Packaging for the Youth Consumer

With 8 to 12 year old's spending $30 million of their own money each year and influencing another $150 billion of their parents’ spending, its no surprise then that marketing strategies to youth influence package design. German grocery store chain Edeka recently developed a new Cool Cola-Orange flavored drink for their private label. They used innovative triangular six pack which gave instructions how to get out a 3D animated figure with a smart phone application with options to post of Facebook. This new interactive packaging will surely get companies rethinking their marketing strategies.Toon-in-a-Can Market Soft Drinks to Kids, , By Linda CaseyWhen European grocery store chain Edeka Hessenring developed its new Cool Cola-Orange flavor for its private label soft drink range, it did more than just create a package to contain the sweet beverage. The grocer created drink packaging that would deliver a fun experience for children in its target age range of 12 to 18.The promotional campaign, developed by Ball Packaging Europe, uses an innovative triangular sixpack from from Smurfit Kappa Baden Packaging. In addition to helping consumers carry the soft drink, which comes in 33 cL Sleek cans from Ball, the multipack has a sticker that draws attention to the Sprudeltier (Fizzy Beast), a cartoon animal character inside.Inside the pack are instructions showing how to let out the 3D animated figure. All it takes is a smart phone with the Junaio AR app. Point the phone’s camera at the eye-catching design on the Cool Cola can’s zipper, the hallmark of the Edeka Perquell soft drink range, and the cartoon figure poses in every photo taken with the camera. Friends can pose together with the apparently life-size figure. There is also an option to post the photos on Facebook. Buying one of the sixpacks, or at least one of the cans, says Ball Packaging Europe, is the only way to join the fun.Capturing Younger Consumers’ Attention“The toon promotion grabs the imagination and makes for a real sales boost with young consumers,” says Frank Sasse, European retail director at Ball Packaging Europe. “As a form of packaging, beverage cans offer a huge amount of scope for inventiveness in design, and that makes them an excellent medium for new communication techniques like augmented reality, which is the technology behind our 3D cartoon figure promotion. It is an ideal combination: The can is the packaging choice for young consumers, and now the can is being used with the new media favored by those same young consumers to promote a new product.”The packaging supplier notes that augmented reality (AR) is a way of enriching everyday objects, e.g., books and packaging, with multimedia information. All that is needed to enter this world of augmented reality is an Internet-capable smart phone with a camera and a previously downloaded software app. When the object is scanned with the camera, the phone immediately displays additional information either about the product itself or something entirely different. This awakens the consumer’s interest and helps clinch the decision to buy the product.Ball Packaging Europe also notes AR technology is effectively invisible especially when compared to its predecessor--the QR code, which requires room on the package design for a 2-D barcode. Any logo or object can act as a trigger without any change being required to the original packaging design.There are only five steps to unlock the Toon in a Can:1. The consumer needs to have access to a smart phone and a Cool Cola-Orange soft drink can.2. Download the free Junaio app online.3. Find and select the Cool Cola Orange channel.4. Point the phone camera at the zipper depicted on the Cool Cola-Orange can and choose Scan5. The cartoon figure is displayed automatically and poses for its first photo.More opportunities to experience Toon in a Can are coming to European consumers. Edeka Hessenring has announced plans to roll out the new package design and the cartoon character for flavors already in the product range, including apple spritzer, orangeade, and lemonade.