Inside The Immersive Activations That Stole The Show At SDCC 2025

An alien from the upcoming FX/Hulu series Alien:Earth with the Hilton Bayfront Hotel in background, San Diego Comic-Con 2025

R. Salkowitz

Some of the longest lines at San Diego Comic-Con – a place famous for very long lines – were not for star-studded panels inside Hall H or for exclusive toys for sale on the exhibit floor. They were for Alien: Earth, an immersive experience installed on a patch of land between the Convention Center and the Hilton Bayfront hotel, designed to promote the new series debuting on FX and streaming on Hulu August 12.

Fans waited upwards of four hours in the sun and into the twilight hours to tour a meticulously decorated crash site full of spaceship wreckage and ominously-damaged specimen containers, under the watchful eye of special security forces. After dark, the drama was amplified by special effects and jump scares.

The Alien: Earth activation, along with equally elaborate amusement areas dedicated to ABC’s Abbott Elementary and the rebooted King of the Hill animated series on Hulu and Disney+, taking up more than two hundred thousand square feet along the esplanade, are the work of Creative Riff, an agency specializing in experiential marketing and the masterminds of some of Comic-Con’s biggest offsite attractions of the past decade. It’s a business generating over $10 million annually, according to the company.

“Fandom is at the root of everything we do,” says Ryan Coan, founder and CEO of Creative Riff, in an interview right after the end of SDCC 2025. “We’ve built a business working with brands to create the ultimate fan experience, where we can connect directly with fans of a franchise, get them excited about what’s coming out, and get them to be brand ambassadors who share the excitement with their followings.”

Impressing hardcore fans can be a tricky business, as the most knowledgeable and dedicated devotees of a fandom can also be the most protective and critical of inauthenticity. Activations that misfire can cost a brand both money and good will. But the ones that hit can cut through the noise and hype of SDCC by providing fans with a visceral, direct connection to their fandom.

Coan, who got his start in experiential advertising at the entertainment brand agency Van Wagner, has been coming up with new ways to entertain overstimulated SDCC attendees with Creative Riff since 2015. He says he and his team start thinking about killer concepts for San Diego Comic-Con six to eight months in advance, laying the groundwork for experiences that reward the long waits and get fans raving. Several hundred workers including full-time staff, contractors and vendors work around the clock during Comic-Con week to bring the experiences to life.

The Alien: Earth activation demonstrated meticulous attention to detail. Some parts of the walkthrough looked like cinema-quality movie sets with sound design, creepy lighting, a small army of actors, and of course some Instagramable backdrops. Those who “survived” the experience got some collectible keepsakes as well.

As SDCC has grown in scale and media impact over the past 20 years, the show has become an arms race for entertainment brands to make the biggest impact. At stake are billions of media impressions generated across the four and a half days of the event and a running start into an opening weekend or series launch.

“San Diego Comic-Con is one of the biggest opportunities to show up where fans are,” says Coan. “When you have hundreds of thousands of mega-fans walking around the area, it’s an opportunity to connect with them right in their communal space where they can get most excited about it.”

Though you don’t need a Comic-Con badge to explore most of the activations in the vicinity of the convention center, companies like Creative Riff work closely with Comic-Con International, the nonprofit organization that puts on the event, as well as the surrounding hotels. SDCC controls the “campus” of the convention center and its environs during the week of the show, and coordinates with vendors, studios and agencies to provide fans and brands with an experience that meets the Comic-Con standard.

According to Creative Riff, the company leads site-wide operations for Hilton San Diego Bayfront and along the San Diego Embarcadero during Comic-Con, coordinating with show logistics vendor Freeman and CCI, overseeing branded fan experiences across nearly all major spaces behind the convention center. Creative Riff also serves as Hilton San Diego Bayfront’s exclusive media event partner, managing all branded media placements during the convention and others throughout the year. For 2026, the company says they have approximately 20 premium out of home placements available as part of this long-standing partnership.

Coan says Creative Riff has used its experience and track record of success at Comic-Con to expand to other kinds of immersive exhibits at other, non-competitive events. Now that the live events business is back in growth mode following the pandemic, these unique and engaging personal experiences can help drive memorable experiences with fans, creating positive brand moments that reward the audience’s participation.

Coan says that dynamic is driving double-digit annual growth rates, and the once-specialized business of creating these experiences and activations is moving into the mainstream of brand marketing strategies.

With the Alien: Earth activation, Coan says he knew he had a hit when he saw a video of actors from the series walking through the experience at SDCC posted by the Los Angeles Times. “They were jumping and screaming and almost looking like they were in a scene from the series. That’s a neat moment that stands apart.”