Clever Campaign Lets You Bet on Identity of TV Drama's Murderer

If you're a fan of television crime dramas in which a murderer is at large, it's likely that you've thought, or even said out loud and with thundering conviction; "I bet they did it!".

Well, now that theoretical bet becomes reality - if you're in France, at least - and you could put your money where you're mouth is with this new interactive campaign from Publicis Conseil Paris. To promote the launch of its new series, La Foret, French TV channel, France 3, allows viewers to place real bets on the identity of the series' murderer. 

France 3 and Publicis Conceil, in partnership with betting platform Winamax, has created an interactive broadcast for the programme in which the many suspects will appear on screen with betting odds that match their suspicion level. These odds will fluctuate depending on the plot and on the characters’ behaviour and actions.

The series centres on a small village in the Ardennes where a 16-year old girl disappears into the forest in the middle of the night. Captain Gaspard Deker, a former military man freshly arrived to the town, leads the investigation with Virginie Musso, the local police officer. Soon, the leads multiply and one after another the villagers are listed as suspects.

Airing live at lacotedususpect.fr, the campaign invites the viewer to follow their intuition and to bet on the murderer’s identity for free across all six episodes of this twisting TV series. You won't be parting with real money, though. Instead, if you're able to guess the culprit correctly when his or her odds are at their highest, you stand a chance to win a prize, be it an iPad, GoPro camera, or weekend away... in a forest.

"The rise of TV series in our daily lives offers a unique playground to create this kind of laboratory project," says Publicis Conseil ECD, Fabrice Delacourt. "From the insight’s accuracy which comes directly from the consumption of the thriller genre, to the creation of betting odds adapted for the first time to a fictitious story, every step has been an opportunity."

The programme started airing this week and the next episode can be caught on November 28.