---
title: "11th Shorty Awards: American Horror Story Audience Honor"
url: https://stacklist.com/card/e9c79574-3510-4c9f-b8c2-751dda9f6103
source_url: "https://shortyawards.com/11th/the-american-horror-story-social-media-apocalypse"
stack: https://stacklist.com/c/business/stack/fa6d8bca-357c-476c-9ff5-cf91f01ffc2e
summary: "American Horror Story executed a bold social media stunt at the 11th Shorty Awards by wiping its Instagram feed to mirror the new season's post-apocalyptic theme, capturing 2 million followers' attention. The campaign used cryptic posts and dramatic content to generate hype and break through the crowded TV landscape."
tags: "social-media, marketing-campaign, american-horror-story, shorty-awards, instagram, viral-content, brand-awareness"
key_entities: "11th Shorty Awards (event), FX (organization), American Horror Story (concept), Instagram (technology), post-apocalyptic theme (concept), Apocalypse campaign (event)"
classification: "analysis"
content_hash: "sha256:c9298039356cf8975c96e9a449532a8f474708d0e0bf2be406fe7d176ea1f897"
acp_version: "0.2"
token_counts_approximate: 1582
visibility: public
agent_accessible: true
status: "final"
---

# 11th Shorty Awards: American Horror Story Audience Honor

THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists! Campaign Brand Awareness Campaign Foreign Language Campaign Global Campaign Integrated Campaign Launch Campaign Local Campaign Multi-Platform Campaign Multicultural Campaign Rebrand Campaign Social Good Campaign Content and Media Blog & Micro-blog Brand Voice Branded Content Branded Series Contest or Promotion Copywriting Email & Newsletter Episodic Meme, GIF, & Emojis Micro-Site Single Post or Activation Use of Viral Content User-Generated Content Creator & Influencer Partnerships Instagram Partnership Multi-Platform Partnership Other Platform Partnership TikTok Partnership YouTube Partnership Design Animation Art Direction Audio & Music Brand Identity Brand Redesign Generative AI Graphic Art Images Website/App Industry Auto Business to Business Consumer Brand Education Entertainment Fashion & Beauty Financial Services Fitness, Health, & Wellness Food & Beverage Gaming Government & Politics Hospitality Insurance Live Events News & Media Non-Profit Pets & Animals Pharma & Healthcare Real Estate Restaurants Retail & E-Commerce Social Activism Sports Technology Television Travel & Tourism Wine, Beer & Spirits Overall Presence Meta Presence Multi-Platform Presence Other Platform Presence TikTok Presence YouTube Presence Platforms & Technology Artificial Intelligence Extended Reality Immersive Instagram Interactive Content Other Platform TikTok YouTube Podcast Art & Culture Podcast Branded Podcast Business Podcast Health & Wellness Podcast Lifestyle & Entertainment Podcast News & Politics Podcast Other Podcast Genres Podcast Mini Series Sports Podcast Technology and Education Podcast True Crime & Documentary Podcast Strategy & Engagement Brand Partnership Call to Action Community Engagement Creative Use of Technology CTV/OTT Data & Insights Earned Media Event & Experiential Gamification GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) Humor Innovative Media Buying Strategy Integration with Traditional Media Internal Communications Micro-Influencer Strategy Music & Dance On a Shoestring Organic Promotion Paid & Amplification Physical and Digital Convergence Public Service Announcement Real Time Response SEO & SEM Social Commerce Storytelling Video Comedy Video Documentary Featurette or Behind The Scenes Video Instructional Video Live Video Long Form Video Medium-Length Video Music Video Product Feature Video Short Form Video Vertical Video Video Ad Video Series Menu Register Login From the 11th Annual Shorty Awards American Horror Story's Social Media Apocalypse Audience Honor in Instagram Objectives With the franchise approaching its penultimate season, FX's groundbreaking anthology series American Horror Story needed a disruptive social idea that would leverage the latest season's post-apocalyptic theme to generate a frenzy of hype amongst new fans, casual viewers, and die-hards alike. But in a crowded TV landscape with new shows and announcements dropping every week, how could a show blast through the clutter? By doing something so bold, so unthinkable, people couldn't help but notice: Bringing a nuclear apocalypse down upon their own social channels. Strategy and Execution To set the scene for some of the most highly-anticipated content to hit social feeds this year, American Horror Story primed its Instagram presence for the beginning of the end. On August 14th, 2018, the Apocalypse was unleashed, wiping years of American Horror Story content with the push of a button. Almost instantly, all 2 million of the show's followers were plunged into darkness, scrambling to figure out what had happened—perfectly mirroring the new season's post-apocalyptic theme. With interests piqued and attention captured, we began the next phase of our post-apocalyptic stunt: filling our channels with cryptic posts, seemingly full of nothing but static. However, savvier fans began to notice secret clues embedded in the static: clips, visuals, fragments of words. Were they portents of things to come in Season 8, or just random signals hidden in the noise? As the pieces piled up, fans everywhere scrambled to put together the puzzle, generating hundreds of thousands of conversations on Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and beyond. Finally, a video from show star Sarah Paulson herself helped fans paint the clearer picture: by unscrambling the hints hidden throughout the static, they'd find a link to a website offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the cast at an exclusive season premiere viewing party. Results Ultimately, the AHS Social Media Apocalypse earned over 5 million video views and more than 1.6 million likes and comments , growing the American Horror Story social media audience by over 200,000 followers in under a month, driving millions of viewers to tune in on premiere day, and proving that American Horror Story is just as thumb-stopping, and heart-stopping, as ever. Media Video for American Horror Story's Social Media Apocalypse Share this entry Entrant Company / Organization Name The Many, FX Networks Links https://www.instagram.com/ahsfx/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BmeUY0xns3r/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmyf1JTn9VD/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BmeUnirnVHP/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BmjIzkunTnI/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BmlmjWGHxos/ Entry Credits Bruno Guerra Senior Brand Manager at The Many Tara Allen Senior Project Manager at The Many Iman Forde Director, Project Management at The Many Todd Lombardo Head of Digital & Social at The Many Andrew Rahn Motion Design at The Many Blake Marquis Partner, Creative at The Many Adam Wagner Creative at The Many Jordan Lee Rich Creative at The Many Kristin “KB” Busk Director of Social Strategy at The Many Michael Chiem Sr. Community Manager at The Many Dave Horowitz Head of Production at Bastard Productions Evan Cunningham Senior Producer at Bastard Productions Joe Paulding Vice President, Social Media & Content at FX Networks Antonio Hernandez Director, Social Media & Content at FX Networks Tracey Lincoln Producer, Social Media at FX Networks Share this entry Share this Shorty Awards page  Tweet  Share  Email Share link