New opportunities in a mobile world

Matt Rees, a senior consultant for InfoTrends’ business development services, highlights where mobile and packaging intersect successfully, why converters must understand print parameters and enhanced services

Mobile phones are the one electronic device that most of us carry at all times. These devices are with us for more hours of the day than personal computers, TV sets, magazines or radios.

More than 90 percent of us keep our cell phones within an arm’s reach 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. More than 70 percent of people actually take their cell phones to bed with them and use them as alarm clocks. A study by Unisys revealed that if we lose our wallet, we report it missing within 26 hours. If we lose our cell phone, however, we report it within 68 minutes.

The smartphone adoption rate is pushing more businesses to develop strategies that can reach people anytime, anywhere. According to InfoTrends’ 2012 US Mobile Imaging End-User Survey, over 45 percent of US consumers currently own and use smartphones.

The number of smartphone owners will continue growing as wireless carriers provide more affordable options for smart mobile technology. For consumers, mobile devices are increasingly used as a dashboard for communicating, orchestrating, and interfacing with life's many demands. As a result, brand owners – especially those in the packaged goods market – are seeking new opportunities to drive greater engagement with consumers in the store aisle and at home.

Mobile meets packaging

The growth in smartphone adoption has dramatically changed the relationship that companies have with consumers. This is particularly the case in retail environments, where consumers can use their mobile devices to make more informed buying decisions. To that point, a recent Google study found that 70 percent of smartphone owners are using their devices to make buying decisions while in the store.

The reality is that there are more products on store shelves today than ever before, all vying for consumers’ attention. The rise of private label brands is further intensifying competition in the store aisles. According to the Private Label Manufacturer’s Association, annual sales of private label products have increased by 40 percent in supermarkets and by 96 percent in drug chains over the past decade.

Walmart is broadening its product assortment of branded and private label products by about 11 percent in the average store. This competition is prompting manufacturers to pursue new methods for capturing sales. Savvy marketers have discovered that mobile-armed, purchase-ready consumers create a perfect storm when placed in close proximity to product packaging.

Many brands are integrating quick response (QR) codes and other types of mobile barcodes into their packaging designs to prompt offline-to-online engagement. 

This extends the in-store experience by further promoting a product on a mobile device. InfoTrends’ study entitled Mobile Technology: Making Print Interactive explored the topic of offline-to-online engagement. This study found that the most recognized media barcodes among consumers familiar with them were magazines, product packaging, and catalogs. Brand owners’ attempts to integrate mobile into packaging are definitely getting noticed.

The mobile opportunity

Competition on the retail shelf is prompting marketers to pursue new tactics for increasing sales. Marketers are no longer relying solely on packaging design and branding to influence consumers’ decisions. Marketers are increasingly using mobile barcodes to enhance the in-store shopping experience and build bridges that connect the offline shopping experience to engaging online environments.

InfoTrends believes that as smartphone technology becomes increasingly available and affordable to the average consumer, offline-to-online engagement will become even more appealing to brand owners looking to build stronger connections with consumers that can also influence purchasing intent.

As packaging becomes a richer, multi-channel experience, converters and manufacturers of packaging products would do well to understand the technical requirements needed to print mobile barcodes correctly, while also developing value-added services that support brand owners in their efforts to marry mobile with packaging.

Mobile is the silent salesman

The marriage of mobile barcodes with packaging creates an enticing opportunity for consumers to willfully engage with the brand. Mobile barcodes can also contribute to the perceived value of the product when compared side-by-side with competitive products.

To prompt consumers to interact with packaging, early adopters have employed campaigns and programs that are:

•          Entertaining, like contests and games

•          Educational, providing product information or offering product tracking

•          Social, to allow sharing with peers

Sweepstakes increase membership

QR codes on select Ocean Mist Farms artichoke packages enabled consumers to enter a sweepstakes and also register for the brand’s Artichoke Aficionado Club. This campaign ran for six weeks during the peak of the spring artichoke season in 2011.

Throughout the campaign, shoppers were linked to Ocean Mist Farms’ mobile site and were entered to win a $10,000 grand prize by providing an e-mail address for future communications from the brand.

The campaign, which also included social media and e-mail components, increased membership in the Artichoke Aficionados club from 8,600 members to 34,121.

Consumer-product education, retail benefit

In the spring of 2011, Home Depot launched a QR code initiative that enabled consumers to receive product information, reviews, how-to guides, tips and videos from the retailer. The objective was to enhance customer shopping experiences and increase the customers’ conversation with the retailer. In this instance, the retailer claims that it is not collecting data to drive additional marketing but rather to gain a better understanding of the types of content and brand interactivity that consumers best respond to in and out of the store.

Scanbuy, the company that helped support this initiative, collected information for the retailer, such as time and location of scans, which could be compared to the product purchased, or not purchased, and the duration between scan and purchase.

Advice, options and customization

The Six Star Pro Nutrition Elite Series brand includes a QR code on each product’s shrink sleeve that links consumers to its mobile site. The site features additional product information, nutritional advice, training tips, and videos. It also includes a “product finder,” which offers a step-by-step guide for customizing a supplement diet that meets one’s specific needs.

Entertained by a cereal box

Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut cereal used a QR code on the back of its box to reinforce its marketing message about eating cereal anytime, day or night. The code links the consumer to a mobile site promoting the message that “it’s morning somewhere”. Depending on the time of day when a user links to the site, he or she will be shown various videos of locations in the world where it is currently morning.

This presentation is a great example of a creative approach to utilizing QR codes for marketing and brand reinforcement.

Small brands, big feedback

Culinary Twist is a small business that has learned that you don’t have to be a big brand to leverage QR codes on labels and start conversations with consumers. The company uses mobile barcodes on its product labels to direct potential buyers to view recipes and receive instant coupons from retail shelves. The consumer is also encouraged to submit recipe suggestions, provide product reviews, and report problems with products or even the particular store that the product is sold.

With the help of a feedback management firm, OpinionLab, Culinary Twist is able to evaluate feedback and make changes. Some recent adjustments include new product labels for its Bora Bora sauce and holiday reminders for consumer purchases.

Tracing food safety

While not promotional in nature, the HarvestMark food traceability solution capitalizes on more than 2.3 billion produce packages that have been enabled with HarvestMark codes. Since being introduced in 2005, HarvestMark codes have provided on-demand information about supply chains and suspected recall events.

The HarvestMark iPhone app enables consumers to scan barcodes printed on produce packages for item-level and case-level tracking. Through the scanned barcode, the user receives information specifically about the food they are about to buy or have already purchased.

This article first appeared in the Labels and Labeling Yearbook 2013