MAC MILLER

A global, augmented reality campaign to engage superfans and drive community around a posthumous album.

BALLOONERISM ALBUM

Mac Miller’s second posthumous album Balloonerism is a previously unreleased project that he worked on during the development of his critically acclaimed mixtape Faces, in the midst of arguably the most experimental era of his career. The album was mostly created within a two-week long “jam session” in March 2014 that took place in Mac’s Sanctuary studio. Although he ultimately shelved Balloonerism in favor of other releases, the project “was of great importance to [Mac].”

Balloonerism was officially released on January 17, 2025—over a decade after the project’s creation, exactly five years after the release of his first posthumous album Circles, and two days before what would have been his 33rd birthday. An official short film companion was released on Amazon Prime alongside the album.

BALLOONERISM FILM

The Balloonerism short film companion to Mac Miller's Balloonerism follows a group of school friends who are transfigured by the music of a chord organ and launched into a shadow world. Pursued by the turtle of time, they must plod through the underbelly of adulthood. Based on the lyrics and music of Mac Miller and directed by Samuel Jerome Mason.

The film premiered for one night only with advanced screenings in select theaters worldwide:

Pittsburgh, New York, Paris, Syndey, Melbourne, Auckland, Toronto, Berlin, London, Dublin

GEOSPATIAL AUGMENTED REALITY

Outside of screening locations in Pittsburgh, New York, London, Paris, and Toronto fans were presented with branded QR codes and signage that would launch a geospatially-anchored augmented reality experience.  

Using Google’s Geospatial Creator technology, we brought the album artwork to life for fans and structurally anchored the balloon to the theaters. The AR was anchored equally by point cloud, location coordinates, and the live camera feed.

The experience lived outside of social media and required no app downloads, QR codes launched directly into an instant application.

Outside the Pittsburgh Science Center

CAMPAIGN HERO VIDEO

A few days after the release of the album and short film, on Malcolm’s birthday, we released our hero video that watches Balloonerism untie at the film screening location in Pittsburgh (where Malcolm was born & raised), float through locations of key moments in his life and music (like Blue Slide Park), travel around the world, and return home. 

Fans were encouraged to look out their windows all around the world to see Balloonerism for themselves by going to www.balloonerism.com.

Featured Pittsburgh Locations

  • Shadow Lounge 

  • Blue Slide Park 

  • Frick Street Market 

  • ID Labs 

  • Allderdice High School 

  • Jerry’s Records 

  • Daily Bread 

Featured Global Locations  

  • New York

  • London 

  • Berlin 

  • Norway 

  • Paris 

  • Sydney

  • LA 

As Balloonerism traveled the globe, we aimed to create a space where fans could connect deeply with the album and artist and share that connection with fellow fans.

Balloonerism.com became a powerful tribute gallery, filled with heartfelt video and photo submissions from fans worldwide. These personal captured moments came together to celebrate Mac’s enduring legacy, creating a beautiful tapestry of names, photos, and videos showcasing the love that unites fans across the world.

We created a separate subdomain ar.balloonerism.com that embedded an AR camera that utilized sky segmentation ML, powered by Snap’s Camera Kit, directly into the browser. We built out a custom capture, save, and submission process as well as a custom SMS sharing mechanism that helped to generate a viral loop.

BALLOONERISM WebAR

USER GALLERY

Marcus

San Francisco

Christoffer

Copenhagen

Piotr

Torun

Luciana Paiz

Guatemala

Angelo Valcarcel

Arequipa, Pe

Jaemin

Seoul

Tania Dickson

Queenstown

Natalie

Wasilla, Alaska

Jeroen

Zurich

Erica

Porto, Portugal

Limin

Tapei

Tolucon

Bogota, Colombia

Valicity

Portland, OR

Sis Pasi

Hauula, HI

AUDIENCE REACTION / CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE

24 hrs

within 24 hours…

10,000+

website visitors

17,000+

unique visits

95

countries

6,000+

AR videos saved

2,500+

AR videos shared

1.7M+

hero video views

1,200+

hero video comments

CREDITS

 Record Label: Warner Records 

VP Digital Innovation: Jacqui Bransky

SVP Marketing: TJ Landig

Marketing Coordinator: Amy Maciejewski

Digital Marketing: Theresa Aufner

Record Label: 92tilinfitiy

Creative Director: Miller McCormick

Management: 4 Strikes

Christian Clancy

Preston Hui 

Production Company: W-RLDS 

Producer: Daniel Kelly 

Producer: Reed Matthews

AR Technologist: Tomas Bourett

WebAR Developer: Tyler Cagle

Cinematographer: Elan Mizrahi

Editor: The Reggies

VFX: Isabel Yayla 

Colorist: Erik Rojas

THANK YOU