We rigged trivia night. The internet loved it.
From hidden cameras to national CTV — three campaigns that turned a news app into a cultural moment.
Guess less. Know more.
SmartNews came to Brand Revolution with a challenge: make a news app interesting to people who don't think they need one. Over three campaigns — from polished CTV spots to a fully unscripted hidden camera takeover — we built a content ecosystem that drove real subscriber growth and made SmartNews the top-performing social post of 2024.
The relationship started with national broadcast spots and evolved into something nobody expected: a fake trivia night, hidden cameras, and two million people watching the chaos unfold.
Trivia night, hijacked.
We partnered with a local trivia league, rigged the entire game with an unreliable host, and let hidden cameras do the rest. No scripts. No actors. Just real people losing their minds over bad answers — and a reveal that turned frustration into a pitch-perfect brand message.
Polished for the big screen.
Alongside the experiential work, we produced national broadcast spots for SmartNews — :30 CTV and OTT placements designed to drive app downloads at scale.
