FMBE Awards 2023: Immersive Event (Mass Consumer)
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GOLD The Trafford Centre – Pokémon
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, The Pokémon Company International and leading retail and leisure destination, Trafford Centre, partnered to create and deliver a global-first event – “Pokémon: Art Through the Ages” – an interactive experience celebrating the artistic styles and culture of the iconic brand since 1997.
Pokémon was celebrating its 25th anniversary and wanted to increase brand engagement on a mass scale, target new audiences and increase brand warmth with existing Pokémon fans.
Pokémon was looking for a partnership with a trusted and iconic destination and direct access to consumers.
Trafford Centre was the perfect match, recognising the opportunity to enhance the visitor experience and reinforce its own ‘Escape the Ordinary’ brand proposition by surprising and delighting visitors.
The resulting 4-week takeover was nothing short of immense. The Trafford Centre really flexed its muscles as a canvas for Pokémon who build an interactive artwork treasure hunt around the centre.
The entry clearly and obviously met and surpassed its desire to increase footfall, engage with Pokémon fans, drive direct sales through retailer Game and drive indirect value to its other retailers.
The takeover included art workshops for children and included a school’s outreach programme. The journey to the centre started with more takeover fun on Metrolink.
There were some amazing stats including 117,000 visitors of whom 14,000 posed for pictures with Pikachu during meet and greet sessions. Sales at Game were up by over 1000%.
One judge commented: “Of all the entrants, this was the one that read so well, As I went through the entry doc, I found myself repeatedly saying “that’s nice…ooh that’s nice”.
Intelligent use of the asset, great cross media platform. I liked the school outreach element. Interestingly, not massive production build spends – but, nailed very well use of simple objects – costumes, images. One might think “Pokémon …you’ve got to find them all…” so Treasure Hunt was a no brainer, but I felt that sometimes with an open goal you’ve got to make sure you actually score…and this did. Huge brand exposure without big production build elements. Great takeover of a venue. Immersive. Impressive.”
SILVER Sense – Haribo
Haribo Hide N Seekers was a summer 2022 sensation that embraced kidulting and family occasions so that families could discover or reengage with playground funtimes.
The games were free but required pre-booking. The emphasis was on fun and inclusivity and the results were immense in terms of participation, feedback, PR and social share.
One judge commented: “Love the solution of getting people out to have fun rather than doing more advertising or sampling. Really high quality and thoughtful execution. Super inclusive for people of different ages and sensitivities. Really in-depth preparation. You can’t argue that their objective of ‘bringing childlike happiness to the UK.”
BRONZE Fusion – Nissan Formula E Racing
This was the gold star performer for production values. The event, a Japanese themed set in Covent Garden looked stunning and incorporated a beautiful looking cherry blossom restaurant that served 212 tables across the five days of activity.
It was a campaign that also impressed in our integration/amplification category.
One judge noted “a very stylish, premium, well-rounded experience.”
BRONZE Strata – Peugeot
This entry was the gold winner of the Tech/Digital category.
