When was the last time you said hello to a stranger, or offered a smile to a passer-by in the street?
Technology allows us to be more connected than ever before, yet it sometimes feels like we often ignore those that are standing right in front of us.
Human interaction is so important. We’d be very lonely without it.
To emphasise this, NESCAFÉ reached out to city dwellers in Berlin – reportedly one of the world’s loneliest cities – by offering the chance to go back to basics: a simple chat over a cup of coffee.
It was a typical morning in Berlin with hundreds of commuters waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. However what was not so typical was that NESCAFÉ had planted hidden cameras that would film pedestrians on either side of a busy road. These pedestrians, waiting to cross, would press what at first glance looked like a regular button – except that it was actually labelled ‘push together.’
Camera footage revealed the person waiting on the other side of the road, and encouraged communication between the two strangers. When people communicated with their counterpart across the road and pressed the button simultaneously, they were rewarded with a tasty, warm beverage from a carefully concealed vending machine housed beneath the button.
NESCAFÉ boasted that the stunt sparked 33 high fives, 285 waves, 839 smiles and “countless” conversations – not a bad start on the road to combating loneliness.
Just like their past experiential newspaper coffee mugs campaign, the brand’s activation focused on making coffee a social affair. Once again, NESCAFÉ has displayed how consumers’ everyday activity can be used to market products in highly memorable fashion.