brand activation 4 | SunMatrix Ramble

Pepsi Max – Unbelievable Bus Shelter

Pepsi Max for its new ‘Unbelievable’ campaign rigged an ordinary bus shelter in London, to perform tricks on unsuspecting travellers.

Using a custom see-through digital display, people waiting at the bus shelter were made to believe that they were actually seeing things like hovering alien ships, a loose tiger, a giant robot with laser beam eyes and so on.

The reactions to these ‘unbelievable’ scenarios were then captured and put in the below viral video.

Why this works. Even before you talk about “tech”

The technology is impressive, but the mechanic is simple. It takes an everyday moment. It inserts a believable layer of impossible. Then it lets people do the rest. React, laugh, point, film, share.

That is the real move. It transforms passive waiting time into a story that feels personally witnessed.

The bus shelter as a “media product”

This activation treats the bus shelter like a product interface, not just a placement. It has inputs and outputs.

Input. People arrive with low expectations and spare attention.
System. A “window” that looks like reality, then breaks it in a controlled way.
Output. Instant emotion, social proof from nearby strangers, and a camera-ready moment.

In other words, it is not only out-of-home. It is an experience designed to be recorded and re-distributed.

What makes it shareable. And why the video is the second product

The live moment is the first product. The viral video is the second product. The second product extends the reach far beyond the street corner.

High signal in seconds. You understand what is happening instantly.
Escalation. Each new “unbelievable” scene raises the stakes and keeps attention.
Human faces. The reactions are the content. The brand stays present but not intrusive.
Social permission. If others are reacting, you react too. Then you share.

What to take from this if you build brand experiences

Design the moment first. The best “viral videos” start as real-world moments people want to show others.
Keep the premise instantly legible. If it needs explanation, it loses momentum.
Make capture a feature. If people will film it, stage it so the footage works.
Build a repeatable format. One idea, multiple scenarios, consistent payoff.
Let the audience star. The most believable proof is human reaction, not brand claims.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Pepsi Max “Unbelievable” in one sentence?

It is a London bus shelter activation that used a see-through digital display to create impossible scenes, then turned real public reactions into a viral video.

Is this augmented reality?

It functions like augmented reality for the audience, because it overlays illusions onto what looks like a real street view, even though the experience is delivered through a physical digital screen.

Why do people share this kind of content?

Because it triggers instant emotion and disbelief, and it is easy to explain visually. People share it to pass on the surprise.

What is the key design principle behind the activation?

Make the better story happen in the real world. Then make it easy for the story to travel as video.

What is the practical takeaway for marketers?

When you create a moment that people genuinely want to record, distribution becomes an outcome of the experience, not a separate media plan.

Heineken Carol Karaoke

What if you were singing holiday carols to a few friends at a karaoke bar, when suddenly your performance became a concert broadcast before thousands on the Jumbotron at a professional basketball game, in Times Square and on the screens of nearly every New York City taxicab. Would you keep singing?

That is the setup behind Heineken’s Carol Karaoke. It starts as a small, friendly singalong, then flips into a “will you or won’t you” decision in seconds. Keep going and you are suddenly performing for strangers at scale. Stop and you walk away from the moment.

How the stunt works

The mechanism is deliberately clean. Invite people to sing. Reveal the twist. Put a choice in front of them with no time to overthink. The broadcast layer is what raises the stakes, but the real content is the decision itself.

It is also built for the social era without relying on a hashtag to do the work. The reaction is the story. The story becomes the share unit.

In big-city holiday campaigns, the fastest route to earned attention is a simple public challenge that people can imagine themselves facing.

Why it lands

Karaoke is already a controlled embarrassment. The campaign simply stretches that discomfort from “friends in a booth” to “a city watching”. That tension creates instant empathy and instant curiosity, because nearly everyone knows what it feels like to sing badly, and nearly everyone has imagined what it would feel like to be exposed.

Heineken positions itself as the catalyst for crossing that line, not the judge of the performance. The brand role is enabling, and the payoff is human.

Business intent

This is branded entertainment built around social courage. It connects Heineken with celebration behavior, and it manufactures a holiday moment that people will retell, because the premise is easy to repeat and the outcome is emotionally satisfying.

