When Paramount+ planned to adapt Halo as a TV series on its streaming platform, it needed a campaign that matched the inventiveness and science fiction wizardry of one of the highest-grossing gaming franchises in history. It also needed to bring the Halo universe to a broader, general entertainment audience—recruiting gaming, action and sci-fi fans as subscribers along the way.

Giant Spoon had the answer: 400 drones flying in synchronized formation above the SXSW festival, 300 feet tall and 600 feet wide—the height of the Statue of Liberty and the length of two football fields.

After introducing the franchise’s favorite characters, each show ended with a QR code that brought consumers to the “Halo the Series” site. There, they could stream the trailer and access a computer interface from the series. The codes had a scannability radius of one mile and the entire presentation could be seen two miles from downtown Austin.

Not only did the stunt garner attention on entertainment and broadcast news outlets, but the series debut was Paramount’s most-watched to date. It was a hit with the Small Agency award judges, too, who honored Giant Spoon with the Campaign of the Year, Experiential, Silver award.