Mac and Cheese and Smiles and Strategy

This is the amazingly cool “Smiling Noodle” from Kraft, developed by MonsterMedia.

This is a terrific way to get people engaged with a brand. And Kraft and MonsterMedia took the essence of the product – the elbow macaroni – and created a fun and engaging interactive. Very well done.

But here’s the problem. This doesn’t sell Mac and Cheese. That’s the point. Right?

These interactive screens were placed around the country (Chicago, New York, LA) in high traffic areas. And it looks like it got a lot of audience engagement. But did it sell any Mac and Cheese? Here are three reasons why this is a challenge:

Where Can I Buy? One of the most important tenets with digital engagement is the viewer’s ability to act upon what she has just experienced. The takeaway here is not the smile, it’s the brand impression. She needs to move that impression forward on the path to purchase. But if she can’t, the impression is lost as soon as the next bright, shiny object enters her field of view.

There Is No Takeaway. Unlike the Smile Happy Ice Cream campaign that Unilever created, this doesn’t give the viewer any takeaway, like the product, or a coupon, or a QR code for their mobile device to really open the gates of communication. With an immediate return, the customer connects the impression with the result – the product or access to it. This creates an indelible mark on the viewer’s mindset, and provides marketers with real data on the success of the device.

Using a Shotgun When You Need a Sniper Rifle. These were placed in high traffic areas to get viewer engagement, but I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of the people who interacted with it aren’t really Mac and Cheese fans. Sure, you’ll get a massive amount of people who will try it, making the numbers sexy, but if those viewers are not customers of Kraft or Mac and Cheese, it’s an inefficient execution. The value of each impression is much lower because of the high traffic strategy.

In the end, someone has to pay for this (yes, I know it’s the customer, but bear with me). As these devices become more prevalent in our culture, so too will the need to justify the expense on the marketing budget to create and deploy them. This is advertising, and advertising is made to get people to buy. If they don’t buy, these devices are no more than costly wet noodles.

Ba dum dum.

  • http://www.11thscreen.com Mike Cearley

    Nice write-up, Paul. I like seeing brands experimenting with digital/interactive signage, but I fear these short-sighted solutions could be more of a hindrance than help to our industry. The good thing about solutions like this is that it gets the general public in front of them and (hopefully) not afraid to interact with a new “screen” in new ways, but from the brand’s side, they’re really not helping themselves – there’s so much potential once you have an audience interacting like this – to miss on deeper engagement makes me shake my head and wonder who’s advising these people?!? :)

  • http://signagereview.com/ Tye Michaels

    Totally agree, Mike. While watching the video I did catch myself smiling along with the participants, but of course, at the end I was no closer to eating or buying mac and cheese than when I started. The critical step that’s missing from this installation is the call-to-action… Paul brings up a great point that something like spitting out a coupon or code would have done wonders for actually generating sales for the product even after the viewer has walked away from the screen. I do have to admit it’s a pretty cool concept though, and I think there’s room to build on technology like this from a branding standpoint. Great post, Paul!

  • Paul

    Tye, thank you for the comment.

    I would love to know what this did for Mac/Cheese sales. I know Crispin Porter + Bogusky came out with a series of new ads for KMC, so that will have impact as well. But, as I mentioned, in the end it all boils down to ROI. Boils…there…I made another pun.

  • Paul

    Mike,

    You make a great point, and one that I completely agree with: People are never afraid to try new things. I have yet to meet anyone who did not want to interact with a screen. But, there has to be a payoff. Interaction is a two way street. That’s where I think this missed. I would have walked away from that with nothing more than a “That’s pretty cool” response, when I should be walking away screaming, “Someone get me to a grocery store!” But this is how we learn what works and what doesn’t. So hopefully we’ll see even better execution next time.

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