Hideouts
- Brand
- Philips
- Year
- 2012
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- With
- Dareville
Objective
Philips needed a splashy way to launch the Frameless Smart TV, a set whose whole pitch was an almost invisible bezel. Rather than just advertise how thin the frame was, the brand turned that claim into a puzzle people could test for themselves, drawing consumers into the launch instead of just showing them a banner.
Solution
The player opens one of ten real-world photos and scans it for clues — a piece of furniture, a sign, a stretch of landscape — hunting for the hidden Philips Frameless TV blended into the scene. They can pull friends into the search over social media before committing to an answer. Then they switch to a Google Maps view, pan and zoom alongside Street View, and drop a pin on the spot they think the photo was taken. Because the map won't zoom in all the way, no one can place a pin with pinpoint precision, so each round is decided by whoever's guess lands closest to the real location, and that player wins the actual TV from the photo.
- 1
The player lands on the standalone promo site philips-hideouts.com and learns the premise: ten nearly invisible Philips Frameless TVs have been hidden in real locations around the world, and the task is to find them.
- 2
The player picks one of ten hideouts, each a distinct photograph showing a different hidden TV in its real-world setting.
- 3
The player studies the chosen photo, scanning the scene for visual clues — signage, architecture, landmarks — that reveal where it was shot, and can call in friends via social media to help crack the location together.
- 4
The player switches to an embedded Google Maps view, panning, zooming, and dropping into Street View to compare candidate locations against the photo; the map's zoom is capped, so the final placement is an estimate rather than a precise match.
- 5
The player drops a pin on their best guess for the location and submits it as their answer.
- 6
Whoever's pin lands closest to the real hiding spot wins that round's actual Philips Frameless TV, with the prize awarded to entrants from Northern Europe.
