Chang Beer Experiential

Having read about the activity in the press the first thing I was expecting was a nostalgic tuctuc ride to take me back to my travelling days (and to the experiential event celebrating the launch of the new Chang Beer bottle of course). Unfortunately, it turns out the tuctuc was only used to promote the activity, we couldn’t jump in :(

But not to worry, there was still beer and massages to be had! As I approached the stand it didn’t quite look like the illustrations (the image on the left) but you could certainly see it was supposed to be a huge Chang Beer bottle on its side (the image on the right). you couldn’t really make out the masseuses inside but it was transparent enough to know something interesting was going on.

I was immediately pounced on by a cheery brand ambassador who offered me a free sample of Chang Beer - which by the way was delicious! I was then asked to pose with a face mat (https://www.theletteroom.com/her/all_gifts_her/face_beer_mat_coasters.htm) and tweet about the activity with the hashtag #Changbeer. In return I was given a Tai massage, a bottle of Chang and a nice half pint glass to take home - bargain!

The massage was very gentle and not at all what I expected, I got the feeling it was more for the benefit of those watching than for the recipient. After my 15 minutes was up I felt, well, exactly the same as I did before.

The strapline was “Massage in a bottle” which works because the beer is very smooth but there was a notable disconnect between the brand and the different elements of the activity. I was expecting the theme to be along the lines of “relax with a tuctuc ride, relax with a beer, relax with a massage” but it felt more like “Tai beer, what else is Tai? Massages, Tuctucs. Let’s do that”. And as for the face mats, fun, but what’s the connection? They’re not even Tai, are they?

I confess I may have unreasonably high expectations when it comes to experiential campaigns by beer brands. It’s difficult to beat Carlsberg with their ‘chocolate bar’ - a free bar made of chocolate! (http://dma.org.uk/article/if-carlsberg-did-chocolate-bars) and beer dispensing poster - almost certainly the best poster in the world (http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/09/carlsberg-poster-free-beer-billboard).

This piece of experiential was clearly designed to create brand affinity and shareability and although I don’t think the activity is impressive enough to generate organic shares, it will have cost considerably less than the above mentioned Carlsberg campaigns and I will certainly be buying myself some Chang Beer.