Prime Video
To promote its upcoming film Pretty Lethal, Prime Video stood up a music box of an activation on Congress Ave. in downtown Austin. The space, which was decorated on the outside with ballerina paraphernalia like ballet slippers and stills from the drama flick, was adorned with a rotating ballerina mid-plié on its ceiling. The interior was a mirrored photography studio, where a patient attendant instructed the long line of attendees on how to pose for its six simultaneous cameras, which together created a moving image of its subjects that they could download once back outside.
ADWEEK’s rating: 2 out of 5
The decor was on point(e), and everyone loves a shareable social image, but, ultimately, the activation was effectively just a photo opportunity, something in no short supply at South by Southwest. Waiting in line for 20 minutes to take a photo is not the kind of experience you come away talking about, but at least the rotating ballerina blocked the sun!
Hulu
Hulu’s Handmaid’s Tale spin-off, The Testaments, brought the dystopian world of Gilead to Austin on Monday, which was, thankfully, more fun than it sounds. The experience involved a big purple bus, known in the series as Aunt Lydia’s prep school bus, showing up at various parts of Austin, including South Congress Ave and W 4th Street, with purple-clad students, a.k.a. “Plums,” filing out to wish pedestrians a blessed day. They also delivered citygoers tiny, bumbleberry pies, each with a QR code to the show’s trailer and a cryptic message: “Things Are Not What They Seem.”
