It’s an entertainment hub, a cultural destination, a commercial mecca, a tourist hot spot… and prime real estate for brand activations. We’re talking, of course, about Times Square, the Midtown Manhattan locale with billboards so bright it can be seen from outer space, and where companies with the right strategy (and budget) can make a significant splash. From Jack Link’s to Netflix, here’s how brands are turning experiential Times Square takeovers into social currency.
Branded Holidays
The iconic New Year’s Eve ball drop is a staple of Times Square, and brands have been putting their own spin on the concept with holiday countdowns and drops that turn consumers’ heads and fill up their social feeds.
Take Cannabis Now, which celebrated 4/20, cannabis’ unofficial holiday, with its Official 4/20 Countdown Celebration event, presented by rolling paper company Zig-Zag. For a third year on April 20, the brands hosted a feel-good countdown to 4:20 p.m. featuring a live dj, costumed brand ambassadors, oversized joint props, interviews with attendees and free samples and swag. Zig-Zag also took over billboards within the square, including a 3D ad that appeared to pass gigantic joints to those in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, Jameson introduced a spectacle of its own last year, playing on the fact that 2024 was a Leap Year. With a nod to the NYE tradition, the brand launched its very own holiday in Times Square, St. Patrick’s Eve, to make up for Leap Year “stealing” a Saturday St. Patrick’s Day from revelers.
The event was hosted by comedians Colin Jost and Michael Che, and included branded giveaways and a performance by DJ Pee .Wee (aka Anderson .Paak). Capping off the evening was a “rock drop” moment (Jameson’s version of the ball drop) at 8 p.m. ET, which was midnight in Ireland.
Cause Marketing
To help amplify its messaging about the harm that single-use plastic does to the planet, Rothy’s teamed up with HOPE Hydration to transform Times Square into a sustainability haven that brought the brand’s “The Plastic Pause” public call-to-action to life. The idea? To remind consumers that starting with small behavioral changes, like swapping a disposable bottle for a refillable one, can make all the difference.
The activation, supported by digital billboard placements that called for New Yorkers to “pause overconsumption,” featured a branded water refill station installed in Times Square, as well as one at Duffy Square and one outside Rothy’s Fifth Avenue flagship. Street teams near Times Square were on hand to encourage passersby to trade their plastic single-use bottles for reusable bottles donated by Ocean Bottle and similar organizations, and fill them up with cold, clean water.
Then there’s Morgan Stanley, which aimed to inspire more women to participate in the lucrative future of space exploration, and further its mission to make finance more attainable, by crafting its own conceptual spacesuit with a team of space experts, historians and engineers, then revealing the ensemble at a “Creating Space” activation in Times Square.
Giving Fans Their 15 Minutes
If content is your king, especially when it comes to UGC, there’s nothing quite like combining an engaging event with the use of Times Square’s enormous billboards to get people sharing. For Jack Link’s WILD, which had its sights set on Gen Z, its Times Square takeover strategy began with a TikTok campaign that invited users to submit a video showing their “WILD side.”
The top video submissions were then beamed onto digital billboards in Times Square during a sampling event that ended up generating its own viral content, and included photo ops with Jack Link’s Sasquatch mascot, a larger-than-life jerky box, WILD sticks, temporary tattoos and a live dj.
Back in 2018, candy brand Trolli took a similar approach as part of its partnership with “Deadpool 2,” inviting fans to partake in a “#ShowUsYourPackage” photo shoot in Times Square that was broadcast onto a gigantic adjacent billboard.
Supersized Stunts
Speaking of hydration and a Times Square takeover, when summer temps were soaring, Liquid I.V. declared 4 p.m. the season’s “hydration hour,” meant to combat the time when people hit the dreaded afternoon slump. The electrolyte drink-mix brand took over Times Square at a time when NYC was experiencing a heat index of 100 degrees with “I.V. O’clock,” a stunt that dominated every screen with dark “An error has occurred!” messages starting at 3:55 p.m.
At 4 p.m., the screens refreshed to reveal I.V. O’clock messaging, and 50 Liquid I.V.-branded delivery robots by Kiwibot deployed on the square, roaming around to offer onlookers reusable branded water bottles, Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier packets and directions to nearby HOPE Hydration stations that dispensed water. –J.C.A.
Leaning into the power of pop artists was the strategy for retailer H&M, which hosted a surprise Charli XCX concert as part of a Times Square takeover that was announced just 30 minutes before it started to H&M loyalty members. Charli wore H&M apparel for the performance, which took place before a massive screen takeover turned “Brat” green like her album.
And then there was the splashy Johnnie Walker x Netflix spectacle that dominated headlines ahead of the second season of “Squid Game.” As part of the partnership, Johnnie Walker launched a multipronged Pick Your Player campaign that kicked off with a live-action shoot and fan experience that took over Times Square.
At precisely 4:56 p.m., a nod to the number of players featured in the show, it was time for the content shoot… and a surprise appearance by comedian and rapper Lil Dicky, who lined up next to a giant sand pit to participate in one of the most iconic challenges from the series, “Red Light, Green Light.” The star ultimately “won” the competition.
Featured photo credit: 309 Productions
