Dive Brief:
- The official kick-off of the 2017 NFL season is less than three weeks away, and Bud Light and PepsiCo are leveraging Snapchat to put their food and beverage products top-of-mind with consumers. PepsiCo, for its part, is gamifying specially-marked Pepsi and Frito-Lay products by adding a Snapcode on the packaging, according to a press release.
- After consumers snap a picture of the codes, they will be randomly assigned an NFL team, and if that team wins a game that week, the participant will receive a variety of rewards. Everyone playing the game will be entered into a weekly drawing for prizes including season tickets, Super Bowl tickets and other experiences. Frito-Lay's Tostitos brand earlier this week announced limited-edition packaging centered around specific team rituals and lucky charms which also included Snapcodes to unlock digital content.
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Bud Light, following a similar play last year, is also selling custom cans and aluminum bottles for 28 NFL teams with a Snapchat twist, the company said in a press release. When consumers take photos of the packaging, they unlock the opportunity to win Super Bowl LII tickets, an interactive Bud Bowl-like Snapchat game and team-specific Snapchat filters. Bud Light's NFL push will include new TV spots throughout the season as part of its "Famous Among Friends" campaign.
Dive Insight:
NFL game day viewing parties and tailgates are a big sales window for packaged food and beverage brands, and offering team-specific packaging is a good way to cater products to established, highly-energized fan bases. PepsiCo and Bud Light running slightly varied themes on the same marketing concept shows that the idea isn't wholly original, but is almost certainly effective.
The prominent presence of Snapchat in both campaigns also points to how marketers can leverage the platform, which has taken a financial hit in recent quarters, to add an extra digital pop to otherwise straightforward physical activations. Snapchat has helped drive the resurgence in popularity of QR codes through Snapcodes, and leveraging the feature to access digital content like exclusive video and online games fleshes out a more robust, interactive experience.
If earlier Snapchat campaigns tied to the NFL are any indication, the collective packaging plays should prove a success with consumers. Gatorade's "dunk" filter around Super Bowl 50 in 2016 saw 165 million impressions, for example.
