Project
Photoshop Halloween Murder MysteryOur goal
For Halloween, Adobe Photoshop wanted to create a campaign that would unite and activate fans worldwide and increase positive sentiment for the Creative Cloud, all via Facebook. Our fans already love to show off their skills on our Facebook page, and we’ve noticed they have a particular taste for the macabre. Which led to our idea, a murder mystery within a Photoshop file where our fans would answer: “who killed Professor Photoheim?”
The Crime Scene
On day one of the campaign we released the crime scene, a complex Photoshop file with dozens of layers. Photoshop itself became a video game, its design tools now used as forensic tools. Users would search through these layers and use Photoshop’s tools in novel ways to discover clues.
The Clues
Our fans were immediately hooked. They started piecing together the story, sharing Photoshop tips and tricks, and let their imaginations run wild, proposing far-fetched theories.
The Breakthrough
The most diligent sleuths discovered a voice from beyond the grave pointing to a secret clue.
The Suspects
On day two we released the suspects’ police files, providing our detectives with their fingerprints and bloodtypes. The suspects also took over Photoshop’s Facebook page, allowing fans to interrogate them through the comments in real time. They asked questions. We responded back in character.
Detectives make their case
With all the clues released, our detectives made their cases, all sharing original pieces of art designed in Photoshop. Some were simple. Some were complex. All showed off the creativity of our fans.
Case solved
Even after the mystery was solved our community didn’t stop discussing the case, and in some cases even challenging the verdict with elaborate conspiracy theories. The campaign turned our community of designers into an army of hard-nosed detectives.
Results
The campaign resulted in over 4.8 million impressions and 22-thousand Photoshop downloads of the game (half of which were from Adobe's Creative Cloud offering). Fans returned to the page over the course of three days, leaving lengthy comments and contributing extremely high value engagement. But the best part was seeing the fan love that came pouring in, asking for another game next year.
