bloom's blog

Pleasure in a pop-up

It is no longer enough for brands to deliver satisfication simply through a quality product. Brands today, must 'excite me, involve me and respect me as an individual'.  No small task for businesses who historically drive profit margins through uniformity and volume. Hence the rise of the pop-ups.

Pop-ups are the perfect platform - a single-minded branded presence on the high street offering pure brand theatre through experience and engagement. Cost effective against the exposure they generate, they offer a visible and real channel to celebrate the brand by creating something special if only for a limited time.

So hats off to Magnum who have just opened up a pop up store in Westfield Stratford (conveniently near to a certain global event starting in a few days). We recently heard about the 'Make your own Magnum pop up store" and had to go check it out. All in the name of research, of course.

With 2 types of ice cream (vanilla or chocolate & caramel), 18 toppings ranging from caramel swirls to coconut shavings to edible rose petals, 3 dipping chocolate sauces (white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate) and the option to drizzle some more chocolate on top, there are over 104,500 different possibilities to create your own Magnum. 

 

Magnum-inspired cocktails were also available at the bar.

 

Twitter campaign to go hand in hand with the pop-up store

Our creation was a chocolate & caramel Infinity ice-cream dipped in white chocolate topped with hazelnuts, popping candy and brownies and finally drizzled with dark chocolate.

If that wasn't enough, once you've created your guilty indulgence you are invited to sit in the 'Pleasure Pod', to measure the pleasure that you give out whilst eating it.

 

The pod records your sensory output through measures of skin tension, facial expression, deglutition (aka swallowing) and heartbeat to capture your responses and displays them through a series of visual animations chart the pleasure journey.

This is just a short interpretation of the visual animation inside The Pleasure Pod.

 

Congratulations to Magnum and Unilever for creating such a compelling brand experience. So Mars was wrong...here is an example of Pleasure you can Measure.

5 questions in 5 minutes - Performing in the Olympic Ceremonies

With one week to go before the start of the London 2012 Olympics, Bloom has some exciting Olympic news.  Anna, one of our client servicing team, can finally reveal that she will be performing in both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Keen to know more we've managed to interrogate her between client meetings and rehearsals for a quick 5 questions in 5 minutes. 

Q: So Anna, what are you going to be doing?

A: My title is "Placard Bearer" in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies which basically consists of leading athletes round the stadium.

 

Q: Sounds exciting. How did it all come about?

A: It all started in April 2011 - I saw an advert on the Olympic website inviting people 'to get involved in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies". After I applied, I was called for a dancing audition which was a bit of a concern as I am NOT a dancer - I think that soon became apparent at the audition, because they changed my role to a Placard Bearer!

 

Q: What's your overall verdict of what you've seen so far?

A: Amazing! Crazy, unpredictable and very entertaining.

 

Q: Looking forward to it. Do you secretly wish you're dancing now?

A: The dance routine will amazing on the night but I'm really happy with my section. It's probably best that I'm not dancing.

 

Q: And finally, can you tell us a Bloom exclusive? For example, what nation will you be presenting or what colour is your outfit?

A: mmm... Can't really tell you anything - but it's definitely not one specific colour. (That narrows it down) All will be revealed on the night...

 

So true to her obligations she's being tight lipped about the detail. We tried.

Good luck Anna! We're sure you will do your adopted nation proud. We'll be looking out for you in what will no doubt be the greatest global spectacle of the year. 

 

 

Consumer's verdict on patriotic packs

As a follow up to our blog article in May - A Title wave of Patriotism - here's an interesting video of consumers discussing their reaction to a selection of the many patriotic packs launched earlier this year to celebrate the Jubillee, the Olympics and the United Kingdom. Commisioned by Packaging News this is an interesting insight around how these packs have or have not improved their perception of these brands.