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Apple TV sends a ‘definitely not cursed’ Widow’s Bay billboard around Cape Cod
Key Takeaways
Apple TV placed a floating Widow’s Bay billboard in the waters around Cape Cod following the series’ 14 Emmy wins.
The outdoor stunt continues the fictional town’s tourism campaign and describes the destination as “definitely not cursed”.
The wider creative compares Widow’s Bay with Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Much of the horror-comedy was filmed in Massachusetts, including Rockport and Gloucester.
Fourteen Emmy wins should be enough to put any town on the map, but the mayor of Widow’s Bay is apparently still struggling to convince tourists that his supernatural island is a completely safe place to visit.
To celebrate the Apple TV horror-comedy’s record-breaking awards success, the fictional mayor has taken his increasingly desperate tourism campaign beyond the screen, sending a floating “definitely not cursed” billboard around the waters of Cape Cod in an attempt to lure visitors away from the real New England coastline.
The floating billboard continues the mayor of Widow’s Bay’s increasingly desperate tourism campaign
The campaign takes the fictional tourism drive running throughout Widow’s Bay and allows it to escape from the series into the real world. Matthew Rhys plays Tom Loftis, the island’s sceptical mayor, who is determined to improve its reputation and attract more visitors despite the increasingly difficult-to-ignore supernatural events surrounding the town.
That tension gives the show’s marketing a very clear voice - Widow’s Bay is always presented like an idyllic New England destination with one small image problem, while the mayor’s insistence that everything is completely safe only gives audiences more reason to suspect it is not. The phrase “definitely not cursed” captures the entire premise in three words, sounding like the type of reassurance no genuinely safe holiday destination should ever need to provide.
Why Apple TV is using outdoor stunts to keep Widow’s Bay alive beyond the screen
For Apple TV, the floating billboard gives the series another moment of attention after its 14 Emmy wins without simply turning that success into a conventional awards advertisement. The OOH stunt uses the recognition created by the Emmys to bring audiences back into the world of Widow’s Bay, allowing the fictional town and its desperate tourism campaign to remain at the centre of the story while the awards provide the reason for it to reappear.
That distinction matters because an awards win can attract viewers who may have missed a series when it first launched, but a poster listing trophies and reviews does little to show them what makes it worth watching. Taking the billboard into the waters around Cape Cod also allows Apple TV to make the fictional island feel briefly real.
It also shows why OOH stunts can be particularly useful for streaming platforms, where even successful series are constantly competing with an enormous volume of new content. A physical installation creates a fresh visual story that can return a title to social feeds, entertainment coverage and public conversation long after its original launch campaign, while giving fans something new to photograph and discuss without revealing additional plot details.
Why The PR Insider loves it
As someone who has known about the show for a long time, but never actually invested the time in watching it, this stunt and their Emmy wins prompted me to start it, and it's safe to say I think everyone should be clicking onto Apple TV right now. I love how the stunt behaves as though it was commissioned by the fictional town itself, which makes it instantly recognisable to viewers while remaining intriguing to anybody encountering it without context.
The timing is equally effective, with the 14 Emmy wins under their belts, it provides a genuine reason for Widow’s Bay to boast, and the campaign converts an awards announcement into a visual continuation of the story instead of relying on a conventional congratulatory advert.
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