Stan Or Get Stung
Brand: Prime Video
Role: Associate Creative Director (ACD)
The Challenge: When Prime Video dropped Swarm, Donald Glover and Janine Nabers’ dark satire on stan culture, the internet didn't just watch they (The Hive) obsessed. We needed to find a way to break the fourth wall and interact with The Hive in a way that felt as immersive, invasive, and dangerous as the show itself.
The Strategic Tension: In Swarm fandom isn’t a hobby; it’s a religion. To be a "true fan" is to be complicit. We realized that while most brands seek "engagement," Swarm demanded allegiance.
The Insight: "Who’s your favorite artist?" It’s the ultimate litmus test. In modern pop culture, your answer is your identity. In the world of Swarm, your answer can be a death sentence. We decided to use this simple, social icebreaker as a psychological trap.
The Trap: "Stand Corrected or Get Stung": We turned an in-world Easter egg from Episode 6 into a real life, interactive nightmare. We activated the show's "Killer Tip Line," inviting the public to report sightings of the protagonist, Andrea Greene.
Once fans crossed that line, the experience pivoted from a crime report to a loyalty test. The tip line would text back with one chilling question: "Who’s your favorite artist?"
The Trap: Any answer other than "The Queen" triggered a barrage of automated shade and "stings" from the hive, mirroring the protagonist's obsessive behavior.
The Immersion: We blasted the number across social, had multiple celebs shout out “The Queen” with Cameo appearances on social blurring the lines between marketing and the show’s fictional reality.
The Impact
70,000+ Inbound Messages: A massive surge of fans voluntarily "joining the Swarm."
3x Benchmark Success: Achieved a 56% average click-through rate, tripling the standard benchmarks of our SMS partner.
Cultural Conversation: The campaign was picked up by major press outlets and sparked a secondary wave of fan generated content as users shared their "shady" interactions with the tip line.