Sir Patrick Stewart reprises his iconic role as Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: Picard." Season two takes Picard and his crew on a bold and exciting new journey: into the past. To promote the new season of the beloved franchise, Paramount+ looked to capture the iconic feel of "Star Trek," while also providing the unique context of the season's time-traveling premise, which takes Picard and his crew to Los Angeles, 2023. The campaign needed to catch the eye of anyone who would see it, not only giving the sense of what "Star Trek: Picard" season two was about in a nutshell, but also providing a unique and memorable experience that could briefly bring them into the world of the show.
To create buzz around "Star Trek: Picard" season two and its time-traveling premise, Paramount+ created a bus shelter promotion that worked within the context of the placement’s immediate environment. The activation was placed in key locations around Los Angeles and used pictures of the surrounding area at various times of day to mimic the backgrounds that people standing in and near the bus shelters would actually see, no matter when they were there.
In true "Star Trek" fashion, the breakthrough motion display combined the real world with the realm of science fiction. Using green screen film of Stewart and the "Star Trek: Picard" crew, the campaign created ads showing characters beaming down onto LA's city streets. The realistic, immersive, and mesmerizing ad grabbed the attention of passersby, the most die-hard Star Trek fans, and the uninitiated alike.
The campaign was a perfect way to demonstrate the setting and stakes of "Star Trek: Picard" season two, in which Jean-Luc Picard must enlist friends both old and new to confront the perils of 21st century Earth in a desperate race against time to save the galaxy’s future—and face the ultimate trial from one of his greatest foes.
The bus shelters garnered 1.7 MM views across the city of West Hollywood. "Star Trek: Picard" continued to have high viewership throughout season two, consistently ranking in the top 10 streaming shows each week of the season.
