Whitlock’s launch campaign, ‘Tales of Delicious Demise’ needed an experiential edge to match its unique flavour. The solution: an AR Portal that takes users out of this world.
Fred Whitlock was the original adventurous pioneer, an English entrepreneur who travelled throughout India and onto New Zealand. In 1877 Fred began creating everything from moonshine, to relish, sauces, and pickles. The key was, and still is, the mixing of bold ingredients to create a flavour adventure. F. Whitlock & Sons® was born from a need to combat the ordinary, with the brand recently launching a new range of products across Australia and New Zealand.
The product launch was supported by a captivating creative concept from 72&Sunny, inspired by the brands stand-out label designs which feature clever illustrative depictions of flavour extraction in a distinct black and white, with a symbolic pop of red. This unexpected portrayal of how product ingredients meet their delicious demise personifies the bold and adventurous ingredients that feature in F. Whitlock & Sons products, bringing characters to life and telling the tales of how and why these tasty ingredients end up in a can, bottle or jar for everyone to enjoy.
The Because ANZ team was tasked with bringing this multi-channel campaign to life through an experiential activation. Using their wheelhouse strengths in harnessing creative technology, the Because team crafted something that had never been done before – a fully immersive, interactive, gamified adventure inside a Web AR portal, a ‘virtual’ door to a whole new world.
The challenge wasn’t easy: it also needed to drive WOM, a sense of FOMO, and plenty of CGC. The good news, these acronyms didn’t scare us, we’ve got form in using creative technology: it’s our ‘source’ of success. You can enter this portal using your phone’s camera, which allows you to explore the virtual Whitlock’s world created to show two tales of delicious demise (two more will be released next year). Best of all? Your virtual door can be placed anywhere – it offers the perfect, Covid-safe live experience. All you need is a little space to walk through the portal door, and a flat surface for the door to appear.
We can wax lyrical about this all day, but like the Whitlock’s range, it’s better to experience it yourself (see the clip below). Our Web AR portal experience was produced by Unbnd, and was inspired by the classic escape rooms where you needed to solve a series of portals to progress. You get to explore and interact with objects inside each one, and uncover clues on how to use the objects correctly.
We can’t give away the whole plot: you need to solve them yourself. And trust us, it’s worth it: you’ll get rewarded with plenty of adventure to surprise and delight along with a grand mystery prize. To win this grand prize, you’ll need to find hidden numbers in both portals to unlock a four-digit code on the Whitlock’s treasure chest at the end of the experience.
Creative technology was the real secret ingredient in this launch recipe, and it helped to ‘feed the adventure’ across all the digital channels for the client. It packed a spicy digital punch, something which disrupted the users’ ennui and motivated flavour-focused trendsetters to throw these new tastes into their trolleys. Using the latest technology in new ways will help drive brand discovery and growth, no matter what industry you’re in.
If you’re ready to pour a little spice into your next launch or campaign, drop us a line here, and we’ll craft a potent, safe, live campaign experience together that sets your brand up for success. Or, if you want a live sample of our marketing mojo, let us host a FREE masterclass for you.
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