ATLANTA: ROBBIN' SEASON

We were asked by FX to pitch campaign ideas for the season 2 of Atlanta, which they referred to as "Robbin' Season." Donald Glover had said, "if last season was a dream, than this season is a nightmare."

Set to take place in the frigid winter of Atlanta, the episodes were to be heavily revolved around acts of survival and desperation. During the creation of the new season, Glover referenced Looney Tunes and spoke about how the various characters of the show, along with events within the story line, resembled the cartoon where things are often surreal. We were asked to be be funny, be weird, and be real—while keeping in mind this dark and twisted story arc of this season.

We did not win this pitch, but it was fun to create these concepts and scripts—RIP.

TEASER: THE DECAY.

Recalling the peaches in the mouths of Earn, Alfred, and Darius in the S1 key art—we’ll create a “timelapse” video of three peaches on a tree, slowly decaying and being covered in frost to foreshadow things to come in Robbin’ Season.

CAMPAIGN VIDEO: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE.

As we know, in Atlanta, Earn gets himself into managing his cousin’s music career and he finds himself running into weird situations filled with weird characters. We could compare his journey to that of Alice from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This is a dream turning into a nightmare.

SCRIPT

We see Earn walking past through brightly lit neons and colored lights. He passes through hoards of strippers (TOUCH ME), mountains of drinks (DRINK ME), a feast filled with Atlanta finest (EAT ME), people strewn on giant pillows smoking hookahs (SMOKE ME). Scattered amongst the crowd is Alfred, sitting on the couch with Darius smoking blunts. He comes to a mirrored room. All showing reflections of him and Van standing at a threshold of a door. She shuts the door and the mirrors shatter.

Fog starts to surround him, before he knows it, he’s staring at a dense wall of cloud. Too thick to walk through, too tall to walk over—it’s actually made of cotton. He hears voices through the clouds but can’t make a word of it. A sign on the floor says “CRAWL.”

He looks around. Then eventually gets on his hands and knees and before you know it his whole body is on the floor. The stretch seems endless. The air feels too heavy breathe in, the space seems too tight to crawl in. 

He inches in.

Sweat is pouring down his face. He hears voices of people he’s met throughout S1. The “so likable” Craig reciting his poem about Jim Crow; the screams of a random victim of the Migos; his white “friend” at the radio station saying the N-word; etc. Soon the light dissipates, and the voices fade. Eventually he’s surrounded by darkness and silence. Cue heartbeat sound and music. All we hear his his breathing getting unsteady as he grunts to push through with all of his might. He just wants out. Music gets intense. We hear him scream and it disappears fast into the distance. 

He falls.

Earn wakes up on the couch, in the snow-ridden yard of his cousin’s yard.

360º VIDEO: THE COUCH

See what it’s like to sit on “the couch.” Users will have
a voyeuristic experience staring into the environment of the neighborhood, and will get to feel like they sat through some of the iconic couch conversations by Earn, Alfred, and Darius—plus a glimpse into RS.

Kickoff the 360º video with recreations of the iconic couch scenes (e.g. rat phone E01, Darius dabbing/party recap in E10) followed by various events that are inside jokes from the show. But won’t exclude new viewers who are fans of comedy—it will actually be a great introduction.
When cast are not present, we’ll widen the focus—In the distance, neighbors can be seen taking out the trash or walking their dog, playing dice and making transactions, children playing tag. A peacock will stroll by and disappear out of the user’s sight. A person driving an invisible car will slow ride down the road, bumping their music—This model is like a low rider, he stops and shows off the various heights. (Alt: invisible car drive-by shooting, no one gets hurt because of their amateur aim) 

And soon summer turns to winter, day turns into night. The blue skies are gone, not a single star, nothing but low hanging gray clouds. Snow slowly falls. Colored Christmas lights are strewn on top of the backrest. A barrel on fire in the distance—silhouettes of people fighting. You hear sirens from a far. They’ll see “their breath” coming out. Then the user will hear the clocking of a gun behind his head as someone says “give me your money.” END 360º.

In the snow-covered field lies an imprint that reads “ATLANTA.”

CAMPAIGN VIDEOS: FOLLOW THEIR MONEY

As an extension of Follow The Money, this sequential follows the money of Earn, Alfred, Darius, and Van that connects the characters all together.

