The first Secret Sofa screening to be Grand Budapest Hotel
7Luxury ice cream brand Häagen-Dazs has teamed up with Secret Cinema, the pioneers of immersive storytelling, to launch Secret Sofa – a weekly home entertainment series where audiences can create their own unique immersive cinema experiences – to tie in with the its new “Häag-Indoors” initiative.
For eight weeks at 7.30pm BST every Friday, Secret Sofa will facilitate a virtual in-home screening of Secret Cinema’s most celebrated and critically acclaimed films, as well as lesser-known gems. With bespoke content, character narratives, interactive elements typical Secret Cinema surprises and Häagen-Dazs for company, people can create their own cinema experiences to enjoy at home. This week’s Secret Sofa screening will be Grand Budapest Hotel.
Max Alexander, CEO, Secret Cinema, said: “We’re an entertainment brand and we want to bring a sense of play back into people’s homes during this time of isolation. 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, where the nation will be able to relive a Secret Cinema they loved or missed, as well as discover new titles and share their experiences with each other virtually. We are going to transform your sofa into a time machine, a portal and a place of discovery and connection with the outside world.”
Arjoon Bose, Europe Head of Brand Experience and Culture, General Mills said: “At Häagen-Dazs, we believe that little luxuries can uplift the everyday, and we always strive to provide moments of joy and enable real connections between people, through our ice cream. This is more important now more than ever. During this time of uncertainty, we have launched our “Häag-Indoors” initiative, which we are thrilled to be partnering with Secret Cinema as a launch platform. Until life returns to normal, #HaagIndoors is a simple message to stay safe, look after each other, and keep finding little moments of joy.
“Secret Sofa is a perfect opportunity to showcase that and we are excited to offer Häagen-Dazs direct to your sofa enabled by our exclusive partnership with Amazon Prime Now to make your Friday nights that little bit more joyful. 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.”
People will be able to sign up for the Secret Sofa weekly newsletter and every Tuesday the film and pre-screening narrative will be announced. It’s here people will be immersed in the world of the film, given costume suggestions and bespoke content and activities including sing-along and music playlists, instructions to learn dance routines and prop making ideas to help them create the ultimate, in-home screening environment.
Recipients of the newsletter will receive a special weekly code that allows them to order the chosen Häagen-Dazs flavour of the week online via an exclusive collaboration with Amazon Prime Now which they can enjoy with their film kicking off with the celebrated dessert-inspired flavour Strawberry Cheesecake to match the debut with Grand Budapest Hotel . They will also be encouraged to share their best #HaagIndoors images on social media with the best one winning a week’s supply of ice-cream.
The Secret Sofa Facebook group will host audience discussions both pre and post film and will be a place for people to share images of the secret worlds they create.
Häagen-Dazs has seen huge success in the UK over the last 12 months growing to an £82m[1] brand.
[1] Nielsen scantrack Total Impulse 52w/e 28th Dec 2019
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