It seems to be increasingly common for brands to open pop-up stores and restaurants designed to give consumers a unique experience, not just a normal shopping trip. In the past year or so, we’ve covered Taco Bell’s branded popup Hotel in Palm Springs, Nutella’s Café in Chicago, Cheetos popup restaurants in New York, and more. Now entering the fray are two very old brands looking to provide new consumer experiences: Oreo and KFC.
First, Oreo has opened an Oreo café in the American Dream Mall is East Rutherford, N.J. It is the cookie brand’s first stand-alone shop and is designed to give fans an engaging environment to explore – and eat! The menu of items includes a menu of Oreo-infused deserts from cheesecakes to milkshakes. And of course, Oreo merchandise is also available to purchase.
Next, KFC is taking on London by opening a pop-up hotel named The House of Harland (the Colonel’s middle name). The KFC Hotel offers “the spiciest stay of the summer” for a short time this summer. It’s a first-class experience that begins with “The Colonelmobile” black Cadillac to pick up guests and deliver them to the hotel. Once guests arrive, they will be greeted by the “Chick-In” Clerk. The experience continues with chick-flicks (get it?) playing in the cinema room. Bedding and wallpaper will be covered with chicken images and a special hot line chicken phone can get your cravings satisfied right away!
All these experiences are making me hungry!
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the increasing use of experiential marketing for brands.
- How does this fit into a marketing campaign?
- View Oreo café video: https://youtu.be/yqNSfgMOTjM
- View the Oreo website: https://www.oreo.com/
- Information on the KFC Hotel: https://global.kfc.com/press-releases/house-of-harland-a-kfc-themed-staycation
- View the KFC Hotel video: https://youtu.be/b72c_vdWbQY
- Divide students into teams. Have each team select a brand and create an experiential campaign for consumers.
Source: Ad Week
