Consumer-packaged goods giant Kraft is dialing up its digital investments this summer with the "Great American Bacon Cheeseburger" campaign (which runs through Labor Day) for 14 different summer-themed products including cheese, pickle relish, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce.
Shelf flags in Walmart Super Centers nationwide prompt consumers to download the Blippar app to scan the in-store collateral or logos. Both pieces of marketing link to digital recipes and assets around a bigger summer campaign and sweepstakes with country singer Brad Paisley called "Paisley Points." In exchange for uploading images of Walmart receipts with proof of a Kraft purchase, shoppers earn points that are redeemable for merchandise like signed guitars and cowboy hats. Food and lifestyle bloggers are also being paid to spread the word about the augmented reality component of the activation to their readers.
This is the second campaign that Kraft has run with Blippar in the U.S. and includes more content and prominent calls-to-action based on learnings from the smaller test with Stove Top during the holidays. "Historically, our only option to deliver recipe content in-store has been recipe cards,” Gina Allgaier, director of marketing at Kraft Foods said. "I just think [augmented reality] is more engaging, and it’s the way that people are consuming content today."
CPG brands make up 25 percent of Blippar’s campaigns, which the company chalks up to the fact that marketers in this category already have a significant amount of traditional marketing like packaging, print and point-of-sale that they’re itching to make digital. "They know that they’re hitting millions of their consumers [through] all of the touchpoints that they have available," said Blippar’s Lisa Hu, vp of business development for North America. Blippar claims more than six million users who spend an average of one to two minutes interacting with content. Additionally, each campaign is triggered two to four times by a consumer.
At the same time that food marketers explore new ways to integrate digital into packaging and in-store tactics, it’s unclear how much CPG brands will invest going forward without a standard third-party app and calls-to-action that still require consumers to complete multiple steps to participate.
Ken Madden, head of engagement at Shoptology also argued that augmented reality often doesn’t fit into food marketers’ long-term marketing plans. "Especially in the shopper marketing space, we’re really focused on these sort of short-term campaigns [and] tactics that deal with augmented reality," he said. Madden rationalized that augmented reality paired with loyalty programs could give branded apps some much-needed utility that actually spurs a shopper to open an app in-store. Perhaps more importantly, built-in augmented reality gives brands access to a trove of shopper data. "I’d love to see it move into a space where some of the retailers are featuring their own augmented reality platforms," Madden said.