It’s Emmy season, which means studios are pulling out all the stops in an effort to draw Television Academy members to their events, where creativity is key to standing out in a crowded field.
Below, Gold Derby rounds up some of the special For Your Consideration campaign stops that had people talking — including those centered around food, fashion, and fandom. In many cases, the stars showed up in person to mingle with Emmy voters.
We’ll all find out which events impressed TV Academy members the most when the nominations for the 2026 Emmys are announced on July 8.
Elsbeth
On April 24, Carrie Preston stopped by the iconic Pink’s Hot Dogs in Los Angeles to celebrate Season 3 of Elsbeth and its move from drama to comedy. She took home a 2013 Emmy for playing the same quirky crime-solver in The Good Wife, and later appeared in The Good Fight, before headlining her own show. Preston helped launch the Elsbeth Hot Dog, a custom 9-incher topped with coleslaw, cheddar, mustard, and ketchup. Even better: every Thursday until June 11, the first 100 customers at Pink’s who request an Elsbeth Hot Dog will receive a free one, while supplies last.
The Traitors
The Traitors is known for three things: murders, banishments, and Alan Cumming’s eye-popping wardrobe. On April 21, Peacock’s Emmy-winning competition series staged a glamorous FYC event at Trophy Room L.A. celebrating all of Cumming’s best looks, including the Season 3 wedding dress and the Season 4 blue poncho with LED lights. Watch the fashion show:
The show’s FYC roundtable was moderated by Monét X Change (Season 4 contestant) and included Cumming (host and executive producer), Sam Spector (Cumming’s wardrobe designer), and more creatives. Regarding his extravagant costumes, Cumming told the crowd, “Sometimes [Spector] will say, ‘I think we’ve gone too far,’ and I’m like, ‘We went too far in Season 2!'”
Hacks
On April 8, HBO Max celebrated Earth Day by adopting a stretch of I-15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles (the show’s two most visited locations). The Deborah Vance Fan Club, aka the “Little Debbies,” cleaned up the roadway near San Bernardino underneath a “Divas Don’t Litter: Keep the Deborah Vance Highway Beautiful” billboard. The superfans dressed in pink safety vests and leopard-print hard hats in honor of the fictitious stand-up comedian played by Jean Smart, who so far has won four Emmys for Hacks (plus two for Frasier and one for Samantha Who?). This “Adopt-a-Highway” program will be in effect through April 8, 2027.
Apple TV
During the last weekend of April and the first of May, Apple TV Emmy-fied the Westfield Century City with an installation geared toward its award contenders. The pop-up, which was open to Emmy voters as well as average mall attendees, included special photo ops, immersive exhibits, and customized merch giveaways. The launch party on April 23 featured stars from Pluribus (Karolina Wydra and Samba Schutte), Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Greg Kinnear and Michael Angarano), The Morning Show (Mark Duplass and Karen Pittman), and Shrinking (Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, and Ted McGinley). Speaking of Shrinking …
Across the country in New York City, the Emmy-nominated comedy series staged a two-day event on May 1 and 2 in celebration of Season 3. It included a trip to the Empire State Building, where Ted McGinley snapped a photo of his wind-blown cast members up on the observation deck.
The following day, the entire ensemble — including lead actor Jason Segel and supporting stand-out Harrison Ford — sat for a SiriusXM Q&A. Later that night, the Shrinking stars mingled with Emmy and guild voters at MoMA and Quality Italian.
On May 9, Margo’s Got Money Troubles teamed up with Bloomingdale’s stores in Los Angeles (Westfield Century City) and New York City (1000 Third Avenue) to celebrate Mother’s Day. The collaboration was a wink to the moment from the first episode in which Margo (Elle Fanning) sprawls out on the floor of the high-end department store and complains to her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) about the cost of raising a baby.
Fans of the freshman Apple TV comedy received Bon Bon candies, plus tote bags and hats branded with the show’s viral quote “There are no victims in Bloomingdale’s.”
The Audacity
In May, AMC’s freshman drama set in Silicon Valley launched an immersive FYC campaign that included wraps on food-delivery robots and lightly threatening coffee cup sleeves. The messaging put a cutthroat, tech-y spin on familiar Emmy branding. The rollout came with confirmation of The Audacity‘s above-the-line submissions — see here.
“Consider this show, or we’ll share you passwords,” said the coffee sleeve bearing the faces of lead actors Billy Magnussen and Sarah Goldberg. Another version read: “We know your coffee order… and what shows you voted for.” Magnussen’s Duncan Park also popped up on the underside of the food delivery robot’s lid with a special message: “We just stole all your data.”
