As part of its new ‘Häag-Indoors’ initiative, luxury ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs has teamed up with immersive storytellers Secret Cinema to launch Secret Sofa.
Secret Sofa will run for eight weeks at 7.30pm every Friday and gives people the chance to create their own at-home immersive cinema experiences.
Max Alexander, CEO, Secret Cinema, explained the concept: “At the heart of Secret Cinema’s experiences is audience participation and groups of strangers coming together to experience film and culture in new and interesting ways. Secret Sofa is our home cinema version of this. We are going to transform your sofa into a time machine, a portal and a place of discovery and connection with the outside world.”
By signing up for the Secret Sofa weekly newsletter, participants receive advance notice of costume suggestions, sing-along and music playlists, instructions to learn dance routines and prop making ideas to help them get right into the world of the chosen film.
The newsletter also includes a code that lets them order the chosen Häagen-Dazs flavour of the week online via Amazon Prime Now. Flavours are chosen to complement each week’s film, kicking off with Strawberry Cheesecake to match with the initiative’s debut screening: Grand Budapest Hotel.
Consumers will also be encouraged to share their #HaagIndoors images on social media, with the best one winning a week’s supply of ice-cream.
Secret Sofa’s Facebook group will host audience discussions both pre- and post-film and will be a place for people to further share images of the secret worlds they create.
Arjoon Bose, Europe Head of Brand Experience and Culture for Häagen-Dazs’ owner General Mills said: “Until life returns to normal, #HaagIndoors is a simple message to stay safe, look after each other, and keep finding little moments of joy.
“We’re looking forward to celebrating new flavour stories every week in keeping with the movie themes starting with our decadent Strawberry Cheesecake paired to Grand Budapest and working with TikTok creators for the first time as a brand to create themed challenges to make this even more fun and interactive as we go along.”
