Campaign Spotlight: Hot Pockets' First Foray Into Virtual Goods
by Tameka Kee on Monday, February 22, 2010 While apparel brands like K-Swiss and Rocawear have launched successful campaigns in virtual worlds, the value proposition for consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands isn't as immediately clear (per Mediapost). Giving someone a cool t-shirt, hat or other accessory for their avatar makes perfect sense, since they'll essentially become a brand ambassador by wearing the gear while they're interacting with other users. But can the same be said for an after-school snack like Hot Pockets?
According to stats from Meez, it can. In a recent campagn, Hot Pockets served up virtual "snacks" in the teen-centric virtual world, finding a quantifiable way to boost brand awareness through a social media-centric channel. Hot Pockets partnered with Palo Alto-based AdNectar, a digital agency that specializes in virtual goods, to help make the initiative a success.
Key components to virtual gifting success
The Hot Pockets campaign in Meez had a few key components. First are the virtual gifts themselves; Meez users could get and give the little snacks (avatars could hold them in their hands or they'd float above their heads), t-shirts with Hot Pockets logos, and even pizza "eyes." (Strange? Yes. But according to Meez CEO John Cahill, the Hot Pockets pizza eyes were quite popular).
Second was in-world promotion. Meez embedded a button into each users' Friends page -- one of the most heavily-trafficked sections of the site -- that told them they could send Hot Pockets as a gift. The Hot Pockets-branded gifts were also featured on the Meez.com homepage, and when users sent a gift, they'd see a Hot Pockets "Eat Freely" video ad.
Third, was the creation of a sense of urgency. Meez made sure users knew that the Hot Pockets gifts would only be available for a limited time. "Rare or discontinued items are very popular with Meez users because it shows status in the world," Cahill said. "They have a lot of value to users because of their scarcity."
Virtual gifts create real-world brand awareness
By one metric, Hot Pockets' first foray into virtual goods was a worthwhile investment: Meez users sent nearly 240,000 of the branded gifts over a two-week period, more than double the original goal. Still, the question of whether these "gifts" count as impressions or engagements, and whether they can be benchmarked in terms of standards like CPMs, is something that brands will continue to grapple with.
Meanwhile, the in-world video ads and certain gifts also provided links back to the Hot Pockets site. It is not clear whether Hot Pockets offered Meez users a special coupon -- complete with a tracking code -- to segment and track the site traffic to in-store purchases. (But that's one tactic for tying virtual goods to real-world ROI).
Cahill is much more bullish on the brand awareness side of the equation, even though it's a metric that's not as readily quantifiable as in-store sales or even number of virtual goods gifted. "The success rate showed that users were very much into the Hot Pocket's virtual goods," he said, "It created great brand awareness." He also cited examples like users creating Hot Pockets theme parties, and changing their profile statuses taglines from the video commercials.
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