CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Impossible Foods is hosting a unique pop-up experience tonight in Chicago to announce the arrival of the Impossible Burger, the award-winning burger that smells, cooks and tastes like ground beef from cows but is made entirely from plants.
Chicagoans will be treated to burgers and beer in a rollicking, 1920s-inspired speakeasy at a secret location. To score an invitation to tonight’s exclusive event, check out the Chicago Sausage Guild (www.ChicagoSausageGuild.org) or call 1-833-2SAUSAGE.
“The Impossible Burger inspires a great deal of conversation -- and we want to continue the conversation in a special venue and an entertaining concept core to Chicago’s colorful history of speakeasies, trade guilds and meatpacking,” said Impossible Foods’ Director of Marketing Jordan Schenck.
The Impossible Burger is the flagship product of Impossible Foods, which delivers its burgers to about 150 restaurants nationwide--including more than a dozen restaurants in the Chicago area, including M Burger, Umami Burger, Bareburger and Kuma’s Corner. Just last week, the University of Chicago began serving the Impossible Burger on campus -- the first school in America to feature the burger at a college restaurant.
Beware, the Sausage Guild
The concept starts with an imaginative premise: The Chicago Sausage Guild wants to keep Chicago a sausage town. The guild fears innovation and changing preferences, so it’s pushed the delicious, award-winning Impossible Burger underground--but that’s only stoked demand! Friends, foes and foodies throughout this meat-loving town are seeking out the Impossible Burger--and Chicagoans can enjoy their burgers with abandon at the Meateasy, free from the scornful glare of the sausage stalwarts.
Tonight’s Meateasy is hidden behind a fake butcher shop facade--but the experience goes far beyond a single, secret venue reminiscent of a blind pig. In addition to the evening venue, Chicagoans are noticing some unusual sights around the city today:
- Wild postings across town that let people know exactly how the Chicago Sausage Guild feels about a plant-based burger
- Old-school delivery boys passing out newspapers on select street corners with information on the location of and secret passcode for the Meateasy
- A variety of web films and other content debuting across social media (Follow Impossible Foods on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more clues.)
- Meateasy servers passing out membership cards, pins and other branded items
- Hamburger-hiding hats disguised as stylish headwear, allowing patrons to sneak their Impossible Burger around the city
Impossible Foods’ partnership with Wieden+Kennedy
The experiential Meateasy marks the first branded experience in collaboration with Wieden+Kennedy, which won creative duties earlier this year and will partner with Impossible Foods on overall brand development and marketing strategy.
"It’s exciting to work with an innovative mission-based company like Impossible Foods,” said W+K Creative Director Jason Campbell. “We crafted an immersive piece of storytelling across multiple mediums with the culmination being the discovery of a secret Meateasy. It's a game and experience all rolled up in one. This is the type of work that gets both us and our partners at Impossible really excited and exactly the sort of stuff we’ll keep doing together."
About Impossible Foods
Based in Redwood City, Calif., Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants—with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek and Open Philanthropy Project.
More information:
www.instagram.com/impossible_foods/
www.twitter.com/impossiblefoods
www.facebook.com/impossiblefoods
About Wieden+Kennedy
Wieden+Kennedy, founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1982, is an independent, privately held global creative company with offices in Amsterdam, Delhi, London, New York City, Portland, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo. Wieden+Kennedy works with some of the world’s most innovative and successful brands, including AB InBev, Airbnb, Anki, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, Facebook, Honda, Instagram, Lyft, Mondelēz, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Samsung and Spotify.
Wieden+Kennedy was recently named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Marketing and Advertising, included on Ad Age’s Agency A-List, and named Creativity’s Agency of the Year for 2017. www.wk.com