Triple-Platinum Recording Artist Demi Lovato Joins Food 4 Less To Bring Virtual Reality To The Masses

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Lovato Treatment Scholarship and premier grocery chains Food 4Less in Southern California and Foods Co in Central and Northern California have joined forces to launch an innovative promotion to offer California shoppers an opportunity to digitally unlock an exclusive virtual reality performance of Demi Lovato at the legendary Troubadour in Hollywood, California during the first-ever Lovato Treatment Benefit concert. The concert supported The Lovato Treatment Scholarship program which helps raise awareness and cover treatment costs for those suffering from mental health and addiction issues.

Launched on August 19 and running through September 15 via DigitalFood, the free mobile app for Food 4 Less and Foods Co. shoppers, customers and "Lovatics" that purchase select Nestle Waters, Farmer John and Kelloggs Pop-Tarts brand products can unlock the exclusive virtual reality performance by scanning their receipt directly in the app. Upon accessing the DigitalFood app, shoppers will be greeted with a message featuring information about The Lovato Treatment Scholarship along with in-app instructions to unlock the exclusive virtual reality performance, which features two live renditions of her hits Warrior and Skyscraper.

To support complete VR functionality and viewing, for the first time in grocery retail history, Food 4 Less is making virtual reality available and affordable to the masses by offering VOGGLZ companion viewer to enhance the virtual reality experience for shoppers.  VOGGLZ, which was inspired by the open source designs of Google Cardboard, will be available for purchase in Food 4 Less Southern California and Foods Co stores for a limited time at an unprecedented $2.99 USD, marking an industry first for widespread availability of virtual reality technology in brick and mortar establishments.

"I'm thrilled to collaborate with Food 4 Less in support of The Lovato Treatment Scholarship," says Demi Lovato, "This year's benefit concert marked a very important milestone in my life and I'm excited to share this special performance in virtual reality to help raise awareness and funds for mental health and addiction issues."

"We are very excited to work with Demi Lovato and help support the mission of The Lovato Treatment Scholarship," said Eddie Vasquez, Customer Communications Manager of Food 4 Less and Foods Co. "We are proud to offer this program to our loyal community of shoppers and always look for innovative digital programs to offer to our growing digital customer base."

"Virtual reality, until now, has been unaffordable to the mass consumer," said Jonas Hudson, COO and partner at CausePlay, managing the promotion and development of the DigitalFood app. "Demi Lovato and Food 4 Less and Foods Co. both understood the importance of allowing technology to penetrate every aspect of society and fan bases while delivering both entertainment and supporting social issues."

For more information about the program, visit www.digitalfood.com. The DigitalFood App is now available for free download for iPhone and Android devices and currently provides Food 4 Less and Foods Co. shoppers with exclusive marketing sweepstakes, music and video content, partner recipes and now, an exclusive augmented reality platform.

About The Lovato Treatment Scholarship

Singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Demi Lovato created The Lovato Treatment Scholarship program in honor of her late father. The program helps cover expenses for those who cannot afford treatment for mental health and addiction issues and includes costs for transitional living homes as well as clinical services for outpatient programs. In celebration of her journey through three years of sobriety which marked an incredible milestone in Lovato's life, she hosted the first-ever Lovato Treatment Scholarship Benefit concert in March. The inspirational evening helped raise awareness for mental health and addition as well as funds to cover treatment programs.

About DigitalFood
Digitalfood is an app exclusively for Food 4 Less and Foods Co. which "makes life easier" for shoppers.  The Digitalfood app unites favorite brands with great entertainment rewards and prizes while also providing information for consumers and employees on Food 4 Less and Foods Co. programs and initiatives.  DigtialFood incorporates licensed patents to deliver content and provides an exclusive and proprietary augment reality platform for pre and in-store shopping.

About Food 4 Less
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Food 4 Less operates 131 price-impact, warehouse-format supermarkets under the banners Food 4 Less in Southern California, Illinois and Indiana, and Foods Co in Central and Northern California. Last year, Food 4 Less contributed more than $4 million to support education, hunger relief, women's health and local nonprofit organizations in the communities served by the company's stores. Food 4 Less is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., (NYSE:KR), one of the nation's largest grocery retailers, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information about Food 4 Less, please visit our website at www.food4less.com 

About CausePlay
CausePlay creates and licenses owned and operated mobile distribution and publishing platforms that deliver brand fueled content, promotions and advertising.  CausePlay distributes programs which incorporate mobile tactics from in-store beacon distribution to augmented and virtual reality programs.

Media Contacts: 
Alex Munson/Susan Yin
Rogers & Cowan
310.854.8297/310.854.8122
[email protected]  
[email protected] 

SOURCE CausePlay