Magnum Store Launches in Karachi

Quite a few of you must have seen the photos that I shared of the Magnum store and the personalized Magnum that I made on my Facebook page. Here's my write-up of that same event.

Picture provided by Creative Chaos

Magnum Pakistan held an exclusive Digital Launch on 14th September 2014 for bloggers & twitterati. Ice-cream being one of my favourite desserts, and since I am a blogger, I was very excited to attend. The event was scheduled at 5 pm and lasted about two hours. I reached the venue around 5:15 pm with Sara Muzammil from Creative Chaos personally greeting all the bloggers, giving us a brief overview of the store & showing us around.

Picture provided by Creative Chaos

The first thing you notice about the Magnum store is the luxurious and chic decor - light pink Magnum monogrammed damask wallpaper complemented by chocolate brown painted walls. Situated right under a series of gorgeous looking 'Magnum' prints, the Magnum bar is the main feature of the downstairs floor. Other than that, there's lots of quirky furniture and artistic backgrounds scattered around, with a series of mirrors at one end, a wall decorated with triangular black art and strategically placed TV's. The upstairs floor continued the same concept, with stylish & funky furniture, and more backgrounds perfect for posing & taking selfies. 

There was about 30 minutes of mingling around, after which the event formally started with the brand team introducing themselves, welcoming us to this exclusive event and then letting us know all about the 'Make My Magnum' experience, which allows us to design our own personalised Magnum at the 'Magnum Bar' downstairs. 

Magnum Store Karachi - Toppings Offered

While the 'Make My Magnum' experience utilizes the Magnum bar which is available in stores, it enhances the experience by letting you choose from an array of unique toppings, which is dipped into the chocolate of your choice. The first step begins with you selecting your preferred ice-cream stick - either vanilla or chocolate, then choosing your toppings (3 is the best combination but you can add more), and then choose either a milk chocolate or dark chocolate dip. The toppings on offer consisted of 3 categories - the basics ranging from white chocolate vermicelli, chocolate rice krispies, crumbled corn flakes and honeycomb; the specialties ranging from chopped hazelnuts, crumbed biscuits, white chocolate chips, crushed coconut, and chocolate sprinkles; the experimental is what created the most buzz with flavors ranging from popcorn, sea salt, chilli flakes, dried pomegranate, poppy seeds and dried cranberries. 

As part of the activities at the event, the bloggers were asked to take part in the 'Make My Magnum Challenge', where all the bloggers took a picture with our customized Magnums and nominated four of our friends on social media to 'Make My Magnum Challenge'. If the tagged friends fail to make their Magnums within the given time frame, they would have to treat us to a Magnum of our choice. Definitely a fun challenge to try out all those experimental toppings! 

Picture provided by Creative Chaos

So I went off to the Magnum Bar to make my personalized Magnum - vanilla Magnum topped with hazelnuts, crushed biscuits, honeycomb & fruity pebbles topped in a milk chocolate glaze. I was expecting something similar to a normal Magnum but the multiple toppings & the double dipping made it something superior that will push people to come to the store. In the midst of tweeting & social media sharing, I was interacting with fellow bloggers, and the hot topic of discussion was what flavors did everyone get, and who was adventurous enough to get the chilli flakes! 

Hazelnuts, Biscuits, Honeycomb & Fruity Pebbles

Salt, Coconut & Candy Bits

Getting a lot of good reviews from people who did try the experimental flavors, I decided to get another one and this time choose coconut, sea salt & candy bits dipped in dark chocolate. While the traditional toppings were also good, this one was much better - the sea salt balanced the sweetness from the chocolate with the coconut & candy bits providing 
the crunch. 

Once the Make My Magnum event was over, we had another activity of the 'Magnum Pleasure Hunt' where we had to tweet 'where's the treasure?' to the Magnum Pakistan twitter account (@MagnumPk) and then respond to the questions. Only 10 people were selected as the lucky winner, but the rest of us were not let go empty handed, and were given free vouchers for a free 'Magnum' the next time we visited the store. 

Overall the Magnum Store looks to be an interesting addition as a dessert bar in Karachi, providing a welcome change from the plethora of fro-yo outlets in town. The Magnum Bar concept is similar to our local Dip Shop, but that's where the similarity ends because the decor, ambiance & variety of toppings offered gives it a premium feel bound to appeal to youngsters. Priced at Rs.250 for a personalized Magnum with 3 toppings, it is pricier compared to the store version, but on par with offerings from other ice-cream outlets. The Magnum Store promises to be an experience, so it remains to be seen how the brand team can keep on introducing new & innovative ideas that will keep people coming back to their store. 

Bloggers Group Photo at the Magnum Karachi event -Picture provided by Creative Chaos

Note:
This was a by invitation event for bloggers, with the Digital PR being managed by Creative Chaos and the BTL team was from Empact.

Magnum Store Details:
Location: Block 7, Clifton, Karachi (Opposite Boat Basin)
Timings: Weekdays: 12 pm - 12 am & Weekends: 12 pm - 1 am
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPakistan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MagnumPK