FX built its Season 2 marketing push for the sitcom Adults around two experiential activations designed to place fans inside the show's world of twenty-something city life.

In New York, where the series is set, FX partnered with Prince Street Pizza to stage Munchie Mart, a bodega-style pop-up takeover of the venue Arlene's Grocery. In Los Angeles, the network teamed up with live-selling app Whatnot at Melrose Trading Post to import a piece of New York's stoop-sale culture to the West Coast.

The two activations aimed to immerse fans in an experience true to the Gen-Z-focused show, Kenya Hardaway, SVP of integrated promotions at FX, told Marketing Brew.

"We want to engage the fans in that world and into the elements and themes that they really enjoy and appreciate," she said. "In building that, we are careful to carry through with the look and feel of the show to highlight the characters, to highlight some of the tone, and build out a consumer journey that allows them to step inside that."

Built around young-adult routines

This was not the first time FX took Adults off screen. For the show's premiere last year, the network popped up in laundromats in LA and New York, venues Hardaway said city-living young adults, like the show's main characters, naturally frequent.

Ahead of Season 2, which has been well-received critically, the same logic drove planning.

"We identified this late-night experience of young twentysomethings that can happen at the bodega, after the party or before heading to the afterparty," Hardaway said. "What is that experience of going in there with your friends and looking for snacks? And where does the night lead you based on having that type of experience?"

At Arlene's Grocery, that experience led to surprise performances. Visitors received free pizza with character-inspired toppings and could pass through a speakeasy entrance disguised as a freezer door into the venue's main performance space. VIP guests on opening night watched a table read from the Adults cast, while general audiences heard a DJ set and stand-up from various comedians, Hardaway said.

The LA activation leaned on Gen Z's appetite for secondhand fashion. According to ThredUp's 2026 Resale Report, 62% of Gen Z shopped secondhand last year, and the US secondhand apparel market is projected to grow to more than $78 billion by 2030. At the Stoop Sale, attendees browsed curated vintage collections inspired by characters' wardrobes on Adults, both at Melrose Trading Post and online via the Whatnot app.

The app extended the activation's reach beyond those physically present, Hardaway said. "Whether they could make a purchase with us IRL or through the Whatnot app, we could extend our audience for that popup to some fans both online as well as in the space, and really allow all of them to take advantage of that opportunity," she said.

FX designed both activations to draw foot traffic, encourage active participation, and generate earned and social media coverage, Hardaway said. Final results data was not yet available, and she declined to share budget figures. She emphasized that FX prioritizes intentional collaborations that produce "a quality creative that aligns with the show and the quality of what people can see when they watch it."

IRL as the last communal screen

Experiential campaigns remain a growth area for entertainment marketers. In 2026, Peacock's Love Island USA, Apple TV's Margo's Got Money Troubles, and Hulu's The Testaments have all brought pieces of their fictional worlds into real ones.

The strategy matters more now than ever, according to Hardaway, because in-person activations are one of the dwindling ways TV fans can gather around a show together.

"Television viewing of past years was very programmed for a communal experience. You had those water-cooler moments," she said. "But because viewing of content is so individualized now, and people watch it on their own time, the IRL experience is really the only time when fans and the audience come together at once to celebrate that content…and to indulge in that and to get excited about that with like-minded friends and guests."

Source: Marketing Brew (https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/fx-adults-sitcom-experiential-popup-prince-street-pizza-melrose-trading-post?utm_source=&utm_medium=syndication&utm_campaign=feed)