By Rob Scott, Creative Director, TLC

I recently revisited a planning piece from BBH, published at the height of the pandemic called Clumsy Human. It predicted three post-pandemic personality types: fearful, cautious, and raging.

As I look around, I’m not sure whether their prophecy was entirely true but certainly in the world of SP some things have changed.

Judging this year’s IPM awards with my esteemed colleagues in the Shopper Activation category we discussed the comeback of the humble QR code – surely one of the winners from the pandemic?  Led partly by a need for less physical contact with packaging and the improvement of native tech within phones this dotty square enables us to find out more info instantly at the tap of a screen and allows us to de-clutter communication whilst at the same time stopping any risk of contamination.

Much maligned by creatives (I remember clearly hating putting them anywhere) now I’m advising clients to put them everywhere – although I’m struggling with radio.

If the QR code has made a resurgence what about other areas that haven’t fared as welll?

From recent experience I fear for good old point of sale – as supermarkets try to keep their aisles ‘clean’ our disruptive branded displays, are becoming harder to site – dare I say it I even miss designing wobblers – my favourite ever for Lipton Iced Tea had the headline “It doesn’t wobble if you nod”.

And what if the pack flashed itself? With more habitual buying online the opportunity to stand out and force an impulse purchase is reduced. Promotional packs are seldom featured so catching consumers eyes must be left to other means.

This need to be on the shopping list earlier in the customer journey is good news for SP agencies with strong creative departments.

If used correctly online, social, OOH and radio can plant a seed in consumers’ minds (and hearts) and still influence purchase – all without resorting to on-pack starbursts and screamers.

And for us creatives it means the new normal leads us back to an old belief – what promotions need now is what they’ve always needed – an idea that sticks in the mind.

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Swiss retailer Migros has enhanced its mobile app with a new Discover function, which uses Augmented Reality technology to let shoppers scan more than 5,000 products and access 2,000 Migusto recipes, 80,000 real-time product ratings on the Migipedia platform and nutritional values and further product information – with more content planned for the future.

The new Discover function was developed by Y&R Group Switzerland and its Futurecom interactive division.

Discover uses the smartphone camera to identity unique features on the product packaging and match them with the product database. Y&R claims that approach will in future make QR codes and barcodes for product identification redundant.

As soon as a product has been “discovered”, the product name appears on the smartphone screen together with options and information available in connection with the product, such as suitable recipes or ratings.

Discover has a feedback mechanism that enables the user experience to be constantly optimised.

Discover for iOS and Android, as well as the related back-end infrastructure for image editing and sample identification, was implemented by Futurecom using state-of-the-art technology, including Apple’s new programming language Swift and Microsoft’s new open-source framework ASP.NET Core. In addition to this, essential system components function in the cloud.

Alongside the development and implementation of the Discover function, Y&R Group Switzerland is also responsible for accompanying communication measures aimed at introducing Migros customers to Discover. A film has been produced with this aim in mind, as well as advertisements and various online and social media measures.

Migros is a cooperative society (the Federation of Migros Cooperatives) which is Switzerland’s largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and its largest employer. It is also one of the 40 largest retailers in the world. It has than two million members.

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Nestlé’s KitKat brand is again teaming up with Google’s YouTube for a major promotion, with the confectionery giant producing 74 different promotional packs featuring the YouTube logo and a digital code which consumers can scan with their mobiles to be taken to one of 74 different Youtube clips.

Each of the 74 YouTube videos features music, gaming, comedy or sports content, with a five second KitKat video ad running at the start.

The idea is that consumers share their favourite videos with their friends as part of the ritual of having a break with a KitKat, and that as they share they will also be sharing the KitKat ad.

The campaign will be supported by a huge media plan of £4.3m across TV, online, and social media; driving awareness of the event to more than 15 million consumers across May and June.

A Nestlé UK & Ireland spokesperson said: “People are increasingly using digital devices when they take a break. Whether on Youtube, social media or quick news feeds, the digital break is very popular, especially for a younger audience.”

Nestlé says that 40.7 million people in the UK watch videos on Youtube for an average of 20 minutes a day, with 36% of people watching it to ‘escape or relax’. However, with an hour of new content being uploaded every second, people can find it difficult to find the best content – which is where KitKat comes in. The Nestlé source added: “KitKat has done the hard work for consumers and whittled it down to 74 of the most entertaining videos for them to enjoy, easily accessible through a click of a button. The content will also periodically be refreshed so there will always be something new to discover.”

Last year, Nestlé and YouTube rebranded the chocolate and wafer bar as ‘Nestlé YouTube Break’ for a limited period. Along with the change of name, YouTube launched bespoke playlists designed to allow KitKat-eaters to enjoy their breaks more. Also, searching “KitKat YouTube my break” on Android phones brought up a page showing the top four trending YouTube videos.

It was not the first time Nestlé has partnered Google before. In September 2013, the search giant, which has a tradition of naming its mobile operating systems after desserts or sweet snacks, named Android 4.4 “KitKat” as part of a deal with Nestlé. Nestlé also stamped chocolate bars with a special hashtag and wrappers that suggest different kinds of breaks, including “me time break” and “sporty break”, and ran an on-pack competition with Android phones and tablets as prizes.

The 2016 KitKat/YouTube partnership is the latest activity in Kit Kat’s ‘Celebrate the Breakers’ Breaks’ global marketing campaign. This campaign recognises that no two individuals are the same, so argues that their breaks should be different, too.

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