Tag: CPG

Google Starts Tracking Retail Purchases For Online-To-Offline Attribution

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Earlier this week, Google rolled out a new measurement tool to help advertisers measure the offline impact of their digital ads by tracking offline purchases people make in merchants’ brick-and-mortar stores after clicking on their digital ads. Through partnerships with consumer data and credit card companies, Google has access to roughly 70% of U.S. credit and debit card transactions, which it now matches with ad clicks to automatically inform merchants when their digital ads translate into sales at a physical store.

What Brands Need To Do
In October, Google launched a Conversions API for its display ad network DoubleClick, which enables advertisers to connect offline activities like in-store purchases and phone bookings to their online campaigns. Measuring offline sales and store visits driven by digital ads is especially important for retailers and CPG brands, as those metrics are the typical KPIs for measuring their campaigns. As Google builds out their attribution tools, brands should learn to leverage the data these tools provide to better inform their campaigns.

 

Source: Fortune

 

Guinness Uses VR To Enhance Sampling Experiences At Tesco

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Guinness is adding a little VR fun to its in-store sampling promotion to entice shoppers to try out its latest line of beers. Working with R/GA London, the Irish brewer created a 360-degree video designed to transport viewers into a world of colors, shapes, and sound that Guinness says are “scientifically proven” to enhance flavors of each of its new beers. This unique campaign will take place in selected Tesco stores in the U.K. starting this month, with plans for international roll-outs set for later this year.

What Brands Need To Do
This campaign offers an innovative take on in-store samplings as it shows how a CPG brand can leverage immersive content to add some flair to your product experience. With VR technologies continue to mature and become available for mass consumers, brands should consider exploring this type of experiential marketing that truly engages with your target audiences through the kind of immersive storytelling that VR content enables.

 

Source: CampaignLive

 

Pepsi Puts Snapcodes On Bottles To Engage Fans With Filters, Games & Sweepstakes

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Pepsi is adding a bit of interactive fun to its packaging by printing Snapcodes on the bottles of its coke products. For a limited time this summer, customers can use the Snapchat app to scan the codes and unlock exclusive selfie lenses, geofilters, as well as a Pepsi-themed mini-game. By playing the mobile game, they can also enter a sweepstakes to win weekly prizes such as gaming consoles or a trip to Lollapalooza.

What Brands Need To Do
Snapchat first introduced the Snapcodes in 2015 to let users add each other without having to type out usernames. Soon, brands like Sprite, FOX network, and Universal Pictures started featuring customized Snapcodes in their billboard ads and packaging to drive mobile users to check out more branded content on Snapchat. This Pepsi campaign is the latest example of how CPG brands can use Snapcodes to spice up their packaging. More brands should consider experimenting with new technologies such as augmented reality or Facebook’s updated Messenger codes to add an interactive digital experience to their products to further engage with customers.

 

Source: PR Newswire
Header image courtesy of Pepsi

Brawny Uses Snap Spectacles To Capture Kids’ POV For Mother’s Day Ad

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Paper towel brand Brawny found a unique usage of Snap Spectacles for this year’s Mother’s Day campaign. The company worked with ad agency Cutwater to create a 60-second commercial titled “Once a Mother, Always a Giant” that uses footage shot by putting the camera-embedded camera on kids to capture their point of view. The result is a heartwarming montage of mothers looking like “giants” from the kids’ perspective.

What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time a brand has used Snap Spectacles to generate unique video content for marketing purposes. Both Marriott and Hyatt have been leveraging Spectacles to create authentic video content from their properties around the world. While Snap’s first quarterly report as a public company released on Wednesday doesn’t exactly paint a rosy perspective for the company, CEO Evan Spiegel says he’s not bothered with Facebook’s aggressive imitation of Snapchat features while re-stressing the company’s camera-first strategy. Regardless of which company will prevail in the race to make the camera the first mass platform for augmented reality, brands need to start exploring using new tools to spice up their campaigns.

