“This opportunity gave us a chance to tap into other areas, like food and wine, lifestyle, the fandom around our location of Scum and Villainy, and has created opportunities for all of our various marketing partners across social… So we were able to have a synergistic event across so many of our verticals.”
–Jill Hudson, SVP-Publicity, FOX
Costumed “Mission Specialist Sommeliers” guided attendees through wine and food pairings.
Ahead of the debut of “Stars on Mars,” FOX aimed to drive tune-in for the unscripted series by giving multiple audience types a taste of the new show—literally. Over three days in June, at separate experiences, talent, press and the public were invited to step foot onto the Red (Wine) Planet and take a seat at the Mars Bar for a cosmic wine tasting activation. More than 600 people attended the two-day consumer portion of the program at Hollywood’s Scum and Villainy Cantina, ultimately knocking back 324 bottles of space-themed chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and rosé. Talk about liftoff.
The show follows a group of celebrities living together in a basecamp that simulates life on Mars. So to drum up buzz for both the show and the Mars Bar experience, FOX kicked off the campaign by enlisting an “astronaut” street team. Wearing custom-tailored space suits, the astronauts stopped at nine celebrity hot spots around Los Angeles, like Runyon Canyon and Erewhon, to recruit “earthlings” to the Mars Bar experience. Each brand ambassador was equipped with shopping bags bearing a QR code that fans could scan for a chance to book an exclusive reservation for the sold-out tasting. (Fun fact: On the day “Stars on Mars” premiered, the astronauts also appeared at FOX’s headquarters, riding up and down elevators with staffers for an hour during the morning and popping up in random conference rooms.)
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The activation opened with a red-carpet preview event attended by the cast, including RADDOG the robot pup.
The main activation opened with a VIP preview event featuring red-carpet interviews with “Stars on Mars” talent. Even RADDOG, the crew’s robotic basecamp dog, made an appearance. Next, talent, press and influencers alike were invited to an afterparty at the Mars Bar, where wine, cocktails and small plates were designed to transport them to another dimension. Among them: Ube (a purple yam) and sweet corn flying saucers, and cryo-frozen ice cream stations.
“The overall company goal is to design an experience that achieves ROI for our collective teams, so the wheelhouse for us is entertainment press in the publicity sector,” says Jill Hudson, svp-publicity at FOX. “But this opportunity gave us a chance to tap into other areas, like food and wine, lifestyle, the fandom around our location of Scum and Villainy, and has created opportunities for all of our various marketing partners across social… So we were able to have a synergistic event across so many of our verticals.”
The consumer experience was even more intricate than the preview event. After passing by a gigantic, outdoor “Mars Bar” sign that doubled as a series billboard, attendees entered the main activation footprint to discover red sand on the floors, myriad screens beaming out “Stars on Mars” content and an array of otherworldly experience design components.
In groups of two, four or six, they were invited to participate in a three-part “space flight” of wines (a red, white and rosé) accompanied by placemat-like printouts that described each varietal, including what region of Mars its hydroponic grapes originated from. Charcuterie-style bites that paired well with each wine were also on the menu. As a surprise bonus, participants were also invited to try a special blue champagne. And everything was delivered by a “Mission Specialist Sommelier” donning a logoed orange and red tracksuit. After the hourlong experience, attendees walked away with futuristic-looking wine glasses etched with the show’s logo.
“Our goal is always to create curiosity around our shows and to drive viewership and, ultimately, ROI. Overall, these experiences are an extension of our brand or our show, or a combo of the two,” says Hudson. “So with a show rooted in the unexpected—celebrities in ‘space’—we wanted our approach to be just as unexpected. And what better way to connect with a diverse audience than through a wine bar? It was an opportunity for us to bring people together through a shared, one-of-a-kind experience that we felt paired perfectly with the show.” Agency: NVE Experience Agency.
FOX went all in to curate series-accurate details, including replica wine bottle labels from the show.
Photo credit: FOX
