Nicabate has pulled off an impressive piece of shopper marketing magic, quite literally using a magician to perform a public stunt to engage consumers.

Nicabate hired magician and illusionist, Cosentino, to perform a 50 second escape act in Sydney’s Martin Pl to demonstrate the benefits of its Nicabate Oral Strips product.

According to Nicabate owner, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the stunt was the first ever attempt to visually depict the struggles a smoker goes through with cravings.

Nicabate Oral Strops are promoted as being able to relieve the urge to smoke in 50 seconds. Cosentino was given 50 seconds to escape from a burning padlocked crate dangling 8m above Martin Pl.

Inside the crate, he was shackled and inside a crate. At the 50 second mark, the box plunged onto a bed of metal spikes.

“We wanted to work with Cosentino to see if it was possible to visually demonstrate the intense physical and mental effort it takes to fight cravings and why it was important to relieve them fast,” said Rod Stosic, of GSK Healthcare.

“Cravings more often than not take hold suddenly and these kinds of cravings are incredibly strong and can trigger a ‘quitter’ to fall back into old smoking habits.”

The idea for the stunt followed a survey of Nicabate customers, who when asked how a craving felt, described a craving as feeling trapped, scared, and alone.

Cosentino said he drew inspiration Nicabate’s customers.

“Insight came from Nicabate’s consumers and members of their Pledge to Quit Facebook community, to my own family, including my brother Adam who is my right hand man. He was a smoker who had been through the quitting journey and I’ve seen him struggle first hand. It’s so hard.”

The event was televised live on Channel 7’s Sunrise.