In a bold move to launch its new venture, hyperlocal delivery giant Swiggy turned heads at a Mumbai mall with an unusual live installation. The company placed a man inside a structure resembling a chicken coop, where he lounged on a white couch, watching TV and scrolling on his phone. This visual metaphor for being 'cooped up' at home was a direct pitch for Swiggy's answer to urban boredom.
The Scene Inside the Coop: An Interactive Marketing Ploy
The installation, set up as a New Year's Eve special, was not just a static display. A board invited mall visitors to press a large red button to 'create a scene'. Each press activated party lights or fun effects inside the cage, jolting the relaxed man with a reminder of the lively experiences awaiting outside. The campaign was for Swiggy's latest offering, 'Scenes'—an app dedicated to live events and going-out options, positioning it against competitors like Zomato's District and BookMyShow.
From Mall Floor to Viral Fame: The Digital Aftermath
The stunt succeeded in its core objective: getting people to talk, both offline and online. Swiggy's own video of the 'man in a cage' garnered a massive 3.4 million views on Instagram, with significant discussion spilling over to LinkedIn. This mirrors a growing trend of brands using public performance art for organic virality. A notable precedent was Apple TV's early 2025 installation for 'Severance' at New York's Grand Central Station, which also achieved viral status due to its high-traffic location.
Experiential Marketing: More Than Just a Viral Stunt
While billboards and interactive campaigns can propel a brand into the online spotlight, Swiggy's cage installation touches on a deeper tradition of performance art. Historically, artists have used similar, voyeuristic setups to hold a mirror to societal behaviors. The campaign inadvertently echoes the work of seminal performance artist Marina Abramovic. Her 1974 piece, 'Rhythm 0', where audiences could use objects on her body, revealed disturbing truths about human aggression and misogyny in the absence of rules.
Swiggy's lighthearted coop may lack that dark edge, but it taps into a universal modern truth—the easy slip into passive, isolated entertainment. By making the 'cooped up' feeling literal and interruptible, the campaign cleverly positioned its 'Scenes' app as the antidote to solitary scrolling, advocating for real-world social connection and experiences.
