
Rob Dezendorf
Head of Marketing
Andrew Watts
Vice President, Digital Marketing
Brandon Nichols
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