A combination of smaller living spaces and the new work-from-home era means that dining room tables are increasingly doing double duty as work desks.
As a brand that has made good food and dining with friends a key component of its marketing, Labatt’s Stella Artois used this insight to develop “The Savouring Table,” a table that transforms from a daytime desk into a dining room table capable of accommodating as many as six people within seconds.
It is the latest in a long line of distinctive dining experiences developed by Stella across the world, ranging from 2015’s “Stella Artois Sensorium” to last year’s “Stella Artois Dine-Thru” and this year’s “World’s Most Fascinating Dinner” program.
For “The Savouring Table,” the brand worked with Transformer Table, a seven-year-old Quebec company specializing in space-saving furniture that can be quickly converted into much larger pieces.
Transformer’s flagship product, which Vice once described as “the Optimus Prime of dining tables,” has sold more than 70,000 pieces worldwide since its 2016 debut. “The Savouring Table,” which features the famous Stella star, is currently available for $2,599 on the Transformer Table website.
“The Savouring Table” is an almost literal manifestation of last year’s global spot “It’s Time to Dine Again,” which showed people literally flipping their table to transform it from a workspace to a gathering spot for family and friends.
“As a brand that is driven by insights and passionate about bringing people together over food, we wanted to scale the reality of shrinking spaces beyond an ad,” said Labatt in a statement. “With a joint mission to empower consumers to reclaim their space to cultivate moments worth savouring, our partnership with Transformer Table allowed us to turn our ad into a reality.”
The program launched with an out-of-home stunt outside the entrance of Toronto condo development The Well. A Stella and Transformer Table-branded mystery box, about the size of a typical Toronto condominium, invited people to guess what it contained for a chance to win “The Savouring Table.”
The box’s imagery contained a condo floor plan, accompanied by messages reading “Space is limited. We have a solution” and “It’s time to reclaim your dining space.” The box was subsequently opened to reveal “The Savouring Table” in both its desk and table forms, with the message “Designed for both work and life.” Labatt also ran marketing across both organic and paid social, as well as influencer partnerships and media.
Labatt’s in-house agency Draftline and Transformer Studios oversaw creative for the campaign, with Dentsu for media, Salt for experiential, and Veritas for influencer and PR.
