Throwback Arcade
- Brand
- Krispy Kreme
- Year
- 2019
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- Social
- Agency
- The Monkeys
Objective
Krispy Kreme ANZ was launching Throwback Party, a limited run of donuts built entirely on 90s nostalgia, and needed a way to make millennials feel that nostalgia rather than just read about it. As The Monkeys' first major project for the brand, the campaign had to turn Instagram attention into real engagement and carry that through to sales in stores and online.
Solution
A swipe-up on a Krispy Kreme story in Instagram or Facebook drops the player into a retro arcade that opens right in their phone's browser, dressed up in pixel art and 8-bit sound like a 90s arcade cabinet. Four flavors of the new donut range each get their own game and genre: a fighting game, a kart racer, a platformer, and a puzzle title. The player picks a cabinet, plays a round, and their score is submitted straight to a public leaderboard, where it sits ranked against every other player's. Land high enough on the leaderboard and you're entered into a draw for a year's supply of donuts — a session ends with a score to beat, not a dead end.
Results
The campaign drove a 50.9% increase in mobile users interacting with Krispy Kreme's Instagram account.
- 1
Playing starts inside Krispy Kreme's Instagram and Facebook stories: a retro pixel-art announcement for the Throwback Party donut line invites the viewer to swipe up, which opens Throwback Arcade directly in the phone's browser, styled as a 90s arcade cabinet with 8-bit sound.
- 2
A start screen offers four mini-games, each tied to a flavor from the Throwback Party line-up.
- 3
The player controls each game with on-screen taps, as on a handheld console.
- 4
The four games span different genres: Finger Bun Fighter is a beat-'em-up through glaze-covered streets, Krispy Kart is a kart race through rolls of dough, Fairy Bread Fantasy is a platformer set in a fairy-bread-themed world, and Brownie Batter Bash is a puzzle game about breaking apart chunks of chocolate.
- 5
Each round ends with a score submitted to a shared online leaderboard, where players can see how they rank against others and replay to climb higher.
- 6
Top-ranked players are entered into a draw for the grand prize: a year's supply of Krispy Kreme donuts.
- 7
The arcade points back to the limited-time Throwback Party donuts, sold in stores and via Uber Eats.
