Sensory Brand Experiences Through Food & Drink
Product launches & brand experiences
A product's colour, scent or story can become the starting point for something guests can taste.
A new beauty shade. A fruit-inspired lip oil. A collection with distinctive fragrance notes. Each gives a launch team more to work with than a logo on a cup.
At Pan-n-Ice, we can develop colour-matched products and bespoke flavours around a campaign. Alongside our sister experiential agency Rolling Minds, we connect the food or drink to the product, then work through how it will be presented and served.
Here is how that thinking translates into real experiences, from shade-inspired soft serve for Saie and bespoke Scoops Ahoy ice creams for Netflix to a fragrance-inspired menu for Saltair.
Start with one clear connection to the product
A sensory brand experience gives guests a way to encounter a brand through more than its graphics. For a food and drink activation, that can be the taste, aroma, colour, texture or act of making and serving something.
The connection needs to be easy to understand. A vanilla note can become a vanilla dessert. A colour from the launch artwork can run through the ice cream, cup and counter. A fruit-led collection can become a menu of flavours that guests choose between.
You do not have to use every sense or personalise every surface. Choose the product detail that matters, then give it enough attention to work well. The food still needs to be enjoyable, and the service still needs to fit the event.
From screen to serving
Netflix and Stranger Things: bringing Scoops Ahoy to life
Not every sensory brief starts with a beauty product. For our Netflix collaboration, the starting point was the world of Stranger Things and its nautical-themed Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlour.
Pan-n-Ice worked on concept development, product design and delivery, creating four bespoke ice cream serves for the partnership. The flavours, warm bases, toppings and presentation were developed around the story, rather than adding a branded cup to an existing menu.
The experience launched on Stranger Things Day, 6 November 2023, with a Scoops Ahoy truck at Outernet London, followed by a UK tour and themed parlours. The photographs here show the finished products and the truck on its Bath stop.
Four bespoke ice creams, each with its own character
The product development connected names, flavour combinations and visual details. The red cracking chocolate shell, for example, was developed as a reference to the Rift.
| The serve | The flavour and finishing details |
|---|---|
| The Upside Down Bubba | Warm red velvet cookie dough, black cookies and hazelnut spread ice cream, finished with a red cracking chocolate shell. |
| U.S.S. Butterscotch | Butterscotch ice cream on a warm sticky toffee waffle, with mini butterscotch pieces and a caramel waffle. |
| Hey Hawkins | Mint chocolate chip ice cream on warm cookie dough, with sprinkles and a glacé cherry. |
| The Cherry Rift | Cherry ice cream on a warm brownie, with praline pecan pieces and a miniature USA flag. |
The menu also included Cocoa & Contemplation: red hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles. These were products created for that particular partnership, not a current off-the-shelf event menu.
Develop the product, then build the world around it
The work moved from flavour and visual ideas through prototype products and a tasting with the Netflix team, before the finished serves were photographed and brought into the activation.
- The ice cream: bespoke combinations made the references something guests could taste, from the warm dessert bases to the cracking shell.
- The cups: Scoops Ahoy, Stranger Things and Pan-n-Ice branding connected each finished serving to the collaboration.
- The truck: the turquoise-and-white vehicle, nautical graphics and branded canopy carried the same world into a travelling service point.
This is the value of developing the food and the setting together. The menu is not a separate giveaway: it is part of the experience guests have come to discover.
For your own campaign, explore our branded ice cream trucks and food and drink brand activations.
Texture, toppings and product storytelling
DAISE Beauty: a Whipped Creamery Bar inspired by body wash
For DAISE Beauty's Battersea Power Station activation with Black & White Comms, soft serve became a playful reference to the brand's foaming body wash.
Guests chose strawberry, vanilla or strawberry swirl, then added toppings inspired by the product range, including cherries, pineapple rings and colourful jelly beans. Branded cups and the Whipped Creamery Bar tied the food experience to the wider setting.
The useful connection was the idea of a whip: a familiar food texture that helped guests explore the product story. The food remained a separate, edible interpretation, not a dessert made with cosmetic ingredients.
A fragrance-inspired menu
Saltair: guava, vanilla and coconut for Coral Coast
Rolling Minds worked with 5th House PR on the launch of Saltair's Coral Coast collection, exclusive to Space NK. The food element was bespoke vegan soft serve with guava, vanilla and coconut, inspired by the collection's fragrance notes.
The menu sat within a wider product experience: guests could discover the collection before visiting the branded truck for their ice cream. The cup, branded wafer and surrounding pink setting helped connect the serving to the launch.
The important detail is how specific the idea was. The recipe took its direction from this collection's notes, rather than simply choosing a popular flavour and adding a logo.