 

Source: Marketing Dive

Image courtesy of Brawny’s YouTube

You Can Play Music From “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” With New Doritos Bags

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In a cool case of brand tie-ups, new bags of Doritos will come with a limited-run packaging that will play you the music from the upcoming Marvel movie “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” The bags, equipped with a digital player interface that emulates a cassette tape deck as well as rechargeable batteries for repeat listening, will start to roll out this Friday via Amazon and Doritos.com to promote the movie’s premiere on May 5. Besides, Doritos has also launched a Guardians-themed reward program in which consumers can redeem various prizes by using the codes included on the packages.

What Brands Need To Do
Advances in packaging technologies have made it possible for CPG brands to incorporate new kinds of interactive experiences to their product packages. The first Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise hit in 2015, and Doritos is smart to capitalize on the cultural relevance of the movie and excite fans with unique tie-in products. More CPG brands should take notes and experiment with packagings to engage with customers.

Last year, we worked with haptics tech startup Novalia to create a limited-edition “Remixer” package to promote Hershey’s TAKE5 snack bar. The special packages allow customers play DJ and create their own unique tracks with no apps required. If you’d like to talk more about bringing innovation to your packaging design, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Barrett ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: Billboard

Header image courtesy of Doritos

How Peroni And Mountain Dew Used VR To Spice Up Branded Events

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Two beverage brands are using virtual reality to create unique on-site experiences and spice up their respective promotional events. Peroni is opening an experimental pop-up bar in London, where the Italian lager brewers invited attendees to try drawing in 3-dimension with Google’s VR app Tilt Brush after a drink or two. Similarly, Mountain Dew is putting together a free, two-day music festival called “Label Motel” in the Musicland Hotel in Palm Springs next week to promote its new Mtn Dew products. The event includes a VR experience that puts participants in a lounge party on an airplane, who will then be dropped out of the VR plane “as the beat drops.”

What Brands Need To Do
Those two brands are the latest examples in the growing list of brands that are starting to incorporate it into the production of branded content and events to deliver engaging and immersive customer experiences. As more mainstream tech and media companies rush into VR to capitalize on the booming popularity of the emerging medium, brands that wish to stay ahead of the curve should start developing VR content that truly enhances brand messaging and contributes to the campaign objectives.

How We Can Help
Our dedicated team of VR experts is here to guide marketers through the distribution landscape. We work closely with brands to develop sustainable VR content strategies to promote branded VR and 360 video content across various apps and platforms. With our proprietary technology stack powered by a combination of best-in-class VR partners and backed by the media fire-power of IPG Mediabrands, we offer customized solutions for distributing and measuring branded VR content that truly enhance brand messaging and contribute to the campaign objectives.

The Lab currently has several VR headsets, including a PlayStation VR, an Oculus Rift, an HTC Vive, and a Google Daydream, all ready for demos. Virtual reality is something that has to be experienced to be understood, so come by the Lab and ask for a VR demo to get a hands-on experience and figure out how your brand can use it to excite and engage with consumers.

 

Source: Marketing Dive & PSFK

Header image courtesy of  Mountain Dew’s YouTube

Google Assistant Can Now Tell You When Your Food Will Expire

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Over the past week, Google Assistant gained about a dozen new actions (voice-only apps for Google Assistant, akin to skills for Alexa and Cortana), enabling new features and functions for Google Home and Pixel phones. One standout among this batch is one created by Chefling, a fridge-monitoring app. By enabling this action, users can share their grocery list with Chefling to allow its Google Home action to tell you when food in your fridge is likely to expire or suggest recipes based on ingredients in your kitchen.

What Brands Need To Do
Normally, Google Home users can ask Google Assistant to add grocery items to a Google Keep shopping list, but Chefling expands that use case to cover the post-grocery shopping activities. And Google Home’s voice-based interface makes it a perfect companion in the kitchen, where hands-free interactions are often preferred. When creating voice-based apps for voice-based smart devices, brands need to think about the extra value they can offer to enhance the user experience and establish a touchpoint with customers that are quickly embracing voice-activated digital assistant services.

How We Can Help
The Lab has extensive experience in building Alexa Skills and chatbots to reach consumers on conversational interfaces. So much so that we’ve built a dedicated conversational practice called Dialogue. The “Miller Time” Alexa Skill we developed with Drizly for Miller Lite is a good example of how Dialogue can help brands build a conversational customer experience, supercharged by our stack of technology partners with best-in-class solutions and an insights engine that extracts business intelligence from conversational data.

