First, Baskin-Robbins faces tough competition in the dessert category. It was established in Malaysia 33 years ago, and became one of the go-to brands for dessert. But players local and international have been stealing the limelight (local ice-cream guys, bubble teas) causing people to move away from Baskin-Robbins.

Secondly, ice cream cakes have never been considered a significant product during the Chinese New Year celebration where traditional options like oranges and pineapple tarts are the top choices. Chinese New Year was a prime target period thanks to the heat wave that happens during this time, and also a time when food and drink is consumed abundantly.

How could we position Baskin-Robbins in the minds of our audience to consider its ice cream cakes as a celebration food throughout CNY?

Bring the Lion Home allowed Malaysians to experience the majesty of a lion dance in the comfort of their home, at a fraction of the price of the real thing.

An Augmented Reality Lion Dance experience right at your fingertips via Baskin-Robbins' ice-cream cake box.

We wanted to make it mobile, accessible, affordable, and young. We designed the ice cream box to look like a lion dance head, infusing traditional elements with modern design to give it that festive feel, and make it insta-worthy.

And we used AR technology and 3D rendering to bring the lion to life - just scan the ice cream box and choreograph your own lion dance.

To convince young Malaysian Millennials that Baskin-Robbins ice cream cakes are an excellent option during this Chinese New Year, we needed to give a more profound cultural role for these ice cream cakes.

We looked at various CNY traditions and chose lion dance as it was something that many urbanites only see on TV or at the shopping mall. The lion dance was losing its relevance, because it is becoming less affordable (for private, at-home performances) and the fact that many urban Malaysians are now living in condos or smaller houses (the performance needs a big space).

Our audience also craved for a multi-sensorial experience, so we decided to turn a simple consumption moment into an immersive audio-visual experience. Through Augmented Reality (AR), an AR Dancing Lion that people could enjoy on their mobiles, right at their fingertips.

We redesigned the ice cream box to look like a lion’s head. Inspired by traditional lion dance costumes, we modernised it with clean lines and eye-catching prosperous colours. We weaved in Chinese New Year symbols of good luck, such as Mandarin oranges, fireworks and lanterns. All to make it Insta-worthy enough to be used as a prop or shared on the reunion dinner table.

Next, we used AR technology to bring the lion to life. When a user scans a specific part of the box, our dancing lion appears. We rendered the lion in 3D, giving it life and making it as realistic as possible.

We created four distinctive dance steps. When certain trigger points were depressed on the phone screen, it made the lion dance. We also allowed the user to record the dance moves, which they can then send as Chinese New Year greetings to friends and family.

The campaign was considered a great success, as it surpassed the 5% sales target. Sales increased by just over 10% during the Chinese New Year period of 2020 (January – February).

More importantly, the campaign contributed to the highest unit & revenue growth for Baskin-Robbins in a single month: +29% units, +38% revenue (January 2020).

In addition, interest of our AR lion dance was really high, with 11,035 cake-box scans to access the AR Dancing Lion (40,000 boxes were printed in total).