Britain’s organic brand Yeo Valley Organic has rolled out connected packaging across all products as part of their new ‘Put Nature First’ brand platform.
Working with connected consumer agency SharpEnd, Yeo Valley Organic can now engage directly with their consumers through their most scalable media asset.
Consumers will be able to use their smartphones to scan the ’Moo-R’ QR codes which can be found on over 100 million products.
Linking to their popular ‘Yeokens’ reward program, and bringing to life their ongoing nature-led initiatives, customers will have access to specific product information, brand content and future promotions.
The dynamic digital experiences adjust based on the product, customer location and the time of day.
The campaign utilises SharpEnd’s connected data and experience platform – io.tt – to issue, manage and measure over 100 million identities and ensure each digital experience can be enhanced as Yeo Valley’s campaign evolves.
Through io.tt analytics Yeo Valley Organic can build consumer profiles and track engagement across the product portfolio.
Yeo Valley Organic Managing Director Adrian Carne and Cameron Worth from SharpEnd share more on their collaboration and hopes on engaging consumers with Food News International.
FNI: How did the idea for connected packaging come about?
Carne: We were looking for an innovative way to engage our consumers with our Put Nature First campaign.
We wanted to share more about what Yeo Valley Organic stands for in a meaningful way and to give our consumers a greater insight into the things that we care about.
Our first QR code launched with a ‘Put Nature First’ film, which also contained information on nature-led initiatives and importantly just some of the benefits of organic.
FNI: How is this smart packaging stack against what is available in the market?
Worth: With connected packaging, every product becomes an interactive channel between the brand and the end-user.
The consumers smartphone becomes an access point, using scanning or tapping technology, to access a range of services directly from the product itself.
FNI: How does this encourage consumers to interact with the brand?
Carne: With connected packaging we can drive deeper engagement with our message and engage our consumers.
We think it is important to make information as accessible as possible.
Our product label with a QR code is a smart and easy way to engage our consumers, so they can discover different information about the brand in an accessible way on their smartphones.
We also hope that by drawing our consumers into the big picture behind Yeo Valley Organic, our beliefs and the importance we place in nature we hope they will continue to support us.
FNI: How was the system being set up? What are the learning points?
Carne: A QR Code on each product takes the consumer on a journey to a space where there is great content about the brand alongside a more seamless loyalty programme.
We started our loyalty programme Yeokens a few years ago and we knew that the system of banking your codes on our website was becoming outdated and time consuming for our consumers.
A QR code for Yeokens will make this process a lot easier and we hope it will encourage more people to bank their codes.
If we are successful in driving brand loyalty and long-term sales growth because of this, then I would say that it is inevitable other brands will follow.
The combination of using interactive technology on your own product, being in full control of the journey and being able to adapt it and change it when you like is absolutely appealing for food brands.
We have all moved on from traditional advertising to drive brand loyalty and being connected directly with consumers through product labels, therefore driving deeper engagement is highly appealing.
