brand activation 4 | SunMatrix Ramble

WestJet: Ultimate Las Vegas Upgrade

WestJet over the years has passionately given back to their guests with various unimaginable experiences.

Now in their latest campaign targeting Toronto to Las Vegas bound WestJet guests, they got Las Vegas comedian Carrot Top to offer guests a special walk down the red or blue carpet. Those who chose to walk down the red carpet continued on their vacation as they had originally planned. Those who chose the blue carpet went with Carrot Top on an action-filled experience that included a stunning acrobatic display, a world-class DJ, a private airplane hangar, showgirls, and VIP access to the best of the city.

A choice mechanic that turns boarding into a story

The mechanism is a fork in the road with immediate consequences. Here, the choice mechanic is a designed decision point where one visible choice changes the path and the story. You are offered a simple choice, red or blue, with no time to overthink it. The red path is “normal”. The blue path is “something is happening”, and the reveal escalates quickly once the choice is made.

In travel and service brands, surprise upgrades work best when they are structured as a clear decision point that people can instantly explain to someone else.

Why it lands

This works because it gives guests a feeling of control while still delivering surprise. That mechanism works because a visible fork creates ownership before the surprise arrives, which makes the payoff feel earned rather than random. The blue carpet is not a random selection. It is a self-chosen leap into the unknown, which makes the outcome feel more personal and more shareable. The red carpet also matters, because it preserves contrast and keeps the twist believable.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a surprise to travel, wrap it in a simple choice. Choice creates ownership, and ownership turns a brand moment into a story people repeat accurately.

The business intent behind the spectacle

This is a loyalty play disguised as entertainment. It reinforces the idea that flying can include delight, not just transport. It also creates a strong piece of proof that WestJet treats guests as people, which is the kind of narrative that outperforms feature lists in crowded travel categories.

The real question is whether a service brand can turn a routine travel moment into a story guests want to retell.

What travel brands can steal from this

Use a binary choice: two paths create instant tension and clear storytelling.
Reward curiosity: let the “brave” option unlock the best outcome, then show why.
Escalate fast: once the choice is made, deliver the first payoff immediately to lock attention.
Make it filmable: design reveals that work from a handheld camera in real environments.
Anchor to a destination truth: Las Vegas is already a promise of spectacle. The upgrade simply makes that promise feel real early.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the WestJet “Ultimate Las Vegas Upgrade”?

It is a surprise experience for Toronto to Las Vegas travelers where guests choose a red or blue carpet. Red continues as normal. Blue triggers a curated VIP Las Vegas experience led by Carrot Top.

Why use a red vs blue choice?

Because it is instantly understandable, it creates viewer control, and it gives the story a clean structure with contrast between normal and extraordinary.

What makes this effective airline marketing?

It makes service tangible. Instead of claiming “we care”, the brand demonstrates it through a memorable experience that guests can share and retell.

What is the reusable pattern for other brands?

Create a simple decision point in a real customer journey, then attach an escalating surprise to one path so customers feel they opted into the moment.

What is the biggest risk with this format?

If the reveal feels confusing or staged, the audience disengages. The choice must feel real, the payoff must feel earned, and the execution must respect guest comfort.

McDonald’s Pay With Lovin’

McDonald’s puts a simple idea on the biggest stage. Instead of paying with money, selected customers can “pay” for their meals with small acts of love, like calling their mother, hugging, doing a dance, or praising friends and family.

The mechanic starts February 2 and runs through February 14, aligned to Valentine’s Day. Here, the mechanic is the rule of the promotion. For selected orders, an act replaces cash.

In global quick-service restaurant marketing, the counter moment is one of the few places where a brand promise can become visible behavior.

Why this lands as a live, in-restaurant activation

This is not a message about love. It is love turned into a participation currency inside the restaurant. Here, “participation currency” means the customer’s action is the payment.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a brand value to feel real, turn it into a low-friction action people can complete in seconds at the moment of transaction.

