The Edible Exhibition
V&A Museum of Childhood
Issue 46 | March 2018
Agency
AMV BBDO, London
Creative Team
Creative Executive Creative Directors Alex Grieve, Adrian Rossi Creative Directors Neil Clarke, Jay Phillips, Mike Sutherland, Ant Nelson Art Director Jay Phillips Copywriter Neil Clarke Illustrator Rob Flowers
Production Team
Production Producer Adam Walker Production Company Bompas & Parr Illustration Blink Art
Other Credits
Other Account Managers Luke Hickey, Adam Walker Board Account Director Nick Andrew
Date
October 2017
Background
Kids can be fussy eaters. Only 8% of children in the UK ate their recommended 5 a day.
As a result, getting children to try new foods could be an intense, and sometimes unpleasant experience. But they could be tempted to try and even to accept new and different foods through play and experimentation.
Idea
At a free workshop in London, over 100 children were given the chance to use their imagination and invent their ultimate food fantasies. Six winning designs were then selected and turned into delicious reality with the help of food wizards Bompas & Parr. They included glow-in-the dark ice-cream, which was made from carrots, edible bubbles made from broccoli and cucumber, and a "parsnip tornado", to name but a few.
Illustrator Rob Flowers brought the Edible Exhibition to life with a series of posters and invitations that were also entirely edible. Each had its own unique flavour.
Every aspect of the printing process, from edible paper to the multi-flavoured inks, was custom-made for the exhibition. The posters went on display at the museum and visitors could take away postcards to eat for themselves.
Results
Unquantifiable
Our Thoughts
There are several reasons why agencies like doing this sort of work. It's more fun, they might win awards and, more to the point, they have a case study to dangle in front of clients. Brands can learn a lot from this. Create an experience that is magical and memorable (and not just for kids, by the way) and you create a memory that lasts for life. That's an affinity that lasts for life. And that could add up to an incalculable lifetime value to the brand.
On top of that, it is reported that 49% of people create a mobile video at events like this, and 39% of them will share it on Twitter.
So the more fun the event, the more people will get to hear about it.
Added to which, when millennials tell you they will always choose a brand that offers an experience against one that doesn't, then it behoves you to listen. But you have to do these things properly. I think I'm right in saying this exhibition was a year in the making. A year well-spent.