Some of the most read print materials in the world are cereal boxes according to Mark Addicks, CMO for General Mills. In a move to modernize the experience, they are adding digital triggers to their packaging to bring customers to “fun” content via mobile. I have to assume many kids dont have mobile phones, but it is a great way to have a family activity. Too bad they dont know about Documobi yet!
by Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – Here in the Betty Crocker Kitchen, Mark Addicks is cooking up some radical digital recipes for how we look at packaging for cereal, cake mix and yogurt.
Addicks is the chief marketing officer for food giant General Mills, home of Cheerios, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Jolly Green Giant and fictional home cook Betty Crocker herself. And he has QR codes, apps, augmented reality and all the other things smartphones can do in his digital pantry.
“There’s never been a time like this,” says Addicks, a 23-year veteran of the company. “Because of the digital technology that resides in people’s hands … we can now deliver content that engages and enhances the experience. Before, we had to rely on a 30-second TV ad.”
Addicks is trying to reinvent food packaging, especially cereal, by using digital technology. He’s working on concepts that he hopes will be out by the summer and won’t reveal much, citing General Mills’ rivalry with other food companies, most notably Kellogg’s.
But Addicks — who met recently with Google, Facebook, Apple and other Silicon Valley companies — is dishing them together here in the kitchen, where he hopes to update the marketing concept of offering a surprise inside the cereal box. Instead, kids could point a smartphone at the box and “see visual surprises.”
He’s looking at QR (quick response) codes to do this — those little square boxes that appear now in so many ads and, when scanned with a smartphone’s camera, take consumers directly to a website. But he’s also looking beyond the code to apps. He’s already got apps for Betty Crocker and Yoplait Yogurt and is exploring apps for cereal brands. “You point to a logo and things start to appear,” he says. “Maybe some functional content will pop up on a cake-mix box, or you might see entertainment and games coming from a cereal box. What I’m hoping for is pure entertainment.”
continues at Food giant spoons up a cereal box redo – USATODAY.com.
