Christmas Countdown Calendar
Read the story- Brand
- Milka
- Year
- 2014
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- Taxi Studio
- With
- Play Nicely
- With
- Adjust Your Set
Objective
Milka wanted its Christmas advent calendar to do more than dispense chocolate: the goal was to give mums and kids a shared daily ritual through December that expressed the brand's "Dare to be Tender" platform, using the physical box as the daily hook.
Solution
Each day from December 1 to 24, the family opens that day's window on the printed calendar, then points a smartphone at it inside the free Milka app. The camera recognises the day's illustration and triggers a short surprise set in Milka's hand-drawn Alpine world: a tender message, an animated clip, a photo activity, or a mini-game. In "Trumpet & Tuba" the family plays instruments together to build a tune, while "Snowman Game" has kids dress a snowman by tapping and dragging pieces on screen and posing with the camera. The AR trigger only fires with the physical calendar in hand, but the mini-games themselves stay playable in the app any time, so the session can also just be a quick standalone game between windows. The story builds day by day until Christmas Eve, when the final window unlocks a more personal moment in the same Alpine setting.
- 1
The player buys a cardboard Milka advent calendar whose numbers are reimagined Christmas images, then downloads the free companion app for iOS or Android, which bundles the games, videos, and animations used throughout December.
- 2
Each day the app's home screen shows a hand-drawn Alpine-world calendar with only today's window unlocked (tied to the device's date); the player opens the matching window on the physical calendar, eats the chocolate, then points the camera at that window so the printed artwork is recognized as an AR marker and unlocks the day's digital surprise.
- 3
Each day's surprise takes one of several forms: a short tender message, a video or animated short, a camera-based photo activity, or a minigame.
- 4
On key dates the surprise is an episode of an animated film following a family discovering the spirit of Christmas in Milka's snowy Alpine world; episodes release across December and build into one continuous story.
- 5
Other days unlock minigames explained within the app and scaled to a young audience: "Trumpet & Tuba" has family members compose a melody together rather than compete, and the "Snowman Game" has the player decorate a snowman using touchscreen controls and the camera.
- 6
Beyond the daily surprises, the app offers downloadable keepsakes — recipes, decoration templates, and illustrated storybooks.
- 7
A built-in countdown calendar lets the player revisit any past day's surprise at any time, so nothing opened earlier in December is lost.
- 8
December 24 unlocks the finale: a personalized AR experience set in Milka's Alpine world, the payoff the whole month builds toward.
