In this Article
The Brief
Our client, Jägermeister, asked us to come up with an idea on how to create a hook for the experiential bar they had created in Printworks, London. Printworks is one of London’s biggest venues and has many brands within it creating eye-catching, attention-grabbing experiences so, as, with all elements of the beverage industry, the competition is fierce.
Our Attention-Grabbing Solution
After brainstorming with the marketing team at Jägermeister, we decided that an arcade game would work best. The mechanic of it was that customers who went into the Jägermeister bar area at Print Works would walk directly past our arcade game which would immediately grab their attention (pun intended). On the arcade game, there would be instructions on how to obtain a token to play the game. They would first have to buy a drink at the bar and would be given a token.
We decided the best approach to this would be a classic claw grabber machine. These games have lots of lights and music and are very attention-grabbing.
The problem we faced was that we had to source a brand new claw machine, print and wrap it in high-quality vinyl, source tokens, source prizes or something for the claw to grab, deliver it to Printworks and install it into the Jägermeister bar area within just 7 days.
On top of all of that, to blend it well into the experience and make it a stand-out piece to the bar area, our graphic design team had to create a unique design to vinyl wrap the machine.
Our creative team set to work on their design ideas, whilst our operations team worked on sourcing the machine, working on logistics of getting the machine to our vinyl printing workshop and then delivering it to the venue, whilst also sourcing custom branded tokens usable in the machine.
We found a company that manufactured the machine we wanted in the UK and ordered it for our vinyl workshop.
To simplify the prizes we decided to get ball pit balls in the Jägermeister colours - Gold, Forest Green and Neon Orange.
Once the design was completed and signed off by the client, we set about printing the custom large-format vinyl sheets. To add depth and show off the brand, we also decided to wrap the entire inside of the machine in the simple frosted Forest-Green texture the brand most attributes to. The outside was completely wrapped in custom-printed vinyl with a design created by us.
To ensure the machine could be hard-wearing and remain fully intact from a branding perspective, the vinyl stickers were laminated using a floor laminate. This gives the flat surface a rough texture and ensures that no matter what hits it or rubs against it or however many drinks get spilt near it, it can survive for years to come.
The print and design job had to be completed in just 48 hours.
The ball pit balls and tokens had to be ordered and delivered within just 24 hours, and considering the balls had to match the brand colours as closely as possible, we had to go to a specialist for this particular part.
The mechanic of the entire experience had to be kept simple;
- Buy a drink at the bar and you get a token from the bartender.
- Use your token to play the branded claw machine.
- Grab a ball with the claw machine and hand it to the bar.
- If you catch a Gold ball, you win a prize!
Risks And How We Overcame Them
An issue we had foreseen when undertaking this project was that we were essentially providing a game of chance. The UK has strict gambling laws when it comes to this kind of gaming and a gambling license is required if there is a controllable element of chance involved. To overcome this, we decided to remove the difficulty module from the machine. It then became a simple game of skill.
Another issue to overcome was that in theory, with the right skill level the game would be too easy for some. If the game was too easy to win, too many prizes would have to be given out which has a direct cost to Jägermeister as they were providing the prizes. To overcome this, we made a decision that only the gold balls would win and we would limit the number of gold balls in the machine. The rules had to then be printed on window vinyl, much like the instructions you see on window displays and stuck onto the front window of the machine during the installation process.
The final issue was that the venue could not allow the prize to be a free drink or free shot of alcohol from the bar. Allowing this would undercut their bar sales, as well as create risk for the customer. There are strict guidelines in place about alcohol sales, regulated by Drink Aware. To navigate around this, the prizes would instead be items from the online Jager Shop, and other giveaways such as branded lanyards, branded phone cases (which we had supplied), branded hats and branded phone power banks.
Future Developments
To develop this experience further, we would like to create bespoke branded tokens. They would have to fit perfectly through the machine slot and would require a reconfiguration of the machine’s coin-operated mechanism, but they would give the customer a unique, fully-branded experience throughout.
From buying their drink in their printed paper cups to getting their custom tokens to play with to the brand-coloured balls in the custom vinyl-wrapped machine, to getting their branded prize at the end, the experience would be complete from beginning to end.
Our vinyl printing and wrapping quality are second to none. We have done a lot of vinyl work for Jagermeister and many other brands over the years for the most unusual projects and continue to take this kind of work regularly.
