WONDERWORLD

An Instagram you can walk through

WonderWorld was an experiential pop-up art exhibition in Soho, Manhattan, dreamed up by eight New York artists. Every room, from a giant teacup to a glowing crescent moon, was built to be photographed, shared, and turned into a story: eight artists, twelve installations, one shareable world. From July to November 2018, Ruckus ran the full-service launch, filling the rooms, selling the tickets, and making WonderWorld the pop-up New York wanted to be seen in.

Selling out a debut from a standing start

The brief was to generate demand for a nationwide pop-up starting with its NYC debut, in a city already crowded with immersive experiences. The target was a millennial, Instagram-driven audience, and WonderWorld had no existing following, no email list, and no built-in demand to draw on. The launch had to be influencer and social heavy by design, because the product itself was built to be shared.

A feed worth following

Ruckus launched WonderWorld's social presence from zero and built it into the front door of the brand: original photography and video shot inside the installation, designed to look native in the feed and made to be reposted, plus daily community management and giveaways that turned first-time visitors into promoters. Audience growth and impressions were tracked daily, with monthly reporting to stakeholders, so spend followed the content and creators that converted.

To drive ticket sales, Ruckus ran branded campaigns across paid, email, traditional, and promotional channels. Social and display ads built around the most shareable rooms drove traffic straight to checkout, more than 5,000 collected emails seeded custom and lookalike audiences, and three half-page ads in Time Out New York's 50th Anniversary edition, circulation 275,000, positioned WonderWorld as the city's newest storybook immersive pop-up.

An opening night that became content of its own

More than 200 influencer partnerships put WonderWorld in feeds people already trusted, activating creators whose audiences matched the millennial visitor, from accounts in the tens of thousands of followers to feeds over a million strong, and growing the brand's own following by 33,000 along the way.

Ruckus then produced the exclusive opening-night event itself, right down to a retro silent disco in the heart of the installation, with 125 dancers and more than 100 influencers in the room, turning WonderWorld's debut into a story every guest published.

A pop-up the internet couldn't stop sharing

WonderWorld sold more than 25,000 tickets in under two months, exceeded its revenue goal by 150%, and returned 250% on ad spend, with more than 2 million digital media impressions and 100,000 unique site visitors in two months across paid, influencer, email, and traditional marketing. The audience was built from nothing, 33,000+ followers and 5,000+ emails, and an influencer-packed opening helped make WonderWorld a staple of NYC's pop-up culture.