SCRIPT 1: EARN

Camera shows Earn walking down his neighborhood. Cuts interlaced with his POV: kids playing with water guns, grandmas out with their hats and fans, dudes sitting around drinking 40s. 
He looks down at the bills in his hand. Folds it in half, takes off his shoe, bends down and places them on the sole. He puts his shoe on. Cut to his face as he looks up. Cut to his POV and suddenly it’s stark winter—desolate and deprived of vitality. Cut back to Earn as we zoom in on his face. His lips are chapped, his cheeks are little sunken in, he kind of looks like hell. He shivers a bit and we see his breath coming out. He sternly walks forward. He’s now at Van’s. He kneels and takes some money out. Knocks on the door and she answers.

SCRIPT 2: VAN

Van opens her apartment door, and see’s Earn. He hands her money, and leaves. She closes the door. She puts her coat on, and grabs Lotti from her crib.
(It’s night) Van drops Lotti off at Earn’s mother’s. Back to the car, she drives through the quiet neighborhoods. Her car stops in front of Alfred’s. She gets out.
She rings his doorbell. Darius opens the door holding a knife, realizing she’s a beautiful girl, he pulls back the knife and offers her cookies. She walks in. Alfred is seen busy playing his game but takes a moment to look over and nod. Van in awkwardness and discomfort lightly waves. She hands Darius the money, he gives her a bag of joints. Darius offers her cookies again, she looks a bit weirded out, shakes her head to decline, and leaves. Darius closes the door.

SCRIPT 3: DARIUS

Darius closes the door. Hands Alfred the money, who is still busy with his game. Darius leaves it next to him.
He goes to the kitchen table to a bowl of cereal he had been eating. He sets the money down and grabs his spoon. After a few spoonfuls, and suddenly his face scrunches as if he stumbled upon a mysterious object with his teeth and tongue. He takes it out of his mouth and observes it with his fingers. It’s “the lost bullet.” He sets it down.
Alfred looks back at Darius, and sees the bullet. He tosses controller, grabs the money Darius had left and the two of them puts jackets on, leaves their house and gets into Alfred’s car.

SCRIPT 4: ALFRED

Alfred and Darius are eating takeout in their car. They exchange glares between some people that are parked, with hostility vibes. Alfred wraps up his unfinished meal and starts the car. They drive off. 
They see a hooker beating up a man, while her other hooker friends egg on. Alfred and Darius exchange looks. Alfred shakes his head. They proceed.
They spot Earn walking. They pull up next to him. Earn bends down. Alfred hands Earn the money. We see his hand reach out through Darius’ window holding the cash. Earn grabs it. When he leans back up, we’re back to a day in the summer time.
Alfred and Darius drives off. Earn walks on.

EXPERIENTIAL: TRADE UP

Recalling the series of trades Darius makes to make more money for Earn, without disclosing how long it would take Earn to get cash—We’ll place an “interactive” vending machine that serves like a
“pawn shop.” 
Placed throughout major cities, this machine will reward those who interact with items related to the show and will drive buzz on the show’s return.

An ad on screen says, “INSERT YOUR ITEM HERE,” It has vague ads by Ahmand White replaying that seems to sell something, but you aren’t sure what. He says, “trade up now.” It shows stock footage-like videos of people who are happy, powerful, wealthy, beautiful, famous, etc.
You type in your name, age, and your photo will be taken (smile for the camera). A slot opens and a prompt asks you to insert an item of your choosing. 
Through a filtering process, ie. a human behind the machine, we determine the item’s worthiness. If it’s trash, we will reject it and return their item immediately and prompt them to give a better item. A message will appear that says, “Insufficient Item.” Or maybe it will even say “Give me your watch.” If the item is worthy, we will accept.

Once an acceptable item is inserted, a prompt will disclose that they will not be getting it back if they hit accept, otherwise, they can hit refund and get it back. When they accept, we’ll dispense an item and show photo of them with branded frame that says:
Don’t ask where this came from. 

ATLANTA Robbin’ Season
(release date)

With an option to retake their photo/share it on social.
We can capture footage around this experiential of the many different interactions and put it on social and drive further awareness of the campaign.

ITEMS

Burner phone
Stripper attire
Earn’s “Keep On Keepin’ On” shirt
Paper Boi’s mixtape
Pre-Dumps Swisher Sweets
Rolled-up cash (real $ or fake Paper Boi $)
Gold watch w/ Atlanta inscribed

CREDITS

Agency: Art Machine (Trailer Park)
Senior Art Director: Terry Lee
Copywriter: Meaghan Royce