Robocouriers are taking over the streets of Los Angeles.
Prime Video and its media agency of record, Omnicom Media Group, have now partnered with autonomous delivery service Coco Robotics on a campaign to promote the streaming platform’s new heist comedy film, The Pickup, starring Eddie Murphy, Pete Davidson, and Keke Palmer.
The film, which premieres globally Aug. 6 on Prime Video, centers around two armored truck drivers played by Murphy and Davidson who get ambushed by a group of criminals during a routine cash pickup.
As part of the monthlong campaign, which launched on July 21, Coco Robotics turned its robocouriers into immersive brand activations and wrapped hundreds of them in Prime Video and The Pickup branding. The couriers, which are inspired by the movie’s armored money trucks, deploy across the streets of Los Angeles and even recite lines from the movie at delivery.
According to the companies, the collaboration aims to innovate in out-of-home advertising by merging entertainment, media, and technology.
Elizabeth Boone, senior associate of content and emerging media, Omnicom Media Group, said while she wanted to come up with a fun and cute idea for the movie’s campaign, she also wanted to make sure they were staying up to date with technology trends, especially as autonomous vehicles become more prominent.
“When we were thinking about it, we felt like this was the first step in realizing the opportunity between media and entertainment, and its connection with autonomous vehicles,” Boone told ADWEEK. “As far as the movie goes, we felt like this was a really good way to bring the world of The Pickup into our real world.”
Boone added that they did not want to just create a typical billboard, but rather something that aligned with the movie’s plot and theme.
“It has that physicality of an armored truck to bring us into the world,” Boone said. “Then there’s the proprietary technology the robots use to help navigate the busy streets. There’s still this element of surprise where consumers don’t know if this is an ad that they’re seeing, but it’s something that can influence them in a positive way and create a positive association with both the technology and the advertising they’re seeing.”
