EventStream – Quaker’s Breakfast Bots
From experiential and guerrilla marketing to viral campaigns and pop-ups, EventStream is where we comment on the events that have caught our eye from across the world. Today we look at an innovative campaign courtesy of Quaker.
Quaker – Rise of the robots
It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life and let the important things slide by the wayside. However, even with our fast-paced lives, it was still surprising when a study showed that 43% of Britons skip breakfast more than once a week. With more and more people neglecting to eat breakfast in the mornings, Quaker offered an innovative way to encourage people to make time for the most important meal of the day. So they sent a few event staff to a busy train station in Belgium to serve a hearty bowl of porridge to morning commuters. Of course, it wasn’t quite as simple as that….
The concept
The idea was to encourage people to slow down and make time for breakfast every morning. Quaker created a pop-up breakfast bar with a twist; a free breakfast was cooked and served by robots (or at least people dressed as robots). Hungry commuters simply had to press a button to select what porridge they wanted, and the ‘breakfast bots’ would prepare and serve their hearty meal within a few minutes. The campaign cleverly combines experiential marketing with sampling. Being served a free breakfast by a wooden robot adds to the engagement factor and is a novelty that people aren’t likely to forget.
The campaign
Quaker’s campaign seems relatively simple, but it’s extremely effective. Using event staff in robot costumes really drills in the message about how quickly and efficiently a Quaker’s breakfast can be created. The breakfast bar becomes more like a vending machine rather than a pop up café, but the smiling robots still retain a certain degree of warmth due to their cartoon-style, childish appearance. It highlights that their food is quick and easy, but still homely, hearty and made with love. The tagline of “start your day with some goodness” perfectly sums up what Quaker have set out to do.
The highlight
It was nice to see people slowing down to appreciate the benefits of a good breakfast. Furthermore, watching commuters bond over breakfast helps to reinforce the message of enjoying the small moments whilst nourishing the body with good, simple food.
The result
The campaign effectively demonstrates that people do in fact have time to slow down and eat breakfast. It shows firsthand how quickly a bowl of porridge can be prepared in the mornings, and commuters were more than happy to wait whilst chatting amongst themselves. The activity on social media also helped to boost the brand.
If you need help staffing an upcoming event, contact us. We can’t promise you robots, but we can supply you with the very best event staff!