Spreading Smiles

Delighting consumers. Hidden surprises. We’ve mentioned them once or twenty times here on the Awesome Blog. But, underlying this trend was the idea that brands touting “big happiness” would struggle to deliver upon that promise in a period of great uncertainty and skepticism. When we introduced the trend, we felt that brands would best succeed by delivering the kind of small happiness that could be realistically achieved on a consistent basis. Y’know, cheering up consumers at unexpected moments throughout their day.

Well, Kraft’s interactive window ads (shown above) certainly bring a smile to our faces. Partnering with Upshot Inform alumnus Monster Media, these displays featured a Macaroni & Cheese noodle that would bend in accordance with the smiles of folks passing by. Big grins = big bends, no grins = neutral noodle (and nobody wants that!). Kraft even integrated some gaming mechanics by tallying the total number of smiles generated across the campaign.

But, Kraft’s not the only brand committed to getting their consumers to smile. Across the pond, another CPG company developed a vending machine that provided pedestrians with free ice cream if they smiled big enough. This execution offers a particularly clever twist on traditional sampling by delighting consumers (with free ice cream) in the process. The only thing better than getting your sample into the consumer’s hand is cheering them up in the process!