Bean me up, Scotty. South African retailer, Game, has made history by sending a can of baked beans to ‘space’ in celebration of Leap Day.
In the latest out-of-the-box marketing activation, Game has sent one of their fan-favourite products to space – a can of Koo baked beans. The local retailer made history in the process, becoming the first South African retailer to achieve the feat.
Using a custom-made eco-friendly weather balloon, the can of baked beans was launched into space (with a camera attached) on 22 February.
The beans travelled a whopping 38, 000 metres up into the atmosphere, and reached the stratosphere – the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere – in 1 hour 37 minutes, with total travel time reaching 2 hours and 44 minutes.
The space-travelling beans were part of a campaign for the retailer’s Leap Day promotional weekend.
Game assured that no birds, planes or even UFOs were harmed during the launch, and that the beans did, in fact, return back to solid ground safely after their historical trip.
The retailer took extra measures to ensure that the beans’ ascent and descent would not collide with anything during the trip, and obtained approval from the air traffic navigation organisations before the launch.
As per reports by News24, Michelle Kemp, External Communications Manager for Game, said:
“We went through numerous applications with [the Air Traffic and Navigation Services] to obtain FUA (Flexible Use of Airspace) clearance. The payload was equipped with two different trackers, and info thereof was sent every 10 minutes to the ATNS team.”
The can of baked beans endured a test run before its final launch.
“The second launch was equipped with a radar transponder as per ATNS requirements,” Kemp said.
That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for beankind.
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Feature Image: Youtube / Game
