A childhood classic comeback: Mulino Bianco breathes new life into beloved 80s snack-time surprises, thanks to AR

Remember the excitement of finding a toy surprise in your snack?
What if you could bridge generations through the wonder of joy – thrilling parents with nostalgia while captivating children with engaging experiences?

Mulino Bianco, a leading Italian bakery brand that produces biscuits, snacks, breads and cakes, wanted to bring back the delightful ‘Sorpresina’ (little toy surprises inside Mulino Bianco snacks) from the golden 80s. But how do you reintroduce an iconic toy to today’s tech-savvy children without losing its original charm?

What will you learn from this customer story:

• Toying with emotions: reigniting parent’s childhood memories while appealing to their kids
• A new perspective on old favorites: Mulino Bianco’s need to augment their iconic vintage toys
• How Aryel successfully blended tradition with technology in an immersive experience
• Augmented Reality: expanding brand identities while respecting legacies

For many adults, the simple joy of finding a toy surprise in a snack box is an unforgettable piece of childhood. Mulino Bianco wanted to tap into this powerful nostalgia, not just as a throwback but as a bridge between past and present.

The challenge? To revive these iconic toys for today’s tech-savvy kids without losing the charm that made them so special decades ago. It was about mixing the vintage with the virtual, the tangible with the technological.

The goal was clear: merge the past with the present, and find a tech hook that would add value to these vintage toys. The goal was to create an innovative campaign where the surprises weren’t just toys – but the gateway to an immersive experience.

When Mulino Bianco wanted to reinvent these iconic surprise toys for a new generation, they turned to Aryel to make it happen. Our challenge was to take their brand into the future through an Augmented Reality experience that was imaginative yet true to their heritage.

The campaign was distributed through a competition: participants had to take part for a chance to win 18 different Sorpresina boxes filled with toys. Each box also contained a QR that transported the player to one of three delightfully nostalgic games, as well as a unique code that unlocked in-game power-ups to add a twist to the experience.

The games developed by our team tapped into classic 80s nostalgia, but with a modern appeal:

Hoop Game: Remember the simple joy of paper ball basketball? We took that nostalgia and created a game where players throw little surprises into Mulino Bianco’s moving boxes.

Catch the boxes: An update of the classic Whack-a-Mole game. Players position the AR field and race to catch the disappearing surprises. The further they get, the more points they score.

Target Shootout: Using AR aim, players knock down clusters of boxes by throwing surprises – the better the aim, the higher the score.

Bringing such a historic brand into the realm of gaming was an exciting challenge.
Rather than creating modern games, we created playful, analogic experiences that were in harmony with Mulino Bianco’s heritage. Like the original Sorpresina toys, our games aimed to recreate play in its simplest form, emulating actions such as throwing, catching and shooting.

It was important to stay true not only to the brand identity, but also to its broader storytelling.
We focused on recreating familiar, heartwarming experiences that felt intuitive and accessible to all ages.

The addition of multiplayer modes brought friendly competition into the mix, allowing users to challenge friends and extend the reach of the campaign.
By choosing WebAR technology, we eliminated the need for external app downloads. Players could instantly access the experiences directly from any browser for on-the-go fun.

Translating such a storied brand into engaging AR required thoughtful translation. But by combining the brand’s appeal with immersive technology, Aryel brought Mulino Bianco’s iconic Sorpresina toys into the future – creating moments of shared joy across generations.

For decades, Mulino Bianco has been a symbol of tradition, family and simple, wholesome goodness. Its story has unfolded across generations in a familiar, tangible way.
But sometimes the most enduring brands are those that are unafraid to evolve. With their campaign, Mulino Bianco proved that you can celebrate the past while embracing the future.

Thanks to the adaptability of Augmented Reality, we were able to reimagine this storied brand in a fresh, immersive yet loyal way. AR opened up new dimensions for Mulino Bianco to express its essence – combining nostalgia with discovery, and its vintage charm with digital experiences.

At its best, technology doesn’t override a brand’s heritage – it adds new layers that bring core values to life. For companies looking to reinvent themselves without compromising their heritage and values, Augmented Reality offers exciting opportunities.

As Mulino Bianco has shown, AR has the power to rediscover what made brands iconic in the first place – those intangible qualities of joy, connection and wonder. It provides a portal into heritage brands in a way that feels authentic, not forced.

Ready to explore how augmented reality can help FMCG brands connect with customers on a deeper sensory level? Don’t miss our look at how Barilla leveraged AR to highlight the sights, sounds and textures that set their artisanal pasta apart. Click here to discover how tech is redefining engagement for premium brands.