Chocolate Collaboration

"Welcome to the Lindt Bear Holiday Experience." I worked a 6 day - 2 weekend - promotion for Lindt Chocolate to encourage holiday spirit. The promo, executed by Elite Marketing, consisted of an outdoor station equipped with several interactive components:

- Two ipads on stands outside of the tent displayed the new Lindt Bear app - It has an animated talking Lindt Bear (with a voice that sounds like someone who sucked helium) that records your voice and gives you the option to send the recorded message to family/friends. The free app is only available for iphones/ipads and can be downloaded from Itunes (from a link on the Lindt website).

- A lifesize inflatable Lindt Bear stood in the middle of the tent for people to pose with for free photo ops. We took the pics on an ipad (standing atop a tripod) and people entered their email addresses on the device to receive their photo. If they clicked the agree box before sending the email the photo would appear on the Lindt Facebook page. The ipad did not store any of the photos.

- An ipad on a stand outside of the tent allowed people to share their Lindt Bear photos via social media (Facebook/Twitter) or through email. We prompted people to enter the same email address they used for the photo and their photo would come up on the screen alongside the sharing options (which required users to log in). The ipad did not store any information. 

*The table loaded with clear-plastic cylinders filled with chocolate, bags of truffles, and big Lindt Bears was not for interacting. Hands off please. Display only! *

 *A giant inflatable Lindt Bear attracted curious crowds from a distance.*

And there was us ! - a group of people in santa hats, big red jackets, and black scarfs bearing golden Lindt logos (that we didn't get to keep). Our job, as the promo staff, was to engage as many people as possible with the brand.

We shouted in the street and gave out complimentary (milk chocolate) Lindor Truffles and mini Lindt Bears to passerby, along with 20% off coupons for the Lindt store. The location for the first half of the promo (Novemeber 29th, 30th, & December 1st) was the corner of 39th and Broadway. The tourists walking by were especially pleased by the display. It was nice to hear all the accented "Thank you"s as we distributed one piece of chocolate per person and offered other perks. The location for the other half of the promo (December 6th, 7th, & 8th) was the corner by the Diesel store in Union Square. As the hours winded down there were different chocolate rules - only people who took a photo would receive chocolate, a gigantic handful of it. Seriously, we happily shoveled chocolates into joined palms, pockets, purses, shopping bags, and backpacks. The other incentive program was rewarding people who shared their photo with three truffles packaged in a small bag. It pays to be a participant! A common question was why were we doing the promotion and my answer was for fun! People, no matter who they are, are always shocked by free goods that don't have a catch, especially in the city - just take them and be happy! 

Working the promo was entertaining and strenuous. The Lindt promo team was comprised of a bunch of good-humored individuals and we braved the coldness - which was the number one struggle - long hours, technical difficulties, hunger, and rude/crazy/conniving people with grace. I enjoyed compelling the masses with chocolate.

And I loveeee the inflatable Lindt Bear - we are a perfect match of adorable.

 

(all photo cred to me except the group photo, sharing ipad photo, and my pic on the ipad photo which are from Elite's Facebook. all the pics of me with the Lindt Bear were emailed to me.)