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The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2024–2025

Papaya launched a gaming brand with a real 165-foot swing over New York

The debut film had adults swinging over the skyline, shot in-camera; Cannes Lions shortlisted it three times.

Papaya

the move

Papaya, a mobile-gaming company known for solitaire, bingo and bubble games, needed to introduce itself in a category where every competitor shouts about features. Its answer was not a product demo but a physical embodiment of the brand idea: Play On.

With creative agency You're the Goods, Papaya built a custom 165-foot swing rig in New York City and filmed adults swinging high above the skyline — captured in-camera with no digital effects or green screens, engineered with stunt teams who worked on major Hollywood productions.

The film made the brand's promise tangible: play is not childish, it is a joy adults can reclaim. The campaign premiered in December 2024, and a DeepScreen 3D adaptation on London's Piccadilly Lights brought the stunt to one of the world's most iconic advertising sites.

Juries responded to the blend of idea and craft: the campaign earned a spot on the 2025 Cannes Lions shortlist in three production and craft categories, and the brand positioned itself as the champion of play across the UK, the US and beyond.

why it works

  • A real physical stunt is impossible to dismiss as marketing fiction.
  • Adults, not children, were the heroes — matching the brand's audience.
  • The in-camera execution made the film itself the proof of the promise.
  • The 3D Piccadilly adaptation extended the idea to a global stage.
the payoffProve the brand promise physicallyneat

what transfers

For a brand whose entire pitch is an emotion, a physically real demonstration can outclaim any special effect — the audience's first question, 'is it real?', becomes the campaign.

what came after

Papaya reported the campaign's Cannes Lions 2025 shortlisting in three categories, and the film became the launchpad for the Play On platform across the UK and US. The physical swing idea carried into a DeepScreen 3D version at Piccadilly Lights, extending a one-off stunt into an enduring brand property.

references

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