If you’d like to learn more about how to effectively reach consumers on conversational interfaces, or to leverage the Lab’s expertise to take on related client opportunities within the IPG Mediabrands, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Header image is a promotional image for Google Home 

Coke Refreshes Digital Loyalty Program With March Madness-Themed Rewards

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Coca-Cola has launched a new digital promotion called NCAA March Madness Bracket Refresh in support of its long-standing sponsorship of the college basketball tournament. As part of the promotional campaign, the company is offering limited-edition bottles customized with team names exclusively on ShareACoke.com. Fans enrolled in Coke’s loyalty program can unlock an NCAA team on Coke’s NCAA tournament brackets when they scan a Coca-Cola or Powerade product code by using their phone’s camera or by manually entering the code online. Fans with the winning teams on their brackets can unlock rewards such as digital content, movie gift cards, online retailer gift cards and an entry into a sweepstake for $25k cash.

What Brands Need To Do
In January, Coca-Cola announced it is phasing out its My Coke Rewards loyalty program and promised to replace it with a more “digitally focused” loyalty program, which is set to debut on Coke.com this July. This March Madness-themed promotion, therefore, seems to be positioned as a transitioning program to tide over the fans till the new loyalty program arrives. Nevertheless, this promotional campaign puts a personalized spin on NCAA brackets challenges by allowing fans to purchase customized bottles to show support for their team and earn rewards. It demonstrates a clever way to devise a sports event tie-in promotions, an approach that many other brands can apply to make their loyalty programs more engaging.

 

Source: Business Wire

 

Oreo To Sponsor IMDb’s Oscars Live Streaming Party

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Oreo is teaming up with IMDb to tap into the buzziest event of the movie industry with a livestreaming campaign. To promote its new Chocolate Candy Bar, the Mondelēz-owned cookie brand has signed up as the official sponsor for the Oscars viewing party hosted by IMDb, which will be live streamed on Twitter, Twitch, as well as IMDb’s own website this Sunday. Over 300 Hollywood insiders will be invited to attend this event at Neuehouse in L.A., which will feature an Oreo Chocolate Candy Bar sampling station for the guests to try one during the broadcast.

What Brands Need To Do
Brand marketers looking to enter the livestreaming arena should take a cue from this partnership and learn to maximize their reach by piggybacking on a buzzy media event. Branded live streams during big media events offer brands a great shortcut to get their content in front of a mobile audience in real time. Previously brands such as GE and Toyota have leveraged live-streamed events to amplify their sponsorships. Therefore, brands that wish to stay connected to today’s mobile-first consumers would be wise to start working with content creators and exploring the vast potential this fast-growing media platform holds today.

 

Source: Business Wire

Molson Canadian Packs VR Viewers Into Its Beer Cases

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Canadian brewing company Molson is targeting hockey fans with a VR hockey experience that they can unlock with the makeshift VR viewers that Molson is including in some of its beer cases. Lucky customers will be able to use the VR viewer to watch six upcoming NHL games in 360-degree view from a front-row seat. The company partnered with sports media company Sportsnet to distribute the VR content via the latter’s VR compatible mobile app.

What Brands Need To Do
The immersive power of VR makes it a natural match for sports viewing, and Molson is smart to strike the media partnership with Sportsnet to cash in on the growing consumer interests in VR and 360-degree content. With the quickening pace of VR content development and an increasing number of ad platforms testing new formats in VR and 360 video, brands need to start working with content creators today to produce branded 360-degree and VR content.

How We Can Help
Our dedicated team of VR experts is here to guide marketers through the distribution landscape. We work closely with brands to develop sustainable VR content strategies to promote branded VR and 360 video content across various apps and platforms. With our proprietary technology stack powered by a combination of best-in-class VR partners and backed by the media fire-power of IPG Mediabrands, we offer customized solutions for distributing and measuring branded VR content that truly enhance brand messaging and contribute to the campaign objectives.

If you’d like to learn more about how the Lab can help you tap into the immersive power of VR content to engage with customers, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland (s[email protected]) to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: NHL