The Beauty Inside

Why it works

A romance whose leading man was partly played by the audience. Alex wakes up every morning in a different body, so anyone could play him: fans auditioned through Facebook to appear in the film as Alex, and others played him on his Facebook timeline between episodes, adding photos and videos to his story. Directed by Drake Doremus for Pereira & O'Dell and released on Facebook in weekly episodes from 16 August 2012, the series made the laptop on which Alex records his video diary part of the plot, and its premise, that what's inside is what counts, was a natural brand truth for Intel and Toshiba. The agency reports 26 Alexes cast from more than 4,000 auditions, 70 million video views and a 360% rise in sales during the series. It is studied as the high-water mark of branded social storytelling. It won three Grand Prix at Cannes 2013, in Film, Cyber, and Branded Content & Entertainment, and a Daytime Emmy.