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kitkatShopper occasions were the second trend we covered last issue – providing solutions and benefits for shoppers to make their lives better and easier. Meal in minutes? One-stop-shop Christmas gifting? Food and wine pairing? How can we help?

Two recent international campaigns have incorporated technology into traditional production items like packaging, to bring a new kind of cool to occasion-based marketing.

Launched last year, the Blockbuster Box from Pizza Hut Hong Kong literally plays squarely to the occasion of pizza and movie night. The pizza box turns into a small film projector in just a few easy steps: remove the circular hole panel and insert lens, put up the smartphone stand, scan the pizza box for exclusive movies to play on the projector via smartphone, and enjoy. With four custom boxes in different styles reflecting different movie genres, the campaign generated unprecedented earned media coverage internationally.  

Keyboard caper

And now, another first-world shopper occasion: greasy fingers on smartphones in fast-food outlets. From the original home of excellence in design and engineering, Germany, enter the KFC Tray Typer. Replacing the standard grease-absorbing paper placed on top of food trays, the Tray Typer is a fully functional Bluetooth keyboard, but as thin as good-quality paper stock. It connects to your smartphone, enabling you to happily text and type, grease-free.

The campaign garnered worldwide media coverage for KFC, tech commentators The Verge calling the initiative ‘finger-clickin’ good’.

All very well in QSR, you may say, where the per-purchase price point is high, and innovation in the retail channel less encumbered. But what about traditional FMCG categories? Low-priced food items in mainstream grocery, convenience, and mass merchants?

In-store trial

At a local level, Nestle has trialled its first-ever in-store social-media booth with a product squarely marketed at the ‘take a break’ occasion for a long time, Kitkat. Three stores were chosen to take part in Kitkat’s Ultimate Break Social Media Booth trial, Foodland SA, a Big W store and a Woolworths.

The booth was flanked with Kitkat display towers complete with flashing lights, while a red carpet led shoppers to a digital photo booth manned by a brand ambassador/photographer. Shoppers could buy a promo-flashed Kitkat 45g bar and were encouraged to choose a prize matching the on-pack campaign, such as sports, travel, tech, shopping or music. They could momentarily ‘pretend’ they were on location with a green-screen backdrop and props, and they took away a digital photo they were encouraged to share on social media. Sales uplifts far exceeded expectations.

“The social-media booth gave shoppers the opportunity to engage with Kitkat in a fun and exciting way during their mundane grocery shopping trip – and they loved it,” says POP manager confectionery and snacking for Nestle, Australia, Lisa Galea.

As our capability increases to incorporate technology and digital campaign integration into traditional items like packaging and temporary point-of-sale activations, it will be fascinating to see how occasion-based shopper marketing changes in Australia.

Lee McClymont is GM of POPAI for Australia and New Zealand. This article appeared in the July edition of Inside FMCG magazine. Subscribe now

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