Fake offline stunts that make your product famous 💂

Expensive billboards? No need. Let's ride on the new wave of offline illusions ("Out Of Home" just got a whole new meaning)

Tom Orbach

Dec 15, 2023

Last month, something unusual happened in London.

JD Sports outfitted Big Ben in a North Face puffer jacket.

WHAT? The Big Ben?! The stunt got people talking and sharing like crazy, which ended up becoming a viral video.

😳 But here's the twist…

It was all a fake: a mix of CGI (animated effects) and actors on the street.

Why did it work so well? Simple: people thought it was real.

✨ Fake Offline Stunts 101

Fake offline stunts are a blend of real-life awe with a CGI spectacle—which makes them the perfect PR stunt.

We all know how regular PR stunts work:

By creating a spectacle around your product (like breaking a Guinness World Record), you get media coverage.

They are engineered to work that way.

But big publicity stunts are costly, and in 2024, a single video on TikTok can get you much more buzz than traditional media. This is where “Fake Offline Stunts” shine: they use affordable CGI and a few actor friends to create a buzzing scene. There is no need to actually do those giant stunts; just edit them in the post.

🧠 The reason why they work (in 30 seconds)

The value of any ad sometimes lies in its perceived investment. If a brand appears to invest heavily in a marketing campaign—it’s assumed they must be successful or credible. This is the reason why Super Bowl ads often generate more online buzz after the game than during it.

It is called 💵 costly signaling 💵: People assume that if you can afford a giant Times Square billboard or a collaboration with London Municipality, you must be on the right track.

Fake Offline Stunts can help you achieve exactly that—just without the actual cost. 😎

🪄 How to do fake offline stunts

Set a scene with 5-10 "actors" (your friends) pointing and wowing at something in the sky or landscape.
Have some of them scream, others take out their phones for pictures.
Ensure the cameramen use vertical video for Shorts/Reels, adding movements and zooming in and out.
Hire a 3D artist/VFX expert to overlay elements related to your brand, whether it's your product, mascot, or features.

Again, our goal is to mock up campaigns (without actually making them), create fake buzz on the street, let the results go viral, and then quietly explain they were CGI mock-ups later. If we end up getting featured on this subreddit—it’s totally worth “lying.”

🧪 7 genius ideas for SaaS companies

Fake Drone Show: Film a city skyline, then add a CGI drone display of your logo or interface. Real drones aren't needed; actors on the ground react to the edited-in spectacle.
Manhattan's Going Wild: Record a busy Manhattan street. Edit the scene to resemble an impossible-to-execute guerrilla campaign, like everyone wearing the same thing or all vehicles in a themed color.
Reviving History: Reveal hidden, brand-relevant elements on famous statues through CGI, like uncovering a thousand-year-old symbol of your cybersecurity solution on a well-known monument.
Seattle's Cloud Computing Fog: In Seattle's fog, create a light show of 'cloud' filled with virtual machines and storage, filmed with actors walking through.
"Interactive" Displays in Times Square: Fake interactive screens in places like Times Square that react to street activity, using actors for engagement.
Bridges as Connectivity Symbols: Use CGI to transform bridges, like the Golden Gate, into metaphors for your platform's connectivity between software (if you’re in the API business) or between people (if you make two distinct roles work together better). Dress up the two ends of the bridges accordingly.
Sphere in Vegas Illusion: Avoid spending $650,000 by simulating a takeover of the Vegas Sphere with your branding, using CGI and actors' reactions to mimic a high-budget campaign.