Experience Fanta’s iconic orange flavor

Fanta’s latest experiential marketing campaign, “Fanta Flavor Fantasia Powered by the Hardy Boys,” can only be described as an “Alice in Wonderland meets Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” orange experience.

The agency created an orange pop-up experience at Newtown Hub that can only be described as Alice in Wonderland meets Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, giving consumers the chance to experience being ‘inside’ Fanta’s iconic orange flavour.

“Fanta has launched its best tasting orange drink yet – more bubbly and more delicious than before,” explains Zodwa Gunuza, Creative Director of VML-owned The Hardy Boys, who teamed up with co-creative director Peter Doubell and executive creative director Geoff Paton for the first-of-its-kind experience.

“One of the lines in the brief suggested, ‘You don’t drink Fanta, Fanta drinks you.’ That was our hint. What if we could create a brand experience that mimicked the effect Fanta has on your taste buds? What if consumers could feel that high and experience that fizz in a full sensory experience that made them feel… ahhhh?”

Honesty leads to perfection

They had set up a podium next to an orange wall, with a solitary bottle of Fanta on it and the words in bold capital letters: Drink me if you dare Located in the Newtown hub area of ​​Johannesburg.

Finally, someone cautiously approached, opened the sealed bottle cap, took a sip… and then disappeared as the platform they were standing on began to spin, seeming to swallow them into the wall. Life went on. But the few who saw this scene became intrigued – where did they go?

The taste of Fanta

The answer was to transform an ordinary warehouse into an experiential marketing installation of an indoor amusement park, completely invisible from the outside.

“Each room in the installation represents a different form of excitement that tasting the new Fanta Orange Juice creates in the mouth,” Gunuza explains.

First up is the roller coaster room: huge LED screens and surround sound create an exhilarating thrill that simulates the experience of reaching the top of a roller coaster and then hurtling off.

“It’s like swallowing Fanta,” Gunuza said.

Next up was the Bubble Room, where hanging orange balls combined with a hall of mirrors effect created a surreal and Instagrammable immersive experience, complete with the gentle sound of bubbles popping in the background.

“The Rock Room is arguably the most spectacular of all the rooms, featuring pressure-activated pads in the floor that, when you step on them, trigger sounds that are brought to life with spectacular visuals on the wraparound LED screen,” Gunuza said.

“The liquid dances and pulsates with people’s footsteps, and each pad triggers a different audio-visual experience, from subtle water flows to raging ocean waves.”

Finally, there’s the Refresh Room, designed to embody the “Ahhh” gasp that comes after taking that last sip of Fanta. Here, soft orange ribbons sway in a soft, refreshing orange-scented breeze as people indulge in their Fanta flavor fantasy.

The magic of experiential marketing

VML 2024 Future 100 Trend ReportAn in-depth global study has found that consumers want to be confused.

In times of political instability and economic uncertainty, they seek a respite from the stresses of everyday life.

Brands that can deliver magical experiences that delight their audiences will come out on top.

Rachael du Plessis, account director at the Hardy Boys, noted that Fanta Flavour Fantas was essentially a glorified sampling campaign.

“People have to sip the Fanta to get in, and once inside, that sip activates the next room. But by creating a sensory experience around it, the tasting becomes something people want to participate in, capture and share with others,” Du Plessis said.

“Initially, our goal was just to do about 200 physical walkthroughs and hope it would be a hit online.

“But in the end, 1,000 people walked in! By and large, they were exactly the Gen Z audience we were targeting,” Du Plessis explained, adding that influencers were also invited to experience the installation.

“We were so nervous that no one would get in,” Du Plessis recalled.

“But it had to be authentic. That was the whole point — we had to capture the element of surprise in the film.”

Attention to detail

Meticulous attention to detail is key to a successful experiential marketing campaign.

Cutting corners on craftsmanship or execution is one way to allow misinformation to spread quickly online.

“We wanted this to be a really premium experience,” Du Plessis said. “So we couldn’t cut corners on the production.”

The Fanta Flavour Fanta installation was built from scratch in approximately three weeks, with a creative team from Cape Town, London and Johannesburg collaborating on the project.

“Nothing like this has been done before, so we are learning as we go,” added Du Plessis.

“We were still testing and fixing issues the day before, but once we rolled it out, we had no issues.”