8020 was tasked with supporting Brunei’s Destination Marketing campaign through media relations and social media. The goal was to encourage more UK travellers to plan a holiday or stopover in Brunei and, while doing so, choose to fly with Royal Brunei Airlines. However, the conventional tactic of press trips was not permitted owing to the client’s budget constraints and policies. A creative solution was therefore called for.
As the media could not travel to Brunei, we decided to bring Brunei to them with a fun and novel brand activation. We created the idea of a Visit Brunei Escape Room in the heart of London, which would use a themed game concept to convey messages and facts about the destination to invited journalists and influencers.
Working with a specialist production company, we created a pop-up Escape Room decorated in the theme of Brunei’s rainforest. The bare shell was brilliantly transformed into a rainforest in microcosm, with trees, leaves, canopies, forest floor, shrubbery and rainforest sounds played throughout the venue. With Brunei still a relatively undiscovered destination, this was an opportunity to give visitors a sense of what they could expect on a visit. We researched key facts and figures as the basis for the escape room puzzles, thereby educating the guests about Bruneian culture, tourist activities and wildlife.
To increase digital engagement, we worked with a popular travel blogger to run a competition for her followers, with the prize of two spaces in one of the games.
The resulting adventure proved a hit with attendees, who included journalists from TTG, Travel Bulletin, the Daily Express and Wanderlust, two travel influencers plus their guests, and VIP members of the airline’s frequent flyers club. The Escape Room was enthusiastically reviewed by everyone, who said how much they enjoyed the experience and learnt about the airline and its destinations.