ABOUT

CONCEPT: In celebration of the much-anticipated third season of the animated show Rick and Morty, Adult Swim tapped The XD Agency to create a mobile pop-up shop and nationwide tour that would engage fans and generate contagious excitement from the ground up, all across the country. 

Adult Swim wanted to give existing Rick and Morty fans an outlet to explore their obsession with like-minded loyalists, while along the way, perpetuating and propagating enthusiasm for the show.

The program’s objectives were three-fold:
• Attract crowds coast-to-coast to demonstrate and cultivate Rick and Morty’s community of loyal fans.
• Generate social traction to build online community of fans.
• Move Rick and Morty-licensed merchandise.

The XD Agency designed a mobile tour that would bring the animated show Rick and Morty to fans, right where they lived. And the fans responded!
 
EXECUTION: The Don’t Even Trip Road Trip kicked off when a truck customized to look like Rick and Morty title character Rick Sanchez arrived in Atlanta on May 11. The Rickmobile served as a combination photo opp and pop-up shop, with fans turning out not only for the social capital that came with a tour selfie, but also for limited edition swag true to the spirit of the show.
 
The Rickmobile was impeccably crafted in the likeness of “Rick and Morty”’s drooling Rick character, prompting one Geek reporter to note with admiration, “It’s like the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile but a drunk sociopath drawing.”
 
As the truck traveled across the country, it wasn’t covered; instead, drivers found themselves on the highway staring at the bewildered bulging eyes of an enormous hunched-over Rick Sanchez. It was not uncommon for fervent fans and interested observers to follow the truck into gas stations to snag a picture and ask for more information. And loads more posted pictures on social media when they’ve seen the vehicle on the highway.
 
At each stop — at a mix of bars, comic shops, and the like — the Rickmobile encountered lines of fans snaking around the block, and to their great delight, opened up shop. While the road show was designed more as a marketing stunt than a sales initiative, it soon became clear that consumers were ready to buy.

Surely it was because the merchandise being sold was so offbeat and aggressively authentic to the show’s cultish and eccentric fan base. Think “poopy butthole” towels, retro aluminum spaceships, toy cars, and character-themed pool floats, among other things. A Rick plush toy rides shotgun in the Rickmobile, driving sales of that item even further.

Still, the event was equally about fandom. And it delivered.

“We haven’t even pulled out of the Target parking lot and already there’s a woman screaming,” a Playboy reporter noted. “She brings to mind the teenage girls full-on melting down as the Beatles attempt to play the Ed Sullivan Show in the 1964. Only she’s in her 20s, and it’s the Rickmobile that’s the source of her temporary insanity.”
  
The experiential campaign was promoted only via social channels and via word of mouth, creating an element of suspense and surprise. (One media outlet called secrecy the secret to its striking success, though of course, it was about much more than that.) As it continued to weave its way around the country, it quickly built enormous momentum.

RESULTS: The initially under-the-radar tour generated such an ardent response that it was extended time and again by popular demand.

In total, the tour attracted 83,383 impassioned attendees, many of whom lined up hours in advance. (That, of course, doesn’t count the many more who followed the vehicle off the highway and into rest stops during off-hours.)

And those attendees were buying. Even with purposely low sales prices and a two-item cap per person, the tour successfully sold well over $2 million worth of merchandise, comprising 50,400 transactions and 128,366 items.

When they weren’t busy buying — and when they were — the attendees were talking and tweeting at an impressive rate, bragging about their experience and remarking on the spectacle.

Wrote one, in a representative sample: “I had an encounter with god this morning, that's right, thee Rick Sanchez. OK, maybe not god of our universe but definitely the god of the microverse. I almost ditched work to follow that truck but if I lost my job I couldn't afford the cool Rick and Morty merchandise. #paradox #rickmobile.” 
 
In total, the Don’t Even Trip Road Trip generated 27,461 posts, 254,725 engagements, and 50 million impressions on Twitter and Instagram alone. Add to that a seemingly unending stream of content on other channels, including feverish Facebook posts and user-generated videos on YouTube, and the net effect was a tour that could not and would not be ignored. The momentum built throughout the road show, attracting attention and approving coverage from the likes of Vice, Mashable, Gizmodo, Nerdist, The Coolector, FEE, Mental Floss, Paste, Access Hollywood and Playboy, among many others.