The art of creating brand experiences that are unmistakably you.
We recently created a pop-up for Bold Bean Co. in the heart of Soho. It was bright yellow, brilliantly beany, packed with personality and, judging by the queues and the amount of it appearing across our social feeds, people rather loved it.
We’ll never do it again, not because it didn’t work… But because The Beanery was unmistakably Bold Bean. And the best brand experiences are the ones that couldn’t possibly belong to anyone else.
A little bistro. A lot of bean obsession.
Bold Bean isn’t short on personality, it’s built an incredibly passionate community around something most people probably hadn’t given much thought to before… beans! There’s a whole world of creativity, culture and genuine obsession around the brand, from customers making artwork inspired by its jars to finding new ways to reuse them.
As part of Bold Bean’s wider September campaign celebrating that obsession, we worked with the team to turn 59 Greek Street into The Beanery. A three-day pop-up bistro that brought the brand’s world into the real world. We took the space from an empty unit to a bold, yellow bistro, bringing together the creative design, production, build and delivery of an experience packed with things people already loved about Bold Bean.
Big, delicious beany lunches. Community artwork covering the walls. Cookbooks, merch and a jar upcycling station with Freddie’s Flowers, giving those iconic glass jars a second life as flower vases. Every element had a connection to the brand. Nothing was there just to fill a space, and that’s where we think the most interesting brand experiences begin.
Know who you are.
It’s easy to get distracted by what’s trending in experiential. The latest technology, the must have photo moment, the format everyone’s suddenly doing. But the starting point should always be the brand itself. What makes it different? What do people already love about it? What would feel completely natural for this brand, but ridiculous for anyone else?
With Bold Bean, we had a brilliant starting point. An instantly recognisable visual identity, a playful personality and a community that was already doing some pretty wonderful things with the brand. Our job was to take all of that and translate it into a physical experience. The bold graphics, the bistro setting, the community art, the jars filled with flowers. It all felt like Bold Bean because it came from Bold Bean. We weren’t trying to invent something new for the sake of it. We were finding ways to bring what was already special about the brand to life.
Give people a reason to care.
Getting someone to notice your activation is one thing. Giving them a reason to actually spend time with it is another. People are busy, their attention is valuable, and simply putting a brand in front of them isn’t enough. The Beanery gave people plenty of reasons to get involved.
There were free lunches worth queuing for, beautiful community artwork to discover, cookbooks to browse, merch people genuinely wanted and the opportunity to turn an empty Bold Bean jar into something lovely to take home. It wasn’t just somewhere to visit and photograph. There were things to taste, make, discover and enjoy.
The experience didn’t have to end when people walked out of the door. A jar of flowers on someone’s kitchen table, a tote bag being carried around London, a photo shared with friends. These are the little ways a brand experience can continue to live beyond the space itself.
Make it impossible to ignore.
Of course, even the most beautifully considered experience needs to get noticed, a bright yellow bistro in the middle of Soho is a pretty good place to start. From the distinctive exterior to the world waiting inside, The Beanery was designed to be instantly recognisable, inviting and easy to understand.
There was no complicated explanation needed, people could see what was happening, understand what was on offer and get involved and once they did. There was plenty worth talking about. The three-day activation saw 1,500 free lunches served, two sold-out supper clubs, queues along Greek Street and a huge amount of love across social media, alongside coverage from the likes of Time Out.
It’s always brilliant to see something we’ve spent so much time bringing together take on a life of its own, but what made it particularly satisfying wasn’t just the attention it generated. It was seeing people connect with the brand in exactly the way the experience was designed to encourage.
So, why won’t we do it again?
Even if Bold Bean asked us to create another pop-up tomorrow, it shouldn't be The Beanery all over again. Every activation has its own moment, a different location, a different audience, a different time of year. Cultural moments, changing consumer behaviours, wider campaigns and where the brand is on its own journey all play a part in shaping what an experience should be.
What worked brilliantly on Greek Street in September won't necessarily be what works in a festival field next summer, a department store at Christmas or even back in Soho a year from now. We can take everything we've learned from creating The Beanery into the next project. The thinking, the experience, the attention to detail and the understanding of what makes people want to get involved, but the creative outcome should always be shaped by the opportunity in front of us.
We don't believe in taking a successful pop-up, changing the colours, swapping the logo and calling it a new experience. And we don't believe in repeating the same formula for the same brand, either. It’s about creating something that feels completely right for the brand, the audience, the place and the moment.
That’s the art of being unmistakably you.
And it’s exactly why we’ll never make The Beanery again.
Got a brand with a story worth bringing to life?
We’d love to hear it. Let’s make something unmistakably yours.
Let’s talk - hello@creatisanltd.com
