A serving of experiential

Recently, those boffins over at Leo Burnett came up with an intriguing idea for the low-cost food store Lidl. They invited a prominent chef to cook a meal using food from the store and then serve it aboard a flight to Cancun. Adverblog notes, “Sure, it’s a nice case study, I love the idea… But I’m not sure the effort is worth the result. Creative geeks like us will celebrate the idea, but how many consumers actually were exposed to it?” That’s true; it was only a plane full of people who were exposed to the meal. But the story was followed through in TV spots and recipe books, creating a nice thread of a tale.

Last month in New York, travellers on the subway were treated to a similar gastronomic delight when they were served a delectable six-course meal, in-transit. Both events show how something experiential can sometimes be far more memorable than other forms of marketing. In both these cases, the events involved defying expectations by creating special experiences in spaces that are otherwise seen as ephemeral, rather than being a destination in of themselves.