Rede Record Brazil's 'Os Dez Mandamentos': You Still Haven't Seen It All

04.04.2016

Regarded as the great sensation of Brazilian television, the biblical telenovela Os Dez Mandamentos (The Ten Commandments), returns for a second season, with a warning: you still haven't seen it all.

The series, penned by Vivian de Oliveira, will premiere Monday, April 4, at 8:30 p.m. on Rede Record Brazil. The channel - considered Brazil's second-largest producer of original content with a total of more than 90 hours per week - offers programming focused on the Brazilian family.

The novela's first season was exported to Argentina, where it aired on Telefe in prime time, becoming the country's most-watched program in its debut, scoring a 14.9 household ratings average. Also, the production has been turned into a film, where it became the second biggest box-office hit in the history of Brazilian cinema.

The launch campaign for the show's second season builds on this phenomenon.

"The great secret behind the excellent results obtained by The Ten Commandments has been selling the product as a telenovela, and not as a biblical story," says Alexandre Barbosa Machado de Souza, on-air creative promos coordinator for Rede Record.

This is why since season one the communication strategy has focused "more on the plot than the biblical aspects, including the romances, the conflicts, the betrayals and the drama that all major soap operas have," Souza says.

As for the show's Biblical origins, Marcelo Caetano, programming director of Rede Record, says "we have been producing this type of content since 2010. We have developed a personal and innovative language. In my view, we have been successful because the Bible-based stories are universal and they massively reach all audiences. These are inspirational stories that bring a message of hope that other dramas and TV productions fail to transmit."

The second-season campaign is focused on "the sense of continuation, with the use of new facts and new historical figures," says Souza.

In this case, it's Moses' new challenge: bring thousands of Jews through the desert to the Promised Land. A journey during which, after witnessing the people worshipping the golden calf, an angry Moses breaks the tablets of law that God had given him.

"We are … mixing new and old material," says Souza, making it clear that "você ainda não viu tudo" ("you still haven't seen it all,") and echoing that phrase throughout the campaign.

Based on this message, the season's new pieces draw from the series' older content, while showing glimpses of the new material. A variety of styles are used in a single promo, including footage, interviews with author de Oliveira, General Director Alexandre Avancini and some of the actors, as well as new scenes and key words drawn from the plot: "slavery," "freedom," "touching story," "new conflicts," "new leader," "new stage."

Credits float on a black background in the center of the screen, illuminated by a flashing small light. The ray of light is repeated in the logo, which has been part of the campaign's look and feel since season one.

In turn, the logo has a stone-looking texture, a call-back to Moses' all-important stone tablets.

The same flash of light appears in a more recent piece, in which actors appear in character, presenting viewers with a preview of the plot. Behind them, there's the desert and a flashing sun.

The following teaser uses the production's success to promote season two. In it, images of movie theaters filled with spectators waiting to watch the film appear, while a voice over calls Os Dez Mandamentos an "audience success," "the 2015 television phenomenon" or "the telenovela that has captivated the Brazilian family."

The piece below includes scenes of the Jews' exile in the desert, where much of the new season unfolds, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at the filming and new fragments of interviews with Avancini and de Oliveira.

Finally, there are a few black and white frames with the storyboard that was used in the pre-production stage, revealing the scene of the destruction of the commandments.

Shorter pieces have been created with this material, such as the 17-second teaser that focuses on one particular part of the storyline: the destruction of the stone tablets. A video without speech and with the slogan: você ainda não viu tudo ("you still haven't seen it all") appears on the screen.

Finally, all of the pieces are accompanied by a social campaigns on the channel's websites and social networks. The series' and Rede Record's official Facebook pages have been helping viewers count down to the show's premiere, including a daily graphic starting from day 10 ("10 days left") until launch day.

Os Dez Manadmentos premieres tonight (Monday, April 4) at 8:30 p.m. on Rede Record Brazil.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.