Foodservice technology provider, Grub Lab wins kids over with new AFL collaboration
The latest innovation in children’s hospitality entertainment is upgrading its offering with a new and exciting collaboration with Australian Football League (AFL). Grub Lab, a brand that cleverly and commercially develops interactive children’s Augmented Reality (AR) packs for the foodservice industry, further tailors to the needs of the tech-savvy kids of today.
Grub Lab’s latest collaboration brings the fun and excitement of the AFL off the field and into venues. The AFL Heroes Scan & Play series includes a 13-page activity booklet, with collectable sticker packs available for certain participating hospitality groups. Grub Lab will launch four collectable versions of booklets which include all 18 AFL Club mascot characters, allowing kids to get a different experience every time.
The AFL Heroes series takes traditional colouring in packs and unveils a completely new way to interact. Kids can colour in any of the mascots in the activity book and bring them to life, just as they coloured them. The Scan & Play activity packs also include new and exciting games like ‘AFL Strike’ a fun game where users score points by taking out all of the hidden mascots, the quicker kids do it, the higher they score. There is also an AFL Word Search, where kids can challenge an AFL hero and win by completing the search faster than the mascot’s personal best. Kid’s memory is put to the test by launching the Hero Memory game in the app. With three levels of difficulty, kids are invited to find the pairs of AR mascot cards. As a bonus game, Grub Lab has also added the popular Grub-Copter game where users can choose a Free Flight or select Fire Flight to fight fires against the clock. Hospitality venues can hand out these interactive activity packs to their customers as a true value add on experience for families and keep their venue enjoyable for all.
Grub Lab Scan & Play activity packs are supported by a smart device app that uses AR technology to bring kids packs to life. The pages inside the activity pack act as a launch pad to activate games and experiences that keep kids entertained in hospitality venues and mum and dad returning to their local. With many families not having been able to go out for a meal together due to extended lockdowns and restrictions, the team behind Grub Lab wants to provide an opportunity for added value when going to a venue, focusing on what the kids of today love and introduce fresh content and big brands to venues seeking innovation and returning customers.
Mick Carr, CEO and Founder, Grub Lab, says, “We are really excited to expand our Grub Lab offering by collaborating with the AFL, a sport loved by so many Aussies, particularly young children. Developing a product that resonates with the children of Australia, we want to make sure it features what kids of today are interested in. With sport bringing so many people together, we thought this collaboration with the AFL would work really well and keep kids entertained as they head out for a meal with their family. We also feel that tapping into sport and creating this pack will further enhance the value Grub Lab already provides to hospitality venues.”
AFL Executive General Manager Customer and Commercial Kylie Rogers says: “The AFL is excited about this collaboration with Grub Lab and what the AFL Heroes Scan & Play series can do to educate more children about our fame in a really unique and enjoyable way. The support from families and children for our sport and their favourite AFL Club is huge, so we’re thrilled to launch this fun and interactive initiative which provides another great opportunity for kids to engage with football all year round.”
The AFL themed activity packs are available in participating hospitality venues.
For more information please visit www.grublab.io
Mick Carr, Grub Lab
An entrepreneur by nature, Mick Carr started selling flowers on the side of the road in Kurri Kurri at 8 years old. He bought Mother’s Day flowers from the back streets of Kurri Kurri and sold bunches half the size for the same amount on the main road.
His ideas got more refined at 23, when Mick designed, built and launched a full commercial laundromat, securing 90% of underground mine sites throughout the Hunter Valley. At 27, Mick developed, built and commercialized an innovative solution to market for safety equipment that changed an industry and started an incredible 9-year relationship with the Fortune 500 company, 3M.
A few more businesses followed and then in 2018 Mick established Grub Lab, following an a-ha moment when out dining with his wife and three boys. The boys were given a standard colouring book, and grew quickly bored, and Mick thought that there had to be a better solution to entertain kids whilst dining out.
So he set up Grub Lab, a kids entertainment solution for hospitality venues using Augmented Reality technology. Following a collab with the NRL, Grub Lab has now launched a collab with the AFL, which brings the fun and excitement of the AFL off the field and into venues.
At participating hospitality venues, kids are given a ‘scan and play’ colouring-in booklet with collectible stickers and interactive AFL Club Mascots from the 18 AFL clubs, who appear on smartphones and tablets.
