Shuffles Events were proud to work on a totally new Award Winning immersive experience with Boursin cheese. Beloved by a generation, Boursin’s desire was to extend its reach to a wider, younger audience, and to do something unexpected for a brand in a category filled with 'me-too' sales promotions. We're excited to announce that the Boursin Sensorium campaign for Bel UK has won an Event Technology Award.

Shuffles Events designed a unique Photo mechanic in a record time which captured fun shots of people inside the fridge surrounded by Boursin ingredients. 

The whole experience won the award in the Best Use of Technology for Interaction category & was also shortlisted for: Best Augmented/Virtual Reality Technology and Best Use of Technology for a Brand. This was the third award win for the Boursin Sensorium campaign. It won the UK Event award for Best Use of Event Technology and the Masters of Marketing Award in the Events and Experiential category. The Boursin Sensorium also received a commendation in the brand new Best use of VR category at the Dadi Awards.

The Event Technology Awards recognise those pushing the boundaries in innovative event technology worldwide. The judges had the following to say about the win:

"The winner in this category goes to a stand out entry. The judges described it as tech with purpose, very clever and mentioned how it brought the brand to life."  
“We thought the winner stood out amongst a strong field of candidates, for delivering an outstanding, immersive experience - a sensory sensation - in a difficult category. We absolutely loved the outstanding results this winner delivered and that made them stand out head and shoulders above the rest.”

The also had the following to say about the campaign:

"A good example of virtual reality, sampling and CGI combined to deliver a great sensory experience. It uses technology innovatively to bring the objective to life in an engaging and novel way, taking food sampling in hotspots to a completely new level. An unexpected route for this  brand, this is a multi-layered and strong innovation with great results."

If you haven't seen the Boursin Sensorium campaign, take a look at the case study video below or read about it more below. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H64kf-eDzM

THE CHALLENGE

Despite being a familiar name to many UK consumers, Boursin recognised that awareness of its flavours and formats was relatively low. The brand wanted to engage a new generation of fans, increasing Boursin's relevance to consumers' everyday lives without losing its luxury status. 

THE BRIEF

An experiential roadshow was identified as the ideal campaign medium, but Boursin knew that a run-of-the-mill sampling roadshow wouldn't be likely to stand out and wanted a contemporary consumer experience.

THE BOURSIN SENSORIUM

This sensorium combined photo mechanics, live multi-sensory experiences with virtual reality (VR) and a bespoke 360° CGI film to fully immerse consumers, who found themselves flying through the inside of a fridge, past carefully-chosen ingredients. Unsurprisingly, it was the first time a food brand in the UK had brought together virtual reality and sampling. Oculus Rift VR headsets and CGI animation were combined with a sound track, moving chairs, cool air, scented fans and product samples.

That's why the Boursin Sensorium was such an effective piece of experiential marketing and worthy of a Masters of Marketing award. The event was designed by BEcause Brand Experience and Bel UK (owners of Boursin) as a mix of virtual reality, bespoke CGI animation, photo mechanic and live product sampling in an experiential roadshow. The Sensorium launched at Westfield Shopping Centre in London, before visiting a series of county shows and regional Foodie Festivals, with a team of young French 'waiters' acting as brand ambassadors. 

The reactions of every individual participating in the VR experience were filmed in 6 second clips for easy sharing on social media using the hashtag #BoursinSensorium. The live activity was backed by influencer relations with lifestyle and food bloggers and targeted digital activity on paid-media and to extend the experience, a special photo-booth from www.shufflesevents.co.uk also captured fun shots of people inside the fridge surrounded by Boursin ingredients.

THE RESULTS

Event recall and impact

• Two months after the event took place, 98% of those asked recalled the experience.
• 62% of visitors felt they had learnt new things about Boursin, and 74% said the event had made them more likely to consider the brand in the future.
• Word of mouth far exceeded the quoted industry figure (1:4) averaging at 1:12.

Brand visibility

• 5,097 consumers immersed in virtual reality (VR) experiences during six events and 18 days of live activity.
• 86,298 samples enjoyed by consumers.
• Using green screen technology, 1,845 people had their photos taken.
• Footage from the experience has also been used as part of a Facebook video campaign for the brand that has had over 450,000 views.
• The bespoke 360˚ CGI animation is a valuable ongoing virtual asset that has so far had over 75,000 views on YouTube and Oculus Share. 

Brand sentiment
The average Boursin net promoter score prior to the event was 7.5. Post-event, this had risen to 8.3. 

Brand awareness
Significant uplifts were recorded in brand awareness for Boursin in the wake of this experiential activity, according to independent research. 

• Overall awareness of the Boursin brand rose from 93% pre-event to 98% two months after the roadshow.
• Only 38% of consumers were aware that Boursin produces portions prior to the roadshows. This had increased to 73% two months later.
• Product awareness also rose significantly, with awareness of Boursin's Black Pepper SKU rising by 32% during this period, and awareness of Boursin's Shallot & Chive SKU rising by 44%.

Product usage
Prior to the event, 19% of consumers claimed to be buying the brand on a regular and/or monthly basis. Two months later, this figure had almost doubled to 36%.

"It's a perfect parallel with our objective. If we'd only been doing Oculus Rift, it might not have worked. But the overall sensorial expereince meant we presented the brand the way we wanted to." Steve Gregory, Marketing Director, Bel