Saatchi and Saatchi New York have recently used Augmented Reality as part of their Honey Nut Cheerios campaign. As far as we know this is a world first AR game that launches off a cereal box (you can play it at: www.honeydefender.com).
But as true Heavy Chefs we wanted to find out if it was just another fancy gimmick or if the overall marketing objectives were leading the process? We spoke to Manny Galan, SVP Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi, New York, to find out.
Honeywell Augmented reality campaign
1) What were the marketing objectives for the campaign and at what point was it decided that augmented reality could help achieve these objectives?
Our ultimate goal was to turn our box, which is normally discarded, into the ultimate premium. Turn the box itself into the “TOY” normally found inside. Digital Premiums are the way of the future and with no physical manufacturing concerns it makes it strategically and financially easier to reach the intended audience.
2) How is the campaign being measured? And what figures would constitute the campaign being successful for the client?
It’s difficult to set metric goals on such a groundbreaking application of technology since the adoption curve for anything like this is difficult to predict. We are exploring it with very open minds and our expectations are that consumers will appreciate the innovation and that, hopefully, we’ll ignite a tipping point.
3) Your general thoughts on Augmented Reality being used in marketing. Is it a gimmick/fade? If not how do you see it progressing so it becomes more utilitarian rather than just having a wow factor?
It will end up being nothing more than a passing fad unless the industry invests the time to make more thoughtful applications of the technology that better compliment brands. Currently we’re deluged with many uninspired, virtually similar uses of the technology. Nothing that goes past the initial wow factor. In a years time, if the industry doesn’t discover more interesting, sensible applications AR will be dismissed as a tired and failed enterprise.
Augmented Reality is a tremendously powerful tool in the right hands and as time goes on it should prove to have longevity.
Thanks for your thoughts Manny, and good luck with the campaign!
Read more posts by Mike Perk
Related posts:
Interesting. Reminds me of the Nestle campaign… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZYbHcEmWQg
Nice one Martin. So it looks like it has been done on a cereal box before!
As Mike said all is about The WOW factor..if that remains den its a success ..argumented reality..really its an interesting article to read!!
quote, “Our ultimate goal was to turn our box, which is normally discarded, into the ultimate premium.” Why? Do they want customers to collect the boxes or buy the cereal?
wow this is reallly cool stuff, they bought the product and now you can release games in special edition cereals. purple cow stuff
Comment
AR is popping up more and more as part of mobile apps, everything from satnav style applications and tourism to games, so it clearly has some traction with people. Not quite AR, but when I was in Normandy back in the summer I noticed signposts dotted around all the historic WW2 D-Day sites. Each signpost had a QR barcode and some simple instructions on how to use the codes with your mobile phone to access more historic information and lots of short video footage of the site from the war. Naturally marketing messages were incorporated into all the free stuff, such as buy a Normandy Pass to reduce the overall cost of your visit, etc. and it seemed to work pretty well. I guess like all these things they work when they are relevant to the audience and add some genuine value.