A gem of a project with cereal brand Lucky Charms
Ready, set, glow! When one of the longest running cereal brands asks you to create a family-friendly outdoor AR game, you make sure it’s magical. Lucky Charms – the cereal we all know and love for its multi-colored marshmallows and frosted oats – came to 14Four to create an immersive experience for consumers to promote the launch of a brand new Lucky Charm, the “Magic Gem”. Players would harness the hidden power of the Magic Gems on an adventure to locate Lucky’s missing charms.
The ultimate reward for one lucky sweepstakes winner? A playground makeover, glowing up their local park so kids can continue to play – even once the sun sets.
Challenge
Sometimes making things simple is the hardest challenge of all. The Magic Gems game needed to be easy for anyone to pick up, from the youngest to the oldest family members. It also needed to be played outside – ideally at a park – while being a safe, fun experience. And because the Magic Gem would give players the ability to “see in the dark”, we needed to magically bring night mode to a daytime experience.
Approach
The game called for an enhancement of the real world, without feeling removed from it. Luckily, our experience working with AR meant we knew exactly how to go about it. We spent a lot of time in the UX phase so we could really nail down all user interactions and asked ourselves a lot of questions: How do you create something that’s both intuitive and fun? How would a family play together? And how could we tie in the key elements of a local park, Magic Gems, and night mode, creating a consistent story?
Solution
Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt? And for this particular one, we utilized a vertical dark mode overlay that, via AR, transformed the real world (through users’ cameras) into a magical dark version.
The gameplay was centered around the Magic Gems’ unique ability to “see” in the dark and look for Lucky’s missing Magic Charms. This factor added a surprise and delight element to the game. It also provided a natural connection to the sweepstakes prize. In addition, because this game was intended to be played at a park or open space, we needed to keep safety top of mind. We used a player’s GPS and Google maps to help them find a safe park to walk around while searching for their virtual charms.
Impact
With a game concept reinforcing the brand goals, we gave Lucky Charms a fun and engaging way to promote their new charm. It supported the cereal company’s family-focused identity while encouraging healthy and fun time together outside. Families around the nation enjoyed the game so much that they couldn’t stop sharing, the experience earned 19 media placements with over 1.57MM impressions. Adding to the magic it also earned 9 social media placements reaching up to 400k impressions.
If the word of all those excited families wasn’t enough, the 170 press releases were the sweet marshmallows to top it all off, adding up to 231.7MM impressions including a mention in Ad Weeks Food and Beverage roundup.
Featured in ADWEEK’s Top 10 outstanding food and beverage projects.
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