Marvel's Agents of SHIELD posters warn of 'extraordinary activity' in viral marketing stunt

But can it beat EastEnders and Coronation Street in the ratings?

Agents of SHIELD viral marketing poster

(Independent)

Agents of SHIELD's campaign team came up with a clever marketing ruse today, setting up appeal posters in various locations around London.

The poster in the picture above was placed outside The Independent's offices in Kensington.

Channel 4 will be hoping the Marvel show fares well in the ratings tonight, following a solid debut in the US.

On Tuesday night, Agents of SHIELD logged 12.2 million viewers, the highest for a US drama debut since V in 2009.

Its substantial viewer count came despite going up against The Voice and popular crime procedural NCIS.

But its competition in the UK is even more formidable. Between 8pm and 8.30pm, it will go up against EastEnders, while in its last half hour it will face ITV's Coronation Street.

Last week, EastEnders and Coronation Street scored 6.3m and 7.6m viewers respectively in the same slots. US dramas, meanwhile, don't play as well with Britain's general audience.

The finale of Homeland's second season, for example, scored under two million viewers on Channel 4 last year.

The appeal poster said: "Can you help us? Suspected extraordinary activity. On Tuesday 24th September a hooded male jumped from a 5th storey building and survived after carrying out a dramatic rescue.

"Did you see or hear anything? Please call the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D)."

A phone number followed. When called, the following message played: "All of our operatives are currently busy working the cases that SHIELD haven't yet classified – the strange and the unknown. The case you are calling about has now been closed, but as part of the agency’s new transparency initiative we will be broadcasting the video of the event in question on Friday 27th September at 8pm on Channel 4."