No sporting event attracts more Americans than the Super Bowl.  And this year, in Minneapolis, no Super Bowl event brought more smiles than Selffee’s very own Edible Photo Booth producing selfie marshmallows to be dipped into hot chocolate!

That’s right folks, Selffee hit the biggest stage of them all in the frigid heart of the Land of 10,000 Lakes as part of Target’s Super Bowl promotional activation in downtown Minneapolis.

Situated next to their corporate headquarters in Minneapolis’ Nicollet Mall, Target brought the Selffee team into its very own private event space for what would prove to be a phenomenally popular public event.  Our mission, should we choose to accept it: warm people’s bellies with hot cocoa and warm their hearts with Edible Selfies donning their very own smiling faces on our gourmet, vanilla bean marshmallows.  And accept it we did.  Nowhere else has the Selffee team brought more smiles to its custom treats than it did in Minneapolis.

Over the course of twelve days, the Selffee squad printed selfies on over 33,000 marshmallows, plopping them down into over 2,430 gallons of steaming hot chocolate!  The subzero temperatures outside were no match for the literal and figurative warmth we brought to native Minnesotans and Super Bowl tourists alike.  

We could not have been more pleased that Target brought us in, to spread the Selffee love on the big stage.  And we could not have been more impressed with the quality of the activation they created.  This was by far the largest activation in which Selffee has participated to date.  

The Target folks set us up along one whole side of their impressive, multi-purpose event center, eloquently designed in a wintery log cabin decor, and aptly named the Bullseye Lodge.  For the first two days, Target employees were invited to enjoy the space, before opening up the Bullseye Lodge to the public for the next ten.

As attendees entered the space, immediately to their right was the hot cocoa bar, complete with six extra large Cambros of hot cocoa that didn’t stop flowing for the duration of the nearly two-week event.  After grabbing a piping hot cup of chocolatey goodness, folks were able to jump right in line for the Edible Selfie marshmallow photo-op.

And although the line was long with people eager to eat their own melting faces, we made sure no one’s hot cocoa had time to cool off before plopping their marshmallow faces down in their cups.  With six Selffee printers lined up and each pumping out up to twelve marshmallows at a time, and an experienced team of Selffee veterans manning the camera, computer, and printers, it is an understatement to say that we were firing on all cylinders.  

The flow of people through the front door was steady, and the line at the Edible Photo Booth moved along with ease and grace.  With anywhere from 20 to 70 people in line at all times during the event, folks only had to wait a matter of minutes from the time their photos were taken to the time they received their Edible Selfie marshmallows.  Even though the Selffee team had not yet been a part of an event of this scale, it proved it was indeed more than up to the task of pumping out literally thousands of smiles a day for the excited event-goers.

Well...not only smiles.  Although the Selffee mission is to brighten people’s spirits with happiness, we also encourage and appreciate all forms of love, confidence, and, of course, goofiness!  Over those twelve days, we printed countless adorable Edible Selfies of couples giving each other all kinds of romantic or sloppy kisses, of babies too young to realize how priceless it was to have their cute faces on a custom treat, of kids and adults alike making silly faces, of families and friends squeezing themselves into group shots of up to eight faces, and of sports fans of all ages feverishly sporting the gear of their favorite teams.  

Of course, many, many Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots fans visiting the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul for the Super Bowl donned jerseys of their favorite players...and winter beanies to keep their ears from falling off.  And the loss in the NFC championship wasn’t enough to keep the Vikings fans down, as thousands of Minnesotans brought their purple and gold in for a colorful Edible Selfie.  But beyond the fans of the Super Bowl teams and the hometown favorite, fans from every corner of the National Football League showed their team spirit, from Pittsburgh to the Packers, San Francisco to the Saints, Carolina to the Chiefs, and Baltimore to the Bears.  In the truely inclusive spirit of the Selffee way, everybody was welcome at the Edible Photo Booth.

With hot cocoa in hand and Edible Selfies melting away into the chocolatey abyss, ready to be slurped up, the event-goers were treated to an amazing array of activities and treats provided by the Target team.  Inside the lodge were a promotional vending machine distributing caramel M&Ms and the spicy Sweet Heat Skittles, several ski lift chairs for a quick rest and a photo op, an LED fireplace and cushioned chairs for the same, a real fireplace to warm up after waiting outside in line, and a pop-up shop of the special, limited-edition Target line of “North” gear, designed to help demonstrate to out-of-towners the welcoming, warm-hearted spirit of the northern Midwest.  And after making their choices of gear, customers could have their purchases delivered to them in a miniature gondola from the second floor down to the purchase desk.  The creativity and detail of the Target team really blew us away!  And that was just the inside!

After warming up in the lodge, event-goers then exited out into a large courtyard where the fun and games continued.  If they needed a bit of a caffeine fix, they could visit the Mountain Dew Ice ice-bar, offering Mountain Dew’s new spin on its favorite soda.  They were then ready for several incredibly fun games, including a life-size table hockey game (a sure-fire favorite for the local, hockey-loving Minnesotans), a slow-motion video booth capturing customers’ images as they performed diving catches into the endzone, followed by a massive projected silhouette of their favorite endzone dance, and two curling lanes with cameras positioned for a multi-photo, wrap-around shot of their attempts to settle the curling stones closest to the Target bullseye.

Between the array of fascinatingly fun games and the chance to eat their faces on an Edible Selfie, it’s no wonder the line to get into the Target Bullseye Lodge wrapped around the corner and all the way down the next block--even with wind chills dropping below -20 degrees!

The Selffee team has never experienced such cold temperatures outside, while at the same time feeling the immense warmth of the inviting nature, warm spirits, and beautiful, smiling faces of so many good-hearted people.  We certainly love being a company that strives simply to make people’s days a little bit brighter no matter the scale.  

But to bring smiles and happiness to over 33,000 people in a city with the beautiful soul of Minneapolis for such a massively popular event such as the Super Bowl?  Well, it just made the collective Selffee heart melt...almost as perfectly as those marshmallows in hot cocoa!