Event Review: The Unbelieva-bar and the content it created
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Photography by Colin Baldwin
Costa’s pop-up in Brunswick Square called the Unbelieva-bar is promoting the brand’s new hot milkshakes. The pop up has been created for Costa by The Circle Agency.
The introduction of hot milkshakes has certainly got the fanbase chatting. Have we ever had to debate the difference between a hot chocolate and a hot milkshake before? Well, the fans are, and they are enjoying the chat.
I suspect when they try it, aficionados will appreciate the techniques that make the new drink more velvety, with the thickness more traditionally matched by cold milkshake expectations. There are three flavour variants – salted caramel coffee, chocolate hazel and white chocolate and strawberry.
The pop-up certainly allows the drink to be the star of the occasion, though there are plenty of sweet sideshows to make this an all round playful experience.
The Unbelieva-bar serves samples of the shakes and you can then command a full serve of your preferred variation. It emerges stylishly through a hatch, in a puff of dry ice.
The swirly décor the pop up is is matched by the versatile brand ambassadors dressed in equally swirly jumpsuits. They played along as well as assisting. The picture shows them using the the levitation zone.
A central game you can play – a projected carpet guessing game – is both watchable and fun to have a go at. The music for the in-house DJ is vibrant and there are plenty of instgrammable distractions alongside dome did you know décor. I happily posed with the Mona Lisa’s eyebrows and with a car set into a hippo’s jaw.
The Instagrammable set produced many angles out af a modest space, locking in the atmosphere. It has proved to be a good platform to inspire tik-tockers.
The presence, on preview day, of these influencers and content creators gave me a nice self-ascribed job – I could watch them in action and then scan the internet to see how much they achieved for the brand.
As such I came along in the role of the trade influencer watching the influencers – and rating their work. I will do this, btw, just for a free hot milkshake!
My visit coincided with the arrival of the energetic Ash Holme, influencer and dancer who met all the impish expectations of her self proclamation ‘always up for tom fooleries’. She was the archetypal pocket rocket, delivering peals of easy laughter to every corner of an arena that was purpose built for tom fooleries.
It was great to see her in action, acting, directing and connecting all at once. On arrival, she gave the set up her rapid professional assessment of the opportunity. The props, the angles and an immediate grasp of the direction she wanted to take were decided amidst breezy conversations with our hosts, alongside a couple of advisors and professional phone holders.
I was impressed by her ability to do everything at once, scan the room, choose an apex and strut it. She relaxed the bar team, played with the props, drank the drink and gave the Costa journey her all round sass. She has has X Factor experience and her flirtatious approach to milkshake making was swift and witty.
It was all done in minutes. Costa, seemingly as chilled as its Summer milkshakes, was fully relaxed to build a set and let others tell their stories with it. Long gone are the days when a coffee brand could grip the nation by carefully scripting its ‘celebrity ‘couple through their awkward TV advertised romance.
No sooner arrived, than Ash was gone in a swirl. Her ‘paid partnership’ video has a couple of thousand likes on Instagram straight off the eyelash-bat, and the comments show a very affectionate fanbase, alongside a few ‘must trys’. The ‘like’ and comment level is down on some of Ash’s unpaid content, but in terms of authenticity is does sit comfortably amongst her other videos. There’s no Tik Tok from her at the time of writing though.
Whether you like of love the resulting videos, it was the lack of fuss that impressed me. Costa, for their part, were fully relaxed about the way their set was used and interpreted and the influencers busied about unhindered, making their informative adverts on the fly.
There is something reassuringly old school about content creation, in terms of informational vs commercial. Content creators almost always put actual product insight into their piece. You can ask them directly if and why they like the product they are promoting.
Their videos are also the second best way to get a handle on the event, so here are some links. (The best way top get a handle on the event is to book a visit slot and get down there).
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2kW3UGN01X/?igsh=dzZ5ZWxybzl1amV3
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2ktEJor2nK/?igsh=MTZjNmcxMmQ0ZDhqeA==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2kNjsnMaPF/?igsh=MWV4OGgwNno1Y3g2ag==
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2kYFtmItN5/?igsh=MTQ1cmM3cHF0a3d6Zg==
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGerCUdJD/
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGerCkTqu/
This pop up has presented Costa with an immediate understanding of the strengths of its new offer and the also challenges it will face. Whilst most of the social media leans positive about the event, product and brand experience, there’s also one thread where keyboard warriors have had a bit of a dig at the brand and product.
That’s a big part of living life in the moment, you can’t control every reaction. The reward for Costa’s high level of experiential brand engagement is that events like these allows the brand to connect with unparalleled immediacy with new audiences.
I tested out the Unbelieva-bar experience and the hot milkshakes concept on my own sample group of 5 Gen Z’ers and found recognition for the product universally high. That’s what Costa really needs for a product launch, a decent amount of recognition and enough intrigue to get you to try it. Then the product itself can do the talking.
