Create a fan experience at Comic Con that put Nickelodeon's Rise of the TMNT brand on every attendee's social feed.
Comic Con Johannesburg draws thousands of passionate fans — a concentrated audience of exactly the demographic that Nickelodeon's Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was built for. The challenge was standing out in a venue packed with competing activations, cosplay, and content, and giving TMNT fans a moment that felt genuinely interactive and personal — not just another branded selfie station.
Nickelodeon needed an activation that:
— Created an immersive, character-driven fan moment at the photobooth that fans would genuinely want to participate in
— Gave every fan a choice — making the experience feel personal to them and their favourite turtle
— Delivered a professionally branded photo to every fan's phone before they left the activation zone
— Extended the brand's reach beyond Comic Con through social sharing and WhatsApp — turning attendees into Nickelodeon content creators
— Captured first-party fan data (name, surname, email, and cell number) for Nickelodeon's marketing database
"Comic Con is the perfect audience for TMNT — the challenge was creating a moment that would feel worthy of sharing, and get the Nickelodeon brand into their feeds long after they left the floor."
— Nickelodeon Marketing TeamA custom TMNT Social Photobooth — 4 character weapon props, branded photo frame, SMS and email delivery, and a Nickelodeon microsite with social and WhatsApp sharing.
Social Wiiv designed and deployed a fully custom Social Photobooth activation for Nickelodeon at Comic Con Johannesburg, built around the Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Fans chose their favourite character's weapon prop — Leo's katana, Raph's sai, Donnie's bō staff, or Mikey's nunchaku — posed for their photo, registered their details on the booth's touchscreen, and received their branded photo via both SMS and a custom branded Nickelodeon email, linking to a bespoke microsite where they could download or share to social media and WhatsApp with a single tap.
1. Four TMNT Character Weapon Props
The activation's central mechanic gave every fan a choice — not just a photo, but a moment of character identity. Before stepping into the photobooth, fans selected one of four TMNT character weapon props, each representing one of the four turtles from Rise of the TMNT. The choice made the experience personal: a Leonardo fan picked the blue katana; a Raphael fan grabbed the red sai. That simple prop selection turned a photo into a genuine character moment — and made the resulting image more meaningful and more shareable.
2. Photo Capture & Fan Registration
With their chosen weapon prop in hand, fans stepped into the Social Photobooth and took their photo. After the shot, the booth's touchscreen guided them through a quick, frictionless registration flow — name, surname, email address, and cell number — capturing a complete first-party data record from an actively engaged, high-intent Nickelodeon fan at the peak of their enthusiasm. The registration step was designed to feel like a natural part of the photo process, not a barrier to it.
3. Nickelodeon Branded Microsite & Multi-Channel Delivery
Every photo taken through the activation was delivered through two simultaneous channels — an instant SMS and a custom branded Nickelodeon email — both linking to a bespoke Nickelodeon microsite built around the Rise of the TMNT series. On the microsite, the fan's photo was automatically overlaid with the official Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo and Nickelodeon-branded photo frame, creating a finished, professional-quality branded image. From there, fans had complete flexibility: download directly to their phone, share to social media, or send it to friends on WhatsApp.
Every Comic Con fan left with a branded Nickelodeon TMNT photo on their phone — and a reason to share it.
The Nickelodeon TMNT Social Photobooth at Comic Con Johannesburg delivered a character-driven, high-engagement fan experience that gave Nickelodeon both an immediate activation win and lasting reach beyond the event floor. The combination of character prop personalisation, dual SMS and email delivery, and WhatsApp sharing created multiple touchpoints from a single fan interaction — every participant left as a potential Nickelodeon content creator, with a fully branded Rise of the TMNT photo ready to share.
The character prop mechanic proved particularly effective at Comic Con — an audience of fans who already had strong character allegiances. The choice of prop wasn't a trivial detail: it made the photo feel like a personal statement about which turtle they identified with, which made the resulting image far more likely to be shared. A Leo fan's photo wasn't just a branded selfie — it was their declaration of loyalty to the blue turtle, taken at Comic Con, with the official Nickelodeon frame.
The dual SMS and email delivery — combined with the WhatsApp sharing option on the microsite — created a multi-channel amplification loop from a single fan interaction. Every fan who shared their photo became a Nickelodeon brand ambassador to their own network, extending the Rise of the TMNT campaign reach well beyond the Comic Con attendance footprint and into the personal social feeds and WhatsApp groups of thousands of potential viewers.
"Giving fans the prop choice was the key — it made the photo theirs, not just ours. And once it was on their phone, the WhatsApp sharing meant it spread far further than just their Instagram."
— Nickelodeon Marketing Team