It also keeps the barrier to entry low. The “payment” is something almost anyone can do immediately, without preparation, without downloading anything, and without needing a special environment.

The real question is whether you can turn a stated value into something customers will actually do, out loud, in a real place.

The role of the Super Bowl spot

This is a stronger use of the Super Bowl than another sentimental film because it commits the brand to real, in-store behavior. The TV ad functions as the public promise. It tells people what McDonald’s is about to do in stores, and it primes viewers to expect real interactions rather than another brand film.

A pattern worth reusing

If you strip it down, the model is straightforward.

Declare the behavior. Announce a simple, socially shareable behaviour.
Make it instant at the counter. Make it executable in the moment, at the point of sale.
Time-box it. Tie it to a clear time window so it feels special, not permanent.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Pay With Lovin’”?

A McDonald’s promotion where selected customers pay for meals through small acts of love instead of money.

What counts as “lovin’” in this execution?

Examples shown include calling your mother, hugging, doing a dance, or praising friends and family.

When does it run?

From February 2 through February 14, aligned to Valentine’s Day.

Why pair it with a Super Bowl spot?

It works as a public promise that primes people for real in-store interactions, not just another brand film.

What category of marketing is this, in practice?

A live, point-of-sale activation that turns a brand value into an on-the-spot customer action.

Castello: Eat the Art

Cheese brand Castello teams up with ad agency Duval Guillaume to give New Yorkers the opportunity to taste their cheese in a very original way. A pop-up museum is set up at Grand Central Terminal, where famous still-life paintings that contain cheese are reproduced with great precision using real Castello cheeses. The difference is simple. You can smell and eat the copied works of art.

Over the course of two days, more than 500,000 visitors reportedly pass through the exhibition, and around 40,000 people actually taste the cheese.

Turning “look” into “taste”

The mechanism is sensory sampling disguised as culture. Borrow the credibility of recognizable art, rebuild it with the product itself, then let the audience complete the experience by tasting the thing they are looking at.

In urban retail environments where people are overloaded with visual messages, multisensory experiences create disproportionate stopping power because they feel like a break from advertising, not another ad unit.

Why it lands

This works because it turns product trial into a story people want to repeat. A free sample is forgettable. “I ate a painting made of cheese at Grand Central” is social currency, which means it is a simple story people want to pass on. It gives the brand an earned reason to be talked about without needing heavy branding on every surface.

Extractable takeaway: If your category wins on taste, do not hide behind claims. Build a public moment where trying the product feels like participating in something bigger than a sample.

What the business intent looks like

The real question is how to turn food sampling into a public moment people actively choose and then talk about. Castello gets scale and relevance in one move. Grand Central delivers footfall. The art framing delivers permission to pause. And the tasting converts attention into the only proof that matters for food. “It is good”. This is a stronger food-marketing move than standard sampling because it makes trial memorable.

What food brands can steal from this

Wrap sampling in a reason to stop. People do not queue for “try this”. They queue for a moment.
Use a familiar cultural code. Still-life paintings are instantly legible, even at walking speed.
Let the product be the medium. When the product is literally the artwork, the message cannot be missed.
Design for retellability. If the experience can be summarized in one sentence, it travels further.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Castello “Eat the Art”?

It is a pop-up museum experience where still-life paintings featuring cheese are recreated using real Castello cheeses, and visitors can smell and taste the “art”.

Why stage it in Grand Central Terminal?

Because high footfall increases reach, and a transit setting makes the surprise feel bigger. You find a museum moment in the middle of a commute.

Is this advertising or sampling?

It is sampling, delivered through an ambient, cultural format that makes the trial feel special rather than transactional.

What makes the concept effective for food brands?

It converts attention into taste. Food marketing becomes more persuasive when it gets people to try the product quickly, in a memorable context.

What is the simplest way to adapt the pattern?

Pick a familiar cultural frame your audience already respects, then embed product trial directly into that frame so trying the product feels like participation.