Snack creation campaign enters final phase
The latest campaign to ask Australian consumers help create a snack product has entered its final stages.
The Clemenger BBDO-masterminded Smiths chips Do Us A Flavour campaign launched several months before Kraft’s Vegemite iSnack 2.0 debacle cast a shadow over crowd sourcing marketing decisions.
It invited consumers to suggest potential flavours. And it has revealed that it had nearly 315,000 entries.
It has now narrowed that down to four products which will all now go on shelves.
This is a great example of market engagement through a promotional vehicle. The process doesn’t hinge on a half-hearted viral, or ‘become a friend’ on a brand-specific Facebook page. Instead, the client is prepared to literally manufacturer a customer’s feedback/ideas into a tangible product, which in turn, can be experienced by a much wider audience. It’s analogue, its experiential and its gets morning radio breakfast teams eating the product and waxing lyrical about the new taste on air. Job done.
Share some similarities with Walker’s Do Us A Flavour campaign in the UK.
http://www.walkers.co.uk/flavours/#/howitworks/
Version – the reason its similar is because both Smiths and Walkers in the UK are owned by the same company, Pepsi Co. Hence there is a lot of sharing of creative. Take the ‘no more Mr nice guy’ campaign featuring Pat Rafter a few years back. This was derivative of the same campaign featuring British footballer Gary Lineker (again a well-loved & respected celebrity who turned nasty in pursuit of Walker’s crisps). Its inevitable that if you happen across a well-performing campaign in one market you’d look to replicate this success in another.
Re : Version’s comment and Walker’s Do Us A Flavour campaign in the UK
aah! that old cliche… no such thing as a new idea… just take a success from OS or ages ago and glue a sprig of wattle and a kangaroo to it and make it Australian….
Not that im criticising … im guilty of ding that
I appreciate Rich and Doug’s comments. And I actually quite like the campaign. I suppose the line in the article I noticed was:
“The Clemenger BBDO-masterminded Smiths chips Do Us A Flavour campaign ”
What does a mastermind do these days?
One thing I found interesting was in the terms and conditions – whilst the winner will gain a 1% share as long as the flavour is for sale, Smiths can withdraw the flavour from sale and should they go in to production again the 1% share will no longer be paid. That’s a bit tricky isn’t it?
Really Terry? You think filling out a form on a website then forgetting about it for months til you find out 4 other people won $10,000 for their form-filling-out-skills is more engaging then hundreds or thousands of fans continually liking or commenting on a Facebook page?
Damo from what I’ve heard there’s no danger of the flavours staying on sale but I guess we’ll see
Thanks Mandi. Which specific brand campaigns are you referring to which have involved thousands of ‘fans’ “continually liking” (what does that mean?) on a Facebook page? The benefit of forums like Mumbrella is that readers learn from ACTUALS not sweeping generalisations.
Random chime but an example of a company on facebook is KFC…they have been distributing coupons through their facebook page and engaging with fans (currently over 80,000 fans) by posting their advertisements and promotional items. Great example of (free!) online marketing imo.
I hope this turns into a broader discussion about the merits of social media as a promotional vehicle.
Anonymous, check out the ‘sentiment’ around the comments posted on that KFC page – between 60% and 70% rip into the product, service levels and marketing. From legitimate complaints to disgusting rants about any of the above. Of the remaining comments, half are posted by KFC staff.
Will everyone please stop assuming ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ are an asset to a brand. Neutral at best, destructive at worst. Brands don’t have friends.
Whole concept is crap and voting is rigged – you can vote a max of 5 times a day?? WTF!
Voting should be once per person….thats it!
The flavours they chose are foul. The concept was rediculous. Waste of money. Havn’t seen a soul near any of the displays.