Created by Publicis Italia for the Nescafé brand, “The Hello Experiment” is a real experiment in psychological and social observation that involved over 300 people, selected in a library in Milan. The aim was to test to what extent diffidence can be the main cause of distance between people today and how easy it is to overcome barriers to socialisation when having a coffee together.
The experiment involved 18 video cameras and 30 microphones hidden among books, a team of 20 people on the set and 14 hours of filming to examine the two distinct and contrasting phases: in the first phase, diffidence and annoyance were shown by people when strangers tried to communicate, whereas, in the second phase, a change occurred because the strangers arrived with two mugs of NESCAFÉ inviting the other person to share a break.