Gone are the day when to enter a competition on a drink bottle or chocolate bar you had to rip it open to get a code and then send that in via the post to lodge your entry. Now, your smartphone is the key to the whole thing.
Strewth, forget the post, even forget the website – Nestle have partnered with Shazam to enable their packaging, radio and TV commercials with Shazam product recognition to allow people to enter their competitions.
So now, if you buy a KITKAT, all you need to do is use your smartphone, open the Shazam app and use the camera recognition tool to “scan” your product wrapper and jump directly to the online entry mechanism.
Shazam’s VP Asia Pacific, Steve Sos said: “We have launched over 40 visual campaigns since mid-last year but this is certainly our most ambitious undertaking to date. It is great to be working so closely with such a progressive marketer on one of the world’s truly iconic brands, KITKAT. Our one touch audio and visual recognition, coupled with the scale our waterfront property on millions of smartphones brings, should add an exciting layer of interactivity and engagement to the KITKAT campaign.”
Chris O’Donnell, Head of Marketing at Nestle said: “The partnership between KITKAT and Shazam shows how we can bring innovative and easy-to-use technology to consumers to enhance their break and delight them in new ways. We are excited to be the first confectionery brand in Australia to offer this technology on packaging and in doing so truly integrate through the line. There will be over 4.7 million Shazam-enabled KITKAT bars in the Australian market”.
It’s a sign of the times, while QR codes would do almost the exact same thing, who’s carrying around a QR code app? Not many people – so Shazam has wisely incorporated similar visual recognition technology alongside their audio recognition technology which is used to identify the audio of what song you’re listening to or what TV ad or show you’re watching.
Fun idea… Now, who else feels like a KITKAT?
Trev is a Technology Commentator, Dad, Speaker and Rev Head.
He produces and hosts several popular podcasts, EFTM, Two Blokes Talking Tech, Two Blokes Talking Electric Cars, The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, and the Private Feed. He is the resident tech expert for Triple M on radio across Australia, and is the resident Tech Expert on Channel 9’s Today Show and appears regularly on 9 News, A Current Affair and Sky News Early Edition.
Father of three, he is often found in his Man Cave.
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