In the age of tying a Twitter or Instagram hashtag to a certain event or promotion, brands have found that one of the easiest ways to make a splash on social is to facilitate an unexpected moment for consumers. From surprise screenings and event setups to prize deliveries enhanced by drones and celebrities, here's how brands including Bravo, Canon, HBO, and Driscoll's have creatively executed memorable "surprise-and-delight" moments.
Bravo partnered with digital marketing agency 360i to promote the second season of its scripted series Imposters with an interactive event at SXSW in Austin in March. Taking inspiration from the series’s lead con artist character, Bravo sent out invites to a self-described lavish event. But when guests arrived they found the venue to be an empty parking lot with three elaborate sets: one depicting a luxury yacht, one depicting a private jet, and one depicting a fancy ice hotel. Guests who posed inside of the sets received two photos—one cropped to just show the set, and one photo that was zoomed out to reveal the true setting. Attendees were encouraged to post the images on social media using the hashtag #ImpostersSweepstakes for a chance to win a luxury travel experience.
More than 4,000 people attended the two-day activation based on social media posts, and Imposters was the second-most discussed show at SXSW. High Beam Events produced the activation, while SnapFiesta and Luci contributed to the photo booth technology.
Fooji is an experiential marketing platform that specializes in brand promotions that involve fan interactions on social media platforms followed by a physical delivery. The company partnered with HBO to promote the new season of Silicon Valley in March. Twitter users who tweeted the hashtag #Sliceline and the pizza emoji had a chance to win a pizza. More than 1,000 pizzas were delivered to fans of the show nationwide, and select fans had pizza delivered via drone.
Click here to see the drone delivery in action.
To promote Avengers: Infinity War, which premiered April 27, Fooji partnered with Marvel Studios to delivered 4,000 pieces Avengers-theme merchandise including figurines, apparel, and augmented-reality kits 10 days before the film’s premiere. Nearly 40,000 people participated in the promotion by tweeting the hashtags #10Days, #InfinityWar, and the hashtags of specific characters in the film. Select winners were surprised by actors in the film such as Josh Brolin and Vin Diesel, who delivered prizes in person.
Click here to see Josh Brolin surprise a fan.
Ferrari North America recently surprised event guests with the reveal of its new car, the Portofino, at immersive launch parties in five markets across the U.S. Momentum Worldwide created custom wall projections that depicted a P.O.V. of driving in the car in Portofino, Italy, and in urban, coastal, and open road tours in the U.S. For the San Francisco launch event, which took place April 12 at Dogpatch Studios, aerialists from the Dahlias Exquisite Acrobatics unveiled the new car during a synchronized silk act. The event also paired food and drinks to match the projection scenes, and enlisted a scent sommelier to pump custom scents into the party based on each driving scene.
Business travel booking site Upside, founding partner of National Business Traveler Day, partnered with experiential marketing agency LeadDog Marketing Group to host the activations for the inaugural event April 24. The campaign, which was a collaboration with more than 20 companies and organizations to recognize business travelers, featured surprise activations at major airports. Activations included custom lounges at O’Hare International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which were equipped with comfortable seating and charging stations. Lounge guests could enter the Business Traveler Dream Sweepstakes—which offered prizes such as free first class upgrades for 20 years and roundtrip international business class tickets from United Airlines—and receive instant giveaways from other participating brands including Mastercard, Uber for Business, Diet Coke, and XpresSpa. The concept also took over four XpresSpa locations—spas at John F. Kennedy International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and the Westfield World Trade Center—with signage and giveaways.
For New York Comic Con in October, USA Network hosted an immersive theater gala inspired by E Corp—the fictional corporation in the network’s thriller Mr. Robot. The event, which took place at Terminal 5, featured a performance by actors posing as members of the show’s fictional F-Society. The performance ended with a surprise screening of the season three premiere.
On-demand delivery app Postmates partnered with the rapper Post Malone to deliver 10,000 Popeye’s biscuits (amounting to $8,000 worth) to attendees at his Coachella party in 2017. The stunt promoted Postmates and commemorated Post Malone’s album receiving platinum music recording certification.
In June 2017, BMF Media partnered with Driscoll’s berries to create a public activation that involved a 3-D painting of a Driscoll’s berry picnic stationed in the middle of a park in St. Paul, Minnesota. Passersby who encountered the activation could stand on the painting to activate sensors that played music. Interacting with the sensors triggered confetti canons and hidden doors on the upright wall of the painting to open, serving guests treats made with the berries. The activation attracted more than 750 passersby.
In October 2016, Canon partnered with 360i to launch the EOS 5D Mark IV camera by giving four photographers 24 hours to take photos with the new camera and display the images at an invite-only event at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The event, which hosted 130 members of the media and local photography community, initially featured a gallery of empty frames. Throughout the event, the photos were printed with Canon printers and mounted on the walls of the gallery.
