An Immersive Experience All Covered in Ketchup

“You have the memory of a goldfish.”

This popular and slanderous simile gained more fame when a widely reported study from Microsoft Corp. in 2015, found that people lose concentration after an average eight-second period, just under a goldfish’s famously short attention span of nine seconds. 

While it is scientifically inaccurate that goldfish have a famously short attention span of nine seconds, Microsoft’s study found that the increased ability to multitask users has come at the cost of the ability to focus intently for heavy multi-screen users.

Short attention spans and heavy mobile phone use describes the barriers that marketers face trying to reach youