Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV Series Guerilla Marketing Campaign

Submission 2,793

Part of a series on Viral Marketing. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV Series Guerilla Marketing Campaign, which includes the Tyra Banks Furry NBA Stunt and the Mark Normand Stage Rush Incident, refers to an alleged guerilla or viral marketing strategy adopted by the creators of the Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot featuring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. A series of gimmick events unfolded in New York City in January 2024, including comedian Mark Normand being rushed off stage following a man storming the stage, Tyra Banks being seated next to two furries at an NBA game and artist Timothy Goodman having a custom pair of shoes being "heisted" from a show. The events were documented on the Instagram page @hi_hi_ and cross-promoted on Glover's social media, leading many to conclude that the events were a gimmick marketing campaign for Glover's new spy show.

Background

On January 20th, 2024, TikToker^[1] @taylorquitara posted a video documenting an "art heist" that took place at Timothy Goodman's show in New York, with a pair of custom jeweled shoes being stolen after smashing the glass case they were displayed in (seen below).

On January 24th, various news outlets documented Tyra Banks being seated between two people wearing fursuits at an NBA game, as seen in a post by X^[2] account @PopCrave that gathered over 37,000 likes and 2.3 million views in two days (seen below).

On January 25th, 2024, a video of comedian Mark Norman being interrupted by a spectator and him and his audience eventually being asked to leave the comedy club was shared online. The X^[3] account @BlindMike_ posted an angle of the incident that night, gathering over 34,000 likes in a day (seen below).

Also on January 25th, the venue hosting Mark Norman made a post^[4] about the incident, saying that it was a gimmick staged event by @Hi_Hi_, calling it the "producers" that rented out the venue that night (seen below).

Developments

On January 25th, 2024, Vanity Fair^[5] published an article interviewing Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in anticipation of their show Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The prelude to the interview delved into the premise of the show, saying that "Glover and Erskine play two wannabe spies partnered up by a mysterious entity they nickname 'Hihi.'"

Also on January 25th, Glover^[6] reposted stories originally posted by the Instagram page @hi_hi_ (seen below). The stories documented Norman's comedy set, Tyra Bank's NBA furry incident, as well as the "art heist" at Timothy Goodman's show.

Around the time of the series of viral events in late January 2024, the Instagram^[7] page @hi_hi_ had been making sporadic image posts of scenic luxury locations since December 28th, 2023 (shown below).^[8]

Various internet users speculated about the connection between the different viral incidents, @hi_hi_ and Donald Glover after January 25th as each of the stunts sparked discourse online. A thread on the /r/donaldglover subreddit shows Redditor /u/breezyeezye^[9] citing @hi_hi's social media presence and the Vanity Fair article. Many comments on @hi_hi_'s posts allude to the account doing promotion for Mr. & Mrs. Smith as well.^[10]