Eight O’Clock Coffee Introduces New Digital Campaign
Eight O’Clock Coffee has launched a new digital campaign to support its overall brand message. The new campaign, The Great Coffee Break, is a digital escape room game that people can play for the chance to win a year of free groceries.
The Great Coffee Break is the first Augmented Reality-triggered digital game designed by Escape the Room and can be launched by scanning any Eight O’Clock Coffee package with the Shazam app – or by going directly to GreatCoffeeBreak.com. Set in a fictitious animated roastery, players will solve coffee-themed puzzles to help bags of Eight O’Clock “escape the roastery.” Eight people will win the grand prize: free groceries for a year. (Each Grand Prize of is a year of free groceries, defined as USD $8,000 awarded in the form of a check. No purchase is necessary to enter. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States or DC, age 18 or older.)
Generations of Americans have been connecting over Eight O’Clock since 1859. The Great Coffee Break is designed to provide consumers with a new way to experience their love of coffee and gaming by leveraging the escape room trend that has grown exponentially in recent years.
Players of the Great Coffee Break can explore different virtual rooms within the roastery to find clues, solve puzzles, and complete the mission. According to the brand, Eight O’Clock Coffee’s game is designed to facilitate the satisfying feeling of discovery that players experience in physical escape rooms (escape rooms in the US have grown from 22 in 2014 to about 2,300 today).
“With the Great Coffee Break, we are tapping into one of the hottest emerging trends in a way that is meaningful to coffee drinkers and relevant to today’s lifestyle,” says Michael Scalera, senior brand manager at Eight O’Clock Coffee. “Our fans tell us all the time that enjoying Eight O’Clock Coffee is key to their day – and it’s certainly key to solving the Great Coffee Break. Plus, while people are ‘escaping the room’ they’ll have a chance to escape their grocery bill for a year.”
“Eight O’Clock Coffee has long provided a meaningful way to bring people together, as does Escape the Room – so putting our brands together was a natural fit,” says Victor Blake, founder and CEO, Escape the Room. “Bringing both experiences to life virtually in a way that makes sense for a solo player was my primary inspiration for The Great Coffee Break game. I’m thrilled with how the game turned out, and I think people will really enjoy playing…hopefully with a cup of Eight O’Clock in their hand.”
Scalera notes, “The Great Coffee Break is a game, not a true reflection of the process at our roasting facility in Landover, Maryland. We have to keep some secrets, after all.”
The Great Coffee Break promotion began 17 June and runs through 11 August 2018. The game is being supported by in-store and digital advertising, social media, and public relations outreach.
To play the Great Coffee Break and for complete rules and details, go to www.GreatCoffeeBreak.com. For more information about Escape the Room, visit EscapeTheRoom.com.
Montvale, New Jersey-based Eight O’Clock Coffee is owned by Tata Global Beverages According to Nielsen Homescan, the brand continues to rank highest in consumer loyalty and repeat among packaged coffee buyers.
To learn more about Eight O’Clock Coffee, visit www.eightoclock.com.