Dive Brief:
- Mondelez's Oreo brand is letting people order customized versions of the sandwich cookies with the OreoID experience on its website, per information emailed to Marketing Dive.
- Customers can choose from eight colors of creme filling, or personalize the cookies even more by having them dipped in fudge and covering the edges with combinations of eight sprinkle colors. Oreo also offers optional features, such as adding images and personalized messages like "Happy Birthday!" in different fonts and colors.
- Oreo is offering the customized cookies as people start shopping for holiday gifts and party treats. The packaging options vary from single party favors for $2.50 each with a minimum order of 20, to a gift box of 24 cookies for $52.95, per its website. Personalized cookie orders take eight to 10 business days to process, according to Oreo's website.
Dive Insight:
Mondelez's OreoID experience brings a new level of personalization to the cookie brand while opening another direct sales channel to consumers. Oreo can gather more data about customers who buy the personalized products, and use the information to gain greater insights into their buying habits for future marketing. Oreo also can increase its per-unit profitability with the value-added service, instead of seeking to boost sales through promotions and discounts on regular products that squeeze margins.
Oreo's customized cookie offering comes as more marketers develop personalized products in response to growing consumer demand. While the term "personalization" describes the process of customizing advertising messages to target audiences, it also can apply to making individualized consumer products at scale. Consumers are willing to pay an average of 25% more for a personalized product or service, according to a study by 3D software company Dassault Systèmes and CITE Research. In addition, 80% of study respondents said they're more likely to do business with a company that provides personalized experiences, while 90% find personalization appealing, per a study by data-driven marketing firm Epsilon.
Oreo in the past few years has been active with digital campaigns that feature new flavors and brand extensions. To celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month in October, the brand dished out its first packs of cookies with rainbow-colored filling for each color of the Pride flag and released a three-minute film titled "Proud Parent" to dramatize the importance of parental support for their LGBTQ children. Before the pandemic, Oreo ran a sweepstakes that asked people to vote on their favorite amount of frosting in its cookies. The campaign included a branded hashtag challenge on social video app TikTok that asked people to show their favorite amount of frosting.
The latest product offering comes as parent company Mondelez forecasts sustained demand for its snack products, which had seen a jump in sales as consumers stocked their pantries with comfort foods from familiar brands during the pandemic's onset. The company's worldwide revenue rose 4.9% to $6.67 billion in Q3, while comparable sales in North America climbed 6.3% from a year earlier.
