philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The best augmented reality I saw this year was live theater funded by a liquor company

Whiskey-sponsored immersive theater. Snickers escape rooms. Immersive branding is just getting started.

World Bleed

Funding improbable art

Year of the Snickers Escape Room

Another experience, just a few days later, reminded me that these immersive experiences are only increasing.

Snickers set up an out-of-the-way, one-day-only escape room just a day after my immersive theater adventure: The Hunger Bunker. I went, because I like escape rooms. The pop-up was a clear, obvious advertisement for new Snickers flavors. The escape room was a 10-minute challenge, set up in an enclosed area designed to look like a vault in the warehouse-size space that was laid out in industrial decoration and lots of bowls of mini Snickers.

I solved the escape room challenges with two "influencers" and few employees of Mars. I watched a video on an old TV screen in front of a sofa, that explained our mission. We put together pieces of tubing on a puzzle-table. We answered trivia questions. We put our hands in mysterious holes to activate buttons. We eventually beat the clock and won the challenge.

It wasn't a great escape room, but it was free. Josh Olken, brand director for Snickers, said that while this was a one-off experience, more things like it could come. If a thing like this ended up in a mall or a park or an airport -- well, I'd probably enjoy playing.

See the full story here: https://www.cnet.com/news/the-best-augmented-reality-i-saw-this-year-was-live-theater-funded-by-a-liquor-company/