The creative idea came from constant conversation and uproar over President Trump’s tweeting. The president communicates so frequently (and erratically) on Twitter that former White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, confirmed that his tweets were “official White House statements.” As the home for late night satircal (and fake) news, The Daily Show wanted to ensure that these tweets were connected in a deserving setting - a place where every American could come to appreciate them, a tribute to the President and his historic 140-character works that would be experienced by the public via visual installations, exclusive videos, and hands on experiences (for hands of all sizes).

The library was brought to life in NYC and Chicago in open and raw spaces - the perfect environment to build our supporting elements, exhibits, and technologies. Our design team utilized each venue’s unique space to enhance the environment by building out nickname generators, a bank vault guarding Trump’s tax returns, and The Oval Office to name a few. The experience featured state-of-the-art visual installations, fully interactive hands-on activations, and large scale wall graphics featuring tweets, quotes and timelines.There was plenty of space for visitors to move around, different types of technology to interact with (from the iPad nickname generators, “Verified Survivors” audio recordings, videos featuring The Daily Show commentators, and two types of create-your-own-tweet games), and informational plaques throughout. Additionally, Trevor Noah hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony while correspondents gave people tours. To reach fans unable to attend, we also created a 360* virtual tour at www.thedailyshow.com/trumplibrary.

The grand opening in NYC was so popular that there was a 7+ hour wait to enter the experience. To accommodate the thousands of people waiting, we extended the hours the library was open to ensure as many people as possible could experience the activation -- and yet we still had to turn people away.

The activation generated massive buzz for The Daily Show with hundreds of press outlets coming to cover the library and experience it themselves. It also generated substantial engagement on the ground and via social media with over 480K digital engagements, 336M digital impressions, and 43K mentions across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram in less than 48 hours.

The Washington Post called the library a “smash hit”, The Huffington Post deemed it “the most impressive satire of the current administration to date” and The Los Angeles Times said it worked on “both a medic and scholarly level.”

Every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has been honored with a meticulously curated memorial library commemorating the documents of historical value crafted during his time as leader of the free world. Continuing this hallowed tradition, and seeing no need to wait for him to leave office, The Daily Show honored our current president in a way that would showcase our Commander in Chief’s preferred vessel for communicating with the public, his Twitter feed.

And so, we embarked on a journey to create “The Daily Show Presents: The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library,” -the first of its kind. The goal was to build an immersive and interactive experience that brought @realDonaldTrump’s twitter feed to life in the real world to generate social buzz around The Daily Show and solidify the show’s standing within the crowded late-night/satirical news competitive set.