Fans often cite Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's “Trials and Tribble-ations” as an example of how ambitious the 1990s Trek era could be, but it also inspired one of the most charmingly chaotic promotional campaigns of the DS9. For the time-traveling tribble romp, Paramount sent Terry Farrell, who played Jadzia Dax, on the road and underground for guerilla marketing. Farrell said via TrekMovie.com:
“Paramount was so excited. They sent me out. And I did even like a thing at Starbucks for an hour to promote the show. We went down to the subway stations and and put Tribbles everywhere in the subways of LA, like, yeah, they were everywhere. Yep, there were signs all over town about it coming out. It was crazy. It was like we never had that much publicity.”
Farrell saw DS9's full-court marketing coverage as odd compared to TNG, Voyager, and UPN. The studio realized that “Trials and Tribble-ations” was a true crossover event that could appeal to sentimental TOS, DS9, and casual viewers who remembered tribbles even if they hadn't watched the show.
Sending Farrell to Starbucks and L.A. subway stations with plush tribbles and posters made the show more cultural than just another week of syndicated TV.
The rough, tactile ad looks old-fashioned in a time of internet teasers and hashtag rollouts, but that's what makes it engaging. Seeing tribbles at a subway station or meeting Dax at Starbucks for an hour-long promo fits with the hilarious tone of the episode.
It also illustrates how innovative Trek marketing can be when the studio believes in an idea, and this was a rare chance for DS9 to shine.
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