Dive Brief:
- Healthy snack brand Kind dumped 45,485 pounds of sugar in New York City's Time Square yesterday to show visitors a visual representation of how much added sugar children in the U.S. are estimated to be eating every five minutes, according to a company news release. The installation included sculptures of children made out of sugar to bring the point home.
- The out-of-home (OOH) stunt, which only lasted one day, also doubled as a promotion for Kind's new children's snack product, Kind Fruit Bites, which have no added sugar.
- For those who couldn't make it to the physical activation, Kind is promoting the effort on YouTube and also through a 360-degree video hosted on its official Facebook page, where users can click and drag and also rotate their mobile phone to get a full view of the sugar pile.
Dive Insight:
Kind's Times Square stunt points to how brands are more often leaning into socially-conscious marketing to create resonance with consumers. The installation is backed up by data from the IRI, and representing kids' unhealthy sugar consumption habits through physical sculptures gives the issue tangible scale while sending a powerful message.
Kind is smart to extend the effort via social media and YouTube, connecting with a wider audience than it would have through the real-world activation alone. The use of 360-degree video, in particular, shows how marketers can better integrate OOH efforts digitally, letting people explore physical spaces simply by tilting their smartphone or clicking on an image.
It's also just the latest in what's been a slew of innovative OOH pushes this summer that use digital and mobile as a means to achieve greater reach and put more purpose behind marketing.
