The Co-Blocks Innovation Showcase turns retail into a playground of creativity, powered by Microsoft Copilot+ and brought to life by Promocell.
Dubai — What happens when cutting-edge technology meets family fun? Visitors at City Centre Zahia and City Centre Deira discovered the answer as malls turned into buzzing arenas of play, laughter, and learning. Children rolled oversized dice, parents cheered from the sidelines, and curious onlookers gathered to experience the Co-Blocks Innovation Showcase — an interactive activation that redefined how people experience technology in everyday life.
Microsoft Copilot+ took centre stage in partnership with Sharaf DG, transforming the mall experience into a vibrant, hands-on adventure. Instead of a conventional tech demo, the Co-Blocks Innovation Showcase invited visitors to explore AI through curiosity, creativity, and collaboration — turning innovation into an experience everyone could play, learn, and share.
Innovation Meets Play
The Co-Blocks game board featured four vibrant zones, each designed to highlight real-world uses of Copilot+ PCs in fun, relatable ways:
Co-Create: Kids designed eco-themed posters, blending sustainability and creativity in shareable moments that celebrated imagination and awareness.
Live Captions: Real-time translation turned K-pop lyrics into lip-sync challenges, showing how Copilot can bridge languages and bring global culture closer.
Click-to-Do: Students watched essays transform into catchy titles, discovering how AI can make learning and content creation more enjoyable.
Recall: Families raced to retrieve recipes such as the “midnight mug cake,” demonstrating how AI can make daily life smarter and simpler.
Co-Blocks made AI feel friendly and familiar, while Gamification turned learning into play, and every challenge inspired participation, discovery, and social sharing.
Partners in Innovation
The success of Co-Blocks lay in powerful collaboration. Microsoft showcased the possibilities of Copilot+ PCs, making AI accessible for every age group. Sharaf DG provided the retail platform, transforming its high-traffic stores into spaces of engagement and education. And Promocell, the creative agency behind the concept, designed and executed the activation from the ground up — ensuring that every interaction delivered joy, impact, and insight.
“Co-Blocks is a celebration of how technology can be discovered — not through manuals or presentations, but through play, connection, and shared experiences,” said Vanessa Crasta, General Manager, Promocell Advertising and Marketing. “When brands collaborate creatively, technology becomes meaningful for every generation.”
From Mall Floors to Digital Feeds
The activation quickly became a crowd favourite. Families queued to roll the dice, students turned challenges into TikTok moments, and parents joined the fun, proving that Copilot+ could inspire both creativity and connection. Online, the buzz continued with hundreds of posts, selfies, and reels capturing the excitement.
Beyond entertainment, the experience had a deeper impact — children learned to see AI as a creative tool, while parents discovered its practical value in daily life.
“We wanted to show that technology doesn’t have to feel complex or intimidating — it can be discovered through joy, curiosity, and play,” added Crasta.
Retail Reinvented
Co-Blocks represents a new chapter in experiential marketing for the UAE. It showed that mall spaces — a cornerstone of the region’s social culture — can become interactive classrooms for discovery. For brands, it set a benchmark for how innovation can be introduced through experience rather than explanation.
By turning retail spaces into playgrounds of imagination, Microsoft, Sharaf DG, and Promocell proved that technology adoption begins not with instruction, but with inspiration.
