Twist… Lick… Dunk…
Whenever you hear these three words together, what first comes to your mind?
That’s right: Oreo!
Owned by food company Mondelēz International Inc., this brand of sandwich cookie is a world-renowned favorite.
Photo from Today Show
“Milk’s Favorite Cookie”
Oreo Cookies have been milk and cookie fans’ top choice for over 110 years. Since then, the brand has made a tremendous effort to become the world’s favorite pair for milk.
Here’s the thing: Despite Oreo maintaining a 99% brand awareness across the U.S., there are still thousands of American households that purchase milk but don’t buy Oreos—yet.
So, to address this concern in 2023, Oreo decided to unleash its playful side.
Together with advertising company VMLY&R, Oreo established a custom-built technology called…
OREOCodes!
Photo from oreocodes.com
OREOCodes was a commerce experience that tapped into the minimalistic similarity between barcodes and a stack of Oreos. The goal was to allow people to get offers directly from the cookies’ all-time complementary partner—milk.
Here’s how it worked…
Consumers were given the opportunity to scan any milk branded carton by visiting oreocodes.com. Whether on retail shelves or in the fridge, the Oreo barcodes converted into “dunkable” offers for Oreo + Milk.
Photo from The Work
The campaign was made available across over 180 Albertsons’ Jewel-Osco stores in the Chicago, Indiana, and Iowa areas.
Now, some of you might be wondering:
“Milk barcodes only? Every barcode in every product, whether milk or non-milk, looks like Oreos, though.”
To answer your question, YES. The campaign worked for milk barcodes ONLY.
How was that made possible?
To identify every barcode, the campaign team collected data from several retail partners, managing to match every barcode out there with hundreds of milk products across thousands of American households.
This allowed them to prevent non-milk products from triggering any offers by scanning their barcodes.
Photo from The Work
The campaign was supported by an influencer strategy educating consumers how to scan their milk cartons to unlock savings. There were also out-of-home (OOH) and digital media to further drive awareness of Oreo’s creative commerce execution.
Photo from The Work
Was Oreo’s OREOCodes campaign effective?
A lot of American households were delighted by Oreo’s sweet offer through the OREOCodes.
In fact, many of them were eager to scan milk barcodes or buy milk from the campaign’s partner stores with hopes to get a discount for the Oreo + Milk pairing!
Below are the results of the campaign:
- Oreo recorded a 230% increase in social engagement due to the OREOCodes campaign.
- Oreo experienced an 83% redemption rate following the campaign.
- Oreo cookie sales garnered over 7% increase year-over-year.
- The campaign was featured in various media publications such as The Drum, LBBOnline, Behance, AdForum, etc.
OREOCodes also bagged the following awards:
- New York Festivals 2023: 3 Gold Awards and 1 Grand Prize
- Cannes Lions Awards 2023: 1 Gold Award
- London International Awards 2023: 2 Gold Awards
- Effie Awards 2024: 3 Gold Awards
- D&AD Awards 2024: 2 Yellow Pencils, 2 Wood Pencils, and 6 Graphite Pencils
- The One Show Awards 2024: 1 Gold Award, 4 Silver Awards, and 3 Bronze Awards
- ADC Awards 2024: 1 Silver Award and 3 Bronze Awards
- The Clio Awards 2024: 2 Gold Awards, 8 Silver Awards, and 4 Bronze Awards
These figures and accolades clearly show that Oreo’s simplistic and minimalistic yet delectable campaign was a hit among its target audience.
Great work, Oreo and VMLY&R!
*Applause*
One of the remarkable things about OREOCodes’ success is its cutting-edge innovation.
According to Anne Martin, Director of Shopper Marketing at Mondelēz International:
“The retail landscape is constantly evolving and our ability to go to market with impactful work is paramount to our business growth, especially in the grocery channel. OREOCodes is a great example of an innovative commerce idea that not only leverages the strengths of our retail partner’s ecosystem, but also drives sales. We are excited to continue to push the boundaries of how we use creativity and technology, learning from this work at Albertsons.”
See?
As an expression of Oreo’s playfulness, the brand keeps looking for new ways to drive purchase and consumption of its cookie products.
The result?
Oreo fans ALWAYS appreciate it whenever the cookie brand brings something new to the table.
Just like Oreo, you should also be consistent in striving for cutting-edge innovation that’s in line with your brand and target market!
Who knows?
By bringing your brand closer to more consumers and in new shareable moments, you’ll also be able to find the prime opportunity to engage with your audience.
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Fridays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Friday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you find this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Friday’s “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!”
Cheers,
Dyane Diasanta
Senior Content Writer
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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