What Happens When You Let AI Plan a Popsicle Giveaway?
The Idea:
On October 9th, we came up with a crazy idea.
SF Tech Week is a week away. We wanted to show up and tell more people about Manus, in a creative and fun way. How about handing out popsicles? And not just regular ones, but ones shaped like our logo - the finger snap.
We weren’t sure if it’s doable, but with the help of Manus, we thought we’d give it a try.
This is the story of how we went from a wild idea to a full-blown marketing campaign under a week. We’re pulling back the curtain to show you the exact steps we took and the results Manus delivered.
The Challenge:
Pulling off a pop-up event in a major city in under a week is… ambitious.
We needed to find a high-traffic location, source a food truck, get custom popsicles made based on a 3D mold of our logo, navigate city regulations, and design all the branding.
Normally, this would take a team of people weeks, if not months. But we had a secret weapon.
We had Manus.
Manus to the Rescue:
We immediately put Manus to work. Here’s a breakdown of how we used our own tool to bring this campaign to life:
Day 1:
The Permit Puzzle
We know that SF is famously strict about food vendors, and want to make sure we’re not breaking any rules. It takes at least two weeks to get a temporary license to serve food in any public areas. At this point, we only had a week left. We looked into private parking lots, but didn’t make much progress...
Day 2:
Location, location, location!
In the meantime, we started scouting for a location.
Our prompt to Manus was simple: “Research highest traffic intersections where you can park a food truck in San Francisco specifically around SF tech week.”
Within minutes, Manus returned a detailed analysis of several locations, including a visualized map.
We learned that Manus accessed the official DataSF Open Data Portal, used the Socrata Open Data API (SODA) to download the complete dataset and put it on a map. We also learned that most of the food trucks only operate during lunch hours, while the permits allow them to be there the whole time.
So we came up with an idea: how about working with an off-hours food truck!
We called up Truly Food Truck, a small business that serves tacos and burritos. The owner answered: “We have never done this before, but we’re happy to help.”
Felt like the plan is back on track again!
Day 3-4:
Making Custom Popsicles: the Vendor Mania
Now that we figured out the location, we need to figure out how to make custom popsicles.
We initially wanted to serve ice cream, but realized they won’t stay in the Manus logo shape for long before melting, so pivoted to popsicles.
We needed vendors that made popsicles in-house, and thought about using a 3D printed mold to create our custom popsicles.
Luckily, Manus found us a number of vendors, with detailed pricing and contact information.
One of them - Bliss Pops that specializes in custom popsicles. Despite the short turnaround, they said yes to our popsicles!
Day 5-6:
The Creative Sprint
With the logistics handled, it was time to get creative. Because our truck was rented, we can’t do a full vehicle wrap.
We put pictures of Truly’s food trucks into Manus, and asked Manus to “suggest a few creative yet simple decoration ideas for our pop-up food truck.”
Here are the results:
Day 7:
Time to go LIVE!
The results were even better than we expected. We handed out over 100 popsicles. The line was around the block.
We met many users and new friends, the real win was the conversations we started.
We didn’t just hand out popsicles; we shared the story of how Manus made it all possible, and we showed people firsthand the power of our platform.
Takeaway:
If You Can Think of It, You Can Do It
This campaign was more than just a marketing stunt. It was a real-world test of our product.
•We proved that with Manus, a small team can execute a complex campaign on an impossible timeline.
•It’s a testament to the power of AI to not just accelerate work, but to unlock creativity and make crazy ideas a reality.
•So if you also have something crazy in mind, don’t let a tight deadline or people hold you back. With Manus, you can move at the speed of thought.
Try Manus today!
Replay links to Manus tasks mentioned above: