'Rick and Morty' and Wendy's head to Las Vegas for March Madness

March Madness won’t be the only event taking over Las Vegas this weekend. Adult Swim’s mega-popular “Rick and Morty” will land on the strip from March 17-20 for “Morty’s Mayhem,” the show’s latest partnership with Wendy’s featuring the return of the Pickle Rick Frosty.

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Last year, the series and fast feeder teamed up for a store and menu takeover in Los Angeles called “Morty’s,” which saw fans drive across the country and wait in lines for up to nine hours. The experience centered on a drive-thru tunnel lined with LED screens of custom animation from the show, housed between mammoth blow-ups of dimension-hopping mad scientist Rick and the character that mashes together his grandson Morty with the freckle-faced Wendy’s mascot.

Sir, this is a Morty’s. pic.twitter.com/u7B1GLMGLL

See: A Wendy's in Los Angeles gets the Rick and Morty treatment

Housed at Resorts World Las Vegas, “Morty’s Mayhem” will see the return of last year’s inflatable heads, now sporting sweatbands in tribute to the city’s college basketball festivities. But this time, visitors will be able to get up close with their interdimensional faves on foot in an immersive LED experience featuring more unique animation from the Adult Swim team. 

“Morty’s Mayhem” will also feature games that reward exclusive Wendy’s and “Rick and Morty” swag and an area to watch the college basketball tournaments. The experience will also mark the return of the Pickle Rick Frosty, a salty rendition of the restaurant’s classic Frosty with a dried pickle garnish. It will be available for free at the pop-up, alongside promotions for Wendy’s new breakfast item, the Hot Honey Biscuit, as well as its Hot and Crispy Fries and Frosty-ccino.

The activation was created with event agency The Marketing Arm, Golden Wolf animation studio and Wendy's marketing partners Spark and VMLY&R.

While last year’s activation was tied to the season five premiere of “Rick and Morty,” this year’s follow-up is not attached to the debut of any new episodes. It's a testament to the independent success of the partnership and a move that could draw viewers in need of an in-between-seasons fix out in droves. 

“The power of ‘Rick and Morty’ transcends a new series,” said Tricia Melton, chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Kids, Young Adults and Classics. “The power and the fan passion makes it such an opportunity that we can take that to market, we can surprise and delight fans basically anytime.”

“It's a perfect trifecta,” Melton said. “You've got Vegas, you've got college basketball at its apex and you've got this ‘Rick and Morty’ partnership with Wendy's that brings this other whole layer of surprise and silliness and fan experience altogether.”

Wendy’s first teamed with “Rick and Morty” in 2020 on a custom-animated ad featuring the zany adventurers on the run from a group of menacing Wendy’s breakfast items. That spot currently has over 10.5 million views on YouTube. From then through the end of 2021, Wendy’s breakfast grew from zero to 8% of its total sales, which Jimmy Bennett, vice president of media and social for Wendy’s, attributes in part to the partnership with the Adult Swim show.

“The content on air that [Adult Swim] did for us—Wendy's food animated into a scene with ‘Rick and Morty’—established a foundation for us to build upon,” Bennett told Ad Age. “Everything that we did with ‘Rick and Morty’ put forth enough motivation, enough incentive where it drove consumers into, ‘Hey, I gotta try this breakfast for myself.’”

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“We're always looking to do stuff that's unexpected, that leaves consumers saying that they want more and saying what's next,” added Bennett. The team at Adult Swim is "willing to get weird with us and to recognize that we have some fans and some consumers with such high expectations. We're in a position to deliver on that, so let's keep going and let's find bigger and better ways to show up out in the world.”