Barry Callebaut
The Fourth Chocolate Flavor.
Project
synopsis
You know the black, white and creamy brown kind. But Barry Callebaut, the world’s number one in chocolate, added a whole new colour to the palette: ruby. Using genetic manipulation, he managed to cultivate a whole new cocoa bean species. To introduce this new flavour to the world and the press, he set up a huge event in Shanghai. Filled with ways for visitors to experience ruby chocolate with all their senses. We gladly took part in that experience with a feast for the eyes with VR, an immersion in sound, and a taste of the real thing—but only at the very end.
Challenge
Some projects revolve around one big challenge. This one layered one on top of the other. Firstly, it was live and halfway around the world—always interesting. Second, it needed to be in perfect sync, aligning several kinds of technology with a troupe of dancers. The timing needed to be impeccable. From AR over VR to projections, everything had to move like one body. Third, we were to make the crowd taste ruby chocolate without letting them actually taste it. Sounds impossible? That’s why we said yes.
When you’re mixing technologies and working with two partners, one of which is in Shanghai, you need to be as in sync as the Moscow Ballet. There was little room for error or delay, as we only had three months time to have the whole project live. We rounded up our entire team for the assignment and set up a constant connection between us, Barry Callebaut, their creative agency Mortier Brigade and K2, who ran the event. Call it a tandem with a bit more wheels, if you will. The result was a smooth event, running on glitchless tech. Callebaut figured we get mad excited for this nifty kind of tech events. Rightly so.
– Bas Smit, Head of Global and EMEA Marketing
Full experience in all senses
Smack dab in the middle of the event, a 4x4x4 cube. Yep, that was our doing, as we were in charge of hardware and project coordination. On the cube, we projected different dances laced with the story of Callebaut and keeping pace with live dancers on-site. On top, we outfitted every visitor with a set of VR goggles, taking them along the path of a cocoa bean. The whole event was tech-heavy, a feast for the eyes and ears. Until the very last second, when visitors at last took off their goggles and were offered a piece of ruby chocolate to titillate their palate. Ah, the release!