Tag: Pop-up activation

100% Real Virtual Reality

A passerby in Tbilisi puts on a VR headset and starts touring Ireland. Irish countryside. The streets of Dublin. A traditional Irish bar. Then the headset comes off, and the “virtual” bar is suddenly real. A pop-up pub has been built around them in seconds, complete with actors and Irish stereotypes, and beer in hand. The reveal does not explain the slogan. It makes the slogan unavoidable.

The idea in one line

Use virtual reality as misdirection, then land the brand promise by turning the “virtual” experience into a physical surprise.

What happens in the stunt

Old Irish is a new craft beer entering Georgia. Leavingstone takes a line that could sound like every other beer claim, “100% real,” and makes it literal.

  1. Invite the public into VR
    People on the streets of Tbilisi are offered a VR “tour of Ireland,” including nature, Dublin streets, and a typical Irish bar.
  2. Build the punchline in real life
    While they are inside VR, a crew builds a pop-up Irish bar around them. The space is filled with actors performing how locals imagine Ireland.
  3. Reveal the brand promise as a lived moment
    The moment the headset comes off, the audience is already “in Ireland,” except it is physically there, and the product is part of the scene.

Why this works

Beer marketing often tries to borrow authenticity through language. This one manufactures it through experience.

The proof is theatrical, but the reaction is real

The campaign bets on ordinary people’s genuine surprise. That reaction becomes the content people want to share.

VR is not the product. VR is the setup

Virtual reality is used as a temporary attention lock so the physical transformation can happen without explanation. The innovation is the transition, not the headset.

The brand promise is delivered in one clean, repeatable beat

“100% real” is not argued. It is demonstrated when the environment jumps from virtual to physical.

Results the agency reports

Leavingstone states the video is posted with a modest placement budget, reaches more than 50% of internet users in Georgia, hits 1 million views in 72 hours, and is followed by first-month sales of 515,698 liters, described as 2x.

The deeper point

When a category leans heavily on claimed authenticity, the advantage goes to the brand that can turn authenticity into an event. This is not “VR marketing.” It is live communication disguised as emerging technology.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core mechanic?

A VR tour of Ireland distracts participants while a real pop-up Irish bar is built around them, so the reveal converts “virtual” into physical.

Why use VR at all?

It creates a believable reason to pause someone in public, and it buys time to build the physical environment unnoticed.

What makes it shareable?

The surprise is immediate, visual, and human. Ordinary people’s reactions are the story engine.

What is the transferable pattern?

Use an emerging-tech interface as a controlled setup, then deliver the brand promise through a physical, social payoff people can experience together.

What is the biggest risk?

If the reveal does not map cleanly to the product truth, the stunt becomes spectacle with no belief gain.

McDonald’s: Adult Playland in Sydney

A Playland built for adults, not kids

In order to awaken the inner child in McDonald’s adult consumers, McDonald’s and DDB Sydney built an adult sized Playland in the middle of Sydney.

Supersizing the familiar to make it feel new again

The mechanism is physical and immediate. Take an icon people associate with childhood, then rebuild it at adult scale and put it directly in the path of commuters. It is not a message about fun. It is fun, placed in public, with no explanation required.

In Australian CBD commuter culture, a surprising public installation can interrupt routine and create instant permission to behave differently for a moment.

Why it lands: it removes the awkwardness of “acting like a kid”

Adults do not need to be convinced that play is enjoyable. They need permission. By making the Playland explicitly adult-sized and placing it in the city centre, the brand turns nostalgia into a socially acceptable break from routine.

The business intent: rebuild emotional closeness through participation

This is a reconnection play. Instead of asking adults to remember McDonald’s, it gives them a shared experience they can literally step into, then ties that memory back to the brand.

Since the time of the launch in March, McDonald’s reported that more than 300 people have taken advantage of this playground on a daily basis and engaged with McDonald’s in a way they had not for years.

What to steal if you want adults to engage physically in public

  • Use a recognisable icon. Familiarity lowers the barrier to participation.
  • Change scale to change behaviour. Adult-sizing makes the experience feel legitimate, not childish.
  • Place it where routine is strongest. The contrast is what creates attention and talk value.
  • Make the experience the proof. Participation creates memory faster than any claim can.

A few fast answers before you act

What did McDonald’s build here?

An adult-sized Playland installation in central Sydney, designed to let adults play in a familiar McDonald’s-style playground environment.

What is the core mechanism?

Rebuild a childhood icon at adult scale and place it directly in the path of commuters. The experience is the message, with no explanation required.

Why does it work psychologically?

Adults do not need to be convinced that play is fun. They need permission. Adult-sizing plus public placement makes participation socially acceptable.

What business intent does it serve?

Rebuild emotional closeness through participation. A shared, physical experience creates memory and talk value that a standard campaign claim cannot.

What is the most transferable takeaway?

If you want real engagement, put a recognisable, low-friction action in a high-routine place, and let participation do the persuasion.