What to steal

Use a decision, not a slogan. Put real choice in the frame and you get real reaction.
Make the twist explainable in one sentence. If the idea cannot be retold instantly, it will not travel.
Raise stakes with environment, not complexity. Big screens and public broadcast do more than extra rules.
Cast ordinary people. Relatability is what turns “a stunt” into “I can picture myself there”.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Heineken Carol Karaoke?

It is a surprise karaoke activation where people singing holiday carols are suddenly offered a choice. Keep singing and be broadcast publicly to a much larger audience, or stop and walk away.

Why does the “will you or won’t you” structure work?

Because the content is the decision under pressure. That creates tension, authenticity, and a clear emotional arc that viewers follow in seconds.

What role do out-of-home screens play in the idea?

They turn a private performance into a public moment instantly. The scale shift becomes the stakes, and those stakes are immediately legible to anyone who has ever felt stage fright.

What makes this kind of stunt shareable?

The setup is retellable in one line, and the payoff is emotional and human. People share it to relive the moment of courage, not to explain a complicated mechanic.

How can a brand adapt this idea without a Jumbotron?

You can swap the “big screen” for any sudden jump in visibility that feels real. For example, a live in-venue feed, a public projection, a partner-owned network of screens, or an unexpected “broadcast” to a larger nearby audience.

Heineken Departure Roulette En Route

Heineken spots the tweets. Then they make them real. People watch the original Departure Roulette stunt and post the inevitable line on Twitter: “I’d press the button.” Heineken takes that public intent seriously. They track down a few of the people who tweet about wanting to play. Then they offer them the chance to play Departure Roulette on the spot. Real time, real commitment, no rehearsal.

If you want the backstory first, the original Departure Roulette activation sets the frame: a physical roulette board at JFK Terminal 8. One red button. Press it and you accept a new destination immediately. Read about the original here.

What “En Route” gets right: it turns social intent into action

The smartest part of this follow-up is not the surprise. It is the mechanism. Heineken treats social conversation as a live signal of willingness, not just commentary. People are no longer reacting to a brand story. They are pulled into it.

It rewards declared intent in public

A tweet is a lightweight commitment. Heineken upgrades it into a real decision. The gap between “I would” and “I did” becomes the content.

It closes the loop from earned media to owned experience

The original stunt earns attention. The follow-up re-enters the stream where that attention lives. Social becomes a trigger for a real-world activation, not just a distribution channel.

It stays consistent with the campaign’s core promise

Departure Roulette is about spontaneity and courage. The follow-up keeps the same proposition, just delivered to a different moment and audience.

How to reuse this pattern without copying the stunt

Define the “press the button” moment. Pick one unmistakable action that proves intent.
Listen for explicit triggers, not vague sentiment. Look for “I would,” “I want,” or “If you did this I’d…” rather than likes alone.
Respond fast enough that it feels connected. If the follow-up arrives too late, it reads like a promotion, not a story.
Make the commitment real, but safe. Build constraints on timing, eligibility, logistics, and consent.
Capture the decision, not just the reward. The moment of choice is the asset. The prize is the justification.

What to measure beyond views

Intent volume. How many people explicitly say they would do it.
Conversion rate. Percentage of selected participants who actually commit when approached.
Time-to-response. How quickly you move from trigger to activation.
Amplification quality. Replies and quote-posts that debate “would you do it,” not just “nice video.”
Brand linkage. Whether the audience repeats the core idea (spontaneity, adventure), not just the prank.

Risks and guardrails that matter

Consent and privacy. Do not approach people in a way that feels extractive. Keep it clearly opt-in.
Safety and duty of care. High-stakes travel stunts need hard boundaries, support, and contingencies.
Credibility. The offer must be unquestionably real, or the story collapses into suspicion.
Operational readiness. The logistics are the product. If ops fail, the story turns.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Departure Roulette En Route in one line?

It is a social-powered follow-up where Heineken turns “I’d press the button” tweets into a real-world chance to do exactly that.

Why does it spread?

Because it stages a high-stakes, relatable decision in public: keep your plan, or choose the unknown.

What is the reusable strategy?

Treat public intent as a trigger for action. Then deliver a real experience that proves the brand promise.

What is the minimum viable version for a brand without travel budgets?

Reward declared intent with an immediate upgrade: surprise access, exclusive drop, instant appointment, or fast-track service.

Where does this go wrong fastest?

When it feels like surveillance, or when the logistics do not deliver on the promise.