The Marvelous Marketing Value of Pop-Up Activations For Brands

Michael Lieberman | February 29, 2024 at 11:27 PM

The Popularity of Pop-Ups

In the bustling heart of Los Angeles, award season brings not just glitz and glamour but also innovative marketing tactics designed to captivate and persuade Emmy voters. Among these tactics, pop-up events stand out, offering immersive experiences that bridge the gap between audiences and their favorite series and films. These events go beyond traditional advertising, creating buzzworthy moments that foster deeper connections with the content.

Reflecting on our favorite pop-up activations, it's clear they offer invaluable opportunities for engagement and conversation. In this article, Hollywood Branded reminisces about one of our most cherished pop-up activations, showcasing the lasting value these experiences bring to series and films.

The Marvelous Marketing Value of Pop-Up Activations For Brands - 11.29.23

For Your Consideration

Everyone has their thoughts on living in a big city like Los Angeles. There’s things we love like the weather, the ocean and In-N-Out Burger and then there’s things we complain about like traffic, gas prices and traffic again. There’s one often forgotten benefit to living in Los Angeles, this is where Hollywood is. This is where some of our favorite movies and TV shows are created and shot and this is where a whole lot of Emmy voters live. Around this time, late-spring/early-summer, each year, studios roll out tons of money to convince these Emmy voters to vote for their show or their cast for the upcoming Emmy awards. Even the average Joe in LA knows that the letters F.Y.C. at the bottom of a billboard or commercial means For Your Consideration but beyond just the billboards and social media ads are the events and pop-ups. If you keep an eye on social media or some websites, you can find out about these free (usually) events that are intended to get people talking. Each year there are some standouts but one platform and show raised the bar every year the show was around and that’s the team from Amazon and the show was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

A Marvelous History

I will state right now that I am a big fan of this show so if my opinions sound a bit biased, they probably are. That said, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel well-established itself as a worthy Emmy nominee. Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Tony Shaloub and the rest of this cast and writers constantly outdid themselves with their performances and while that fact seemed to be well known, Amazon never let off the gas when it came to promoting the show. Maisel Throughout the show's run, there were partnerships with Postmates where they gave away free Pastrami sandwiches on rye with a black and white cookie and they even revived the Carnegie Deli after season 1. Then after season 2, Amazon promoted "Maisel Day" where they rolled back prices of goods and services throughout Los Angeles to what they would have cost in 1959. This meant 99-cent deli sandwiches, $2 blowouts, 51-cent movie tickets, and even a room at the historic Roosevelt Hotel for just $40 for the night (for comparison, a queen room currently goes for almost $400 a night on a weekend). They even caused a traffic nightmare and were shut down by the police when they dropped the prices at a Santa Monica gas station to 30-cents a gallon! Needless to say, the bar was set pretty high but when the show was heading into it's final season, Amazon outdid themselves again.

Marvelous Manhattan Moments

I am an east-coaster proudly born and raised in New Jersey but a very happy Angeleno currently. Ask most transplants from the Tri-State area who live in LA what they miss most and you’ll likely get some combination of the Pizza, the Chinese Food, or the Bagels. That’s why, when you see that Amazon and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel are throwing a pop-up in Los Angeles with the legendary NYC icon restaurant, Russ & Daughters you pay attention. So much so that this activation has lived in my brain as one of the best since it happened in June of 2022.

Quick history lesson. Russ & Daughters has been serving bagels, lox, smoked fish, babka, and all other “Jewish” delicacies for over 106 years so they know what they are doing.

So, I signed up and I honestly would have been happy with just the authentic NYC bagel and lox but when I arrived, I realized this pop-up was so much more than just brunch. The Amazon team recreated 5 different iconic scenes relating to the show and to New York City. In terms of real-life NYC locations, in addition to recreating Russ & Daughters, they built out the Blue Note Jazz Club and provided live jazz music.

They built a photo opp around the ferris wheel at Coney Island (if you watched season 4 you know the iconic scene this is based on). They built out Susie Myerson’s (Mrs. Maisel's manager) office and didn’t miss a detail including a take-home of one of Susie’s “business cards” which only consisted of her name and the title “Personal Management” on it which again is such a small, but well thought out, detail from the show. They even built out a mahjong parlor where you could learn the game that is being played in the illegal room below Joel’s (Mrs. Maisel's ex-husband) club in the show. This was a true “experience” and the attention to detail was almost unmatched when it came to For Your Consideration events I have been to (the free 1960s style Maisel-esque Tupperware sets handed out to the first fans in the door was yet another well-done detail).

The Payoff of a Pop-UP

Now you may ask yourself, did this event really move any actual Emmy voters? Was anyone who wasn’t already a fan of the show actually attending this event? The answer is, I have no idea but it got people talking and over the show's 5 season run, they earned 80 Emmy nominations and 20 wins (so far). Marketing can take a lot of shapes. Sure, you have to have a great show first and then the buzz and online chatter help move the conversation but a good pop-up event can keep that conversation going well beyond the season finale of any series. The ability to somehow let fans become part of a show experience makes for the kind of social content that makes people pay attention. I, for one, feel very lucky that I get the opportunity to visit these types of events. I am constantly impressed with how much thought and work goes into them and look forward to the next one. Oh, and if you were wondering, the bagel and lox were incredible!