Flavour and participation
Milani: a fruit-led collection became an ice cream roll masterclass
For Milani Cosmetics' Fruit Lip Oils, Rolling Minds created custom ice cream roll flavours inspired by strawberry, passionfruit and cherry. Influencers made their own rolls during the masterclass, choosing the flavour linked to their favourite lip oil.
Here, making the dessert was part of the experience. The product reference shaped what guests tasted and what they did. A hands-on format needs a different timetable and setup from a quick sampling counter, so the participation should be designed into the brief from the start.
Which part of the brand should the food express?
These are useful routes to explore. They are creative starting points, not promises that every product or reference can become a workable recipe.
| The reference | An edible interpretation | A question for the brief |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | Soft serve, a drink or a finishing detail developed around the campaign palette. | Are we matching the product, the packaging or the launch artwork? |
| Scent or flavour notes | A food-grade recipe inspired by recognisable notes such as vanilla or fruit. | Which note should guests recognise first? |
| Texture | A contrast between a smooth dessert and a crisp wafer or topping. | Does the contrast help express the product story, and is it practical to serve? |
| A ritual or action | Choosing a flavour, watching a drink being finished or taking part in a masterclass. | How long should each guest spend with the experience? |
| A campaign message | Menu names, printed coffee, cups and edible branding that support one clear idea. | What should a guest understand without a long explanation? |
Develop the recipe before committing to the final look
Bring the product references into the conversation early: a physical sample, brand guidelines, colour references and a description of the notes you want to express. It is much easier to build a coherent menu when the food team understands the intended connection.
Interpret the inspiration with food-grade ingredients
For a beauty launch, scent is a creative reference. We use food-grade ingredients to interpret suitable flavour notes. Skincare formulas, cosmetic oils and perfume concentrates do not go into the dessert or drink.
Tell us about dietary requirements and allergens at the beginning. The final ingredient choices and handling arrangements need to be agreed for the recipe and service; a bespoke flavour should never be treated as an automatic dietary or allergen guarantee.
Review taste, colour and presentation together
Agree whether the project needs recipe development, samples or a tasting stage, and include the time and cost in the scope. Review the proposed serving in its actual cup or cone, with the chosen topping and branding. If colour is central to the launch, assess the sample against the reference and in the intended lighting.
The approval should cover the whole serving, not only a close-up of the ice cream. It also needs to be clear who signs off the flavour, artwork and final presentation.
The same approach works with drinks
Coffee can carry a campaign through the cup, the menu and an image printed onto the drink. A cocktail or mocktail can be developed around flavour notes, colour and presentation where the recipe allows. The right choice depends on the audience and the occasion.
For a morning event, a recognisable coffee menu with a carefully chosen branded detail may be the clearest idea. For an evening launch, a short bespoke drinks menu may give guests more time to explore the flavour. Keep the connection useful rather than making the drink complicated for its own sake.
Explore branded coffee catering or cocktail bar hire for the service behind the idea.
Colour-matched drinks and product presentation
111SKIN: juice shots designed to echo the skincare range
For the 111SKIN x Space NK activation, we developed little juice shots to match the look of the beauty product range. The brief went beyond the label: the colour of the drink and the shape of the serving bottle needed to feel cohesive with the purple-toned product presentation.
The juice was developed around that colour reference and served in small, clear glass test-tube-style bottles with silver caps. Branded as The Repair Shot, each bottle brought the visual connection into something guests could hold and drink.
Rolling Minds' wider Repair Van activation included the branded vehicle, product displays and complimentary shots. It is a useful example of how bespoke drinks can sit within a beauty launch without ice cream being the central product.
The connection here was colour, packaging and presentation: a drink designed to complement the skincare display, not to reproduce a cosmetic formula or promise skincare benefits.
Make the idea work when guests arrive
A beautifully developed serving still needs a practical plan. Think about whether guests are collecting a quick sample, watching something being made or taking part themselves. The time at the counter, staffing and space should suit that interaction.
Plan how the food connects to the product display or demonstration. Guests should be able to understand the link, find out what is in their serving and move between the different parts of the event without confusion.
For a larger launch, Pan-n-Ice can focus on the food and drink within your existing agency's plan. Wider production can be discussed with Rolling Minds. Menus, equipment, staffing, branding, transport and any custom development should be clearly identified in the proposal.
A useful starting brief for a sensory activation
- The product: what is launching, and which detail should guests notice?
- The reference: colours, flavour notes, scent description, packaging and brand guidelines.
- The audience: who is coming, how many people you expect and how long they can spend.
- The interaction: quick sampling, live preparation, a masterclass or a longer hospitality moment.
- The practical scope: date, venue, service hours, dietary requests and budget range.
- The approvals: who will sign off the recipe, colour, artwork and serving format, and by when?
Bring us the product story and the details you already have. We can help explore a food or drink interpretation that fits the launch.
Explore our food and drink brand activations, or brief us on your launch.
