Can you imagine that one day doing the groceries will be fun? According to a recent AdAge article, “fun to shop at” is a key attribute for millennials when chosing a retialer¹.
“Millennials will make up approximately 19 percent of Americans in 2020“². Why not convert them into loyal customers by making shopping at your store more fun?
In this article shoppernewsblog introduces five innovative technologies that help marketers from retailers and FMCG to interrupt the monotonous and boring shopping routine with entertaining games.
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Become A Superhero – Wal-Mart / Marvel Comics
On May 4, 2012, Wal-Mart launched an exciting in-store augmented reality app called “Super Hero AR” to accompany the start of Marvel‘s new “The Avengers” movie. Customers can download the app for free and instantly interact with more than 600 merchandise to unlock “The Avengers” superheroes and their superpowers³. The app includes two modes:
Game Mode: Download the app to unlock Hawkeye and its superpowers. Collect then the remaining five superheroes and their respective superpowers by interacting with store signage and displays in the apparel, grocery, toys and wireless department. Challenge Loki in a final epic battle to win the game in order to save the world.- Photo Capture Mode: Take a photo of yourself next to “Marvel’s The Avengers” DVD display. A 3D model of the Avenger which is depicted on the DVD will appear on the photo. Share the photo with your friends via social media!
Real enthusiasts can also look for Black Widow on Wal-Mart’s website www.walmart.com/TheAvengers. Besides, an image of Hawkeye was printed in Wal-Mart’s April 29 newspaper circular to create further awareness of the program. In some selected stores, food and beverage sampling of “Average-themed products such as Dr. Pepper, Red Baron Pizza and Hershey’s chocolate candies“³ was offered to shoppers.
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Block Your Look! – C&A
For its autumn/winter collection 2012, C&A used Facebook to solve a common fashion shopper problem: After hours of shopping you finally discover a new dress just to find out at the next party that one of your friends bought the very same one.
In order to avoid this embarrassing situation, C&A created the “Look Block Collection” app. Shoppers just had to access the virtual store via Facebook, pick their favorite look, and purchase the item online to block it automatically for all of her Facebook friends. However, if a friend picked the same dress before they checked out, users had to battle over the item via an interactive Facebook game. According to the promotional clip, the collection sold out in less than 48 hours⁴.
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Angry Birds – Wal-Mart / Rovio Entertainment
Rovio, the software developer of the Angry Bird series, collaborated with Wal-Mart for the launch of its new Angry Bird Space. The exclusive campaign which started end of March included themed merchandise “like apparel, plush toys, mobile phones and snacks that contain an embedded “Golden Eggsteroid” clue that get you further on in the game“⁵. Additional clues were available to the seventeen million fans of Wal-Mart’s Facebook fan page.
The embedded codes on products allowed shoppers to unlock four bonus levels for the game. As Shopper Marketing Magazine mentioned in its June issue, “Angry Birds is especially popular among young children, so the promotion is a clever way to get mom in-store“⁶.
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Become An Organ Player – Lego
For the launch of Star Wars Episode I in 3D and the accompanying Lego Star Wars series, Munich-based Serviceplan created a 20,000 pieces street organ which was placed at cinemas. Visitors could turn the lever of the gigantic organ to play the famous Star Wars soundtrack while traveling four fascinating Lego Star Wars worlds. A QR code placed on the display’s header directed users directly to the themed section of Lego‘s online shop. For fans who missed the organ at cinemas, a microsite was launched where they could play a virtual version and pick sets they liked for purchase. At Cannes, the campaign won gold in the categories Outdoor, Promo and Direct⁷.
To watch a video of the organ in action, please click here.
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Special QR Codes – Mercedes-Benz
For the test drive of its new A-class model, Mercedes-Benz made use of the usual black and white camouflage of prototypes to plaster the model with QR codes. This way, the automobile giant got its codes not only into the streets, but also into specialized magazines and websites. The “QR Prototype Chase” campaign created by German Jung von Matt/ Alster included four different collectible codes which qualified users to participate in a competition to win a trip to the world premiere in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The QR code landing page for this campaign received over 50,000 visits and 80,000 trailer views, 2,860,000 Google hits and 6,800,000 Facebook impressions“⁸.
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Outlook
During the last week, we noted an explosion of articles related to the importance of fun and play in retailing (find all articles on our Facebook site). JWT released its “Play As A Competitive Advantage” report, Ogilvy published a video related to millennials prioritizing fun in their lives, while AdAge stressed the “fun to shop at” as a criterion for selecting retailers. Engaging shoppers via interactive games using various forms of media seems to put an end to the monotonous and tedious task of grocery shopping. The above-mentioned examples are meant to give our readers an idea of existing possibilities and to inspire both retailers and FMCG to break with established limits for retailing.
Wouldn’t we all love to have more fun while shopping?
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For information of companies using social gaming to engage shoppers, please consult our post “Let Your Shopper Play! – The Power Of Social Gaming”.
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Click “5 technologies That Will Change Shopper Marketing” to access all posts from this series.
For more information on digital shopper marketing and e-commerce, please consult our introductory chapters.
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What technology did you scout that will change shopper marketing forever?
Please share them with us so we can incorporate them into future posts.
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Sources:
¹ http://adage.com/article/news/millennials-spending-precious-dollars-cpgs/235960/
³ http://marvel.com/news/story/18623/walmart_unveils_super_hero_augmented_reality_app
⁴ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o_i4_f6z9c&feature=youtu.be
⁵ http://mashable.com/2012/03/21/walmart-angry-birds/
⁶ http://www.shoppermarketingmag.com/2012-06/
⁷ http://www.adweek.com/news-gallery/advertising-branding/worlds-best-outdoor-ads-2011-12-141907
⁸ http://thinkdigitally.wordpress.com/category/augmented-reality-qr-codes/
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Recent articles on the importance of playing and fun:
http://www.blogilvy.co.za/2012/07/millennials-all-work-all-play/
shoppernewsblog 
Because of its autumn/winter selection this, C&A utilized Myspace to resolve a typical style consumer issue: After normal office hours associated with buying a person lastly find a brand new gown simply to discover in the following celebration that certain of the buddies purchased the same 1.