The longer version: We were asked to create an experience promoting DreamWorks’ Troll franchise and their upcoming sequel featuring Princess Poppy and friends. Because there would be a ticket charge for the experience, it needed to be premium, interactive, and socially shareable.
We took over an entire building in Manhattan, transforming all twelve-thousand-plus square feet into an immersive, glitter paradise, inviting guests to join Poppy for her “Best Day Ever.” Guided by a rainbow path that ran throughout the experience, visitors were encouraged to sing, dance, hug and celebrate with lifesize versions of their favorite DreamWorks Trolls. Glitter Gurus made sure that every guest entering the Troll world was appropriately decorated, with face paint, glitter, and, of course, Troll hair. Guests could then spend time in the forest playground before Party Pal ambassadors lead them through the exhilarating Caterbus ride, where keepsake badges were awarded for helping Poppy and her friends collect gems.
After the bus ride, guests were welcomed into a musical 3D dance party featuring DJ Suki, where they could dance along with their new troll friends. Could it get any better? Why, yes, in fact! Because next, the lucky guests were invited to join a sing-a-long with Poppy herself and all her friends before descending the Rainbow Hair bridge to Bergen Town with a life-sized Troll Tree at the center. In the village, guests could customize a photo album of their experience with stickers and decorations, and enjoy sweets and goodies from any of the 14 vendors selling their wares.
The 90-minute experience took place over twelve thousand square feet and was so successful the initial run was extended for a total of 18 months. In the first three months alone, we generated more than 200M media impressions and 16M Facebook impressions. Not only that, but Chloe and Halle also filmed a music video at the experience. (It’s almost like I’m a tween influencer now—almost.)
Fun Facts & Figures:
The Experience featured 12 colors of fur throughout the 12,000-square-foot space, including fuchsia, lavender and lime green. A total of 207 yards of fur were ordered, twice the size of an NFL football field, including about 150 yards used for the Caterbus.
The welcome desk includes 20 yards of glitter vinyl, which is about three times as tall of a giraffe.
A total of 593 pounds of flocking material (fine lightweight powder) was purchased to transform the space. Flocking is the process of depositing small fiber particles onto a surface in product design. Canary yellow was the most widely used color, with 50 pounds ordered.
The Caterbus was 30 feet long, 10 feet wide and 10 feet high, making it the size of an actual school bus, and it was outfitted with over 150 yards of fur.
The 3D dance party room was filled with vibrantly-colorful flower lights that contain 504 nodes each with full color-changing capabilities.
360 Banyan branches were ordered to create the larger-than-life Bergen Town tree with 17 leaves per branch, which equaled 6,120 leaves. The tree was home to 34 custom-painted, handcrafted Trollhouses.
The colorful world of the DreamWorks Trolls Experience included over 122 custom-mixed paint colors.
Nearly 24,000 hours of Troll-ified fun spent fabricating the props.
A total of 20,135 square feet of vinyl was ordered to cover the walls and transform the space.
Conductive paint was used on the DJ station for the drum surface to make a custom, touch-sensitive electromagnetic switch. The paint created an electromagnetic field that switched on the technology.
During the first month of build, an estimated 560 hours was spent transforming the space.