Turning screams into social currency.
Record Passes Sold in the 2 months
#NickelodeonUniverse Posts to Instagram
Increase in Overall Reach Goal
Teens were increasingly bored with the traditional mall experience, so we created a surprising campaign that transformed adrenaline-fueled screams into shareable social moments, revitalizing Nickelodeon Universe at Mall of America and reversing a declining attendance trend.
The Challenge
Despite being housed in North America's largest mall with 40 million annual visitors, Nickelodeon Universe was experiencing declining attendance from the valuable teen and tween demographic and their mall-shopping parent "chauffeurs." The challenge was to overcome teen indifference while providing compelling, shareable experiences to draw them back to Nick.
Teen Boredom
Teens had a "been there, done that" attitude toward both the theme park and Mall of America. Their environment felt repetitive and unstimulating, failing to align with their developmental need for novel experiences, autonomy, and identity exploration. For teens, cool places are defined not just by the experience but by its shareability — if you can't post about it, is it even worth doing?
Amplify the forbidden pleasure of your scream
We discovered a powerful insight: the adrenaline rush of controlled chaos serves as a coping mechanism for teen stress. Rather than fighting teen behavior, we celebrated it by turning their natural screams into social currency. This approach validated their experiences while providing the novelty and shareability they craved.
An integrated creative campaign
Our integrated creative campaign delivered Good Wins with an 11% increase in Nickelodeon Universe attendance (while average mall traffic in Minnesota fell by 3%).
- 5% increase in revenue during spring break
- 4% jump in ridership
- 24,000+ record Nickelodeon Universe Scream Chaser passes sold in the first two months
- 19,500+ #NickelodeonUniverse pics posted to Instagram
- 19% increase in overall reach goal against benchmark
“Nickelodeon Universe is a key draw for the 40 million Mall of America visitors each year. Preston Spire’s iconic “Scream Collector" has been the most successful campaign in our theme park’s history. It has given our team a concept to build future internal programs around.”
Get Results Like This
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