Hansel & Gretel
A hybrid digital-physical activation blending immersive storytelling, AR, and experiential design to engage audiences in the world of Netflix’s hypothetical Hansel & Gretel. Partnering with DoorDash, our campaign used interactive elements, social media, and a secret NYC pop-up to drive awareness and fan engagement for the new title.
Collaborators: Tara Modi, Brandt Youran-Li
Timeline: F24, 4 weeks
Tools/Skills: Experiential Marketing, Interaction Design, UI Design, Creative Technology, Immersive Storytelling, Digital Prototyping, Blender, Unity, Photoshop
Ready for a sweet treat?
Lure you
Themed Packaging:
Overview
This project, sponsored by Annatruus Bakker from Netflix, aims to redefine experiential marketing by blending immersive storytelling, emerging technologies, and interactive engagement to create a digital-physical brand activation. Through AR, gamification, live events, and social media integration, the goal is to drive awareness, enhance audience participation, and encourage organic sharing and real-world interaction and to create a memorable, shareable, and impactful engagement that resonates with diverse audiences.
Today's audiences crave convenient, immersive experiences that seamlessly integrate into their daily lives, bringing excitement, wonder, adrenaline, and escapism directly to them. They seek exclusive opportunities to participate in something special, where storytelling blends with everyday interactions. We seek to foster community through shared experiences, making engagement effortless, exciting, and highly shareable
Research
To craft an engaging and immersive experience, we identified key audience segments based on demographics, interests, and behavioral patterns. Our primary audience includes the general audience fantasy lovers, and horror fans. By understanding their preferences, such as a desire for escapism, exclusivity, and shareability, we designed an activation that aligns with their expectations and digital habits.
Insights
Experience the magic of Hansel & Gretel.
To seamlessly blend storytelling, technology, and experiential marketing, we designed an activation that brings the magic of Hansel & Gretel directly into everyday life. Instead of requiring audiences to seek out an experience, we integrated it into familiar platforms and routines, leveraging on-demand services, AR interactions, and social media engagement.
30% increase in profits for promotional locations
Sold out of exclusive merchandise
Every delivery becomes a portal into the world of Hansel & Gretel with limited-edition, story-driven packaging. Themed food boxes arrive wrapped in twisted fairy tale aesthetics, featuring a hidden QR code that unlocks an exclusive AR experience. Some packages include “cursed” treats, offering lucky recipients access to exclusive event invites or limited-edition merchandise. This tactile extension of the experience blends physical and digital storytelling, so that even a simple meal becomes a moment of intrigue, excitement, and shareability.
You step through a portal into a bakery overflowing with decadent treats. Shelves are lined with delicious pastries, the air thick with sugar and spice. At the center, a glowing pink lollipop beckons. As you reach for it, the lights cut out, then flicker back, now blood-red. The once-charming bakery warps and crumbles, sugar turning to soot. A sharp cackle pierces the air. The walls close in. The heat rises.
This isn’t a bakery. It’s a furnace. And you just walked into the trap.
Visitors are encouraged to share their experience with tags like #Hansel&Gretel, #TheFurnace, and #SweetTreatTime. #Hansel&Gretel encourages visitors to share their experience, turning the bakery and speakeasy into must-visit destinations. User-generated content builds buzz, drawing in new audiences through organic social reach. As posts circulate, the experience gains momentum, fueling curiosity and driving more people to step into the world of Hansel & Gretel for themselves.
AR Experience:
Location-Based Experience:
Approach you
Our engagement strategy follows a multi-phase approach, ensuring continuous audience interaction before, during, and after the activation. By integrating awareness-building tactics, interactive experiences, and social amplification, we designed a campaign that is shareable and embedded into daily life.
The Hansel & Gretel experience integrates into everyday life by transforming an ordinary food delivery into an immersive storytelling moment. Instead of requiring audiences to seek out engagement, the experience comes to them through DoorDash. By embedding interactive elements directly into the app, users are met with surprise promotions, themed packaging, and exclusive AR interactions that enhance their anticipation for the series release.
The DoorDash app is transformed into an eerie, story-driven interface where the Witch herself takes control. Users begin receiving ominous late-night notifications. Upon opening the app, they are met with a dark, enchanted UI overhaul. This digital transformation increases awareness, fuels curiosity, and immerses users in the narrative before they’ve placed an order to after they’ve received it.
13,000 press hits
250 million social media impressions
The Bakery
A limited-time themed storefront appearing in select cities, offering exclusive baked goods inspired by the classic fairytale. The atmosphere is whimsical yet unsettling, with subtle nods to something darker beneath the sweetness.
The Furnace
Beyond the bakery, tucked behind an oven door, lies The Furnace, a hidden speakeasy after midnight. Leading up to the release, influencers and lucky winners of the Cursed Treats Giveaway can gain access to an exclusive, immersive haunted party experience.
Capture you
#Hansel&Gretel:
UI Overhaul:
Memorable experience
Connects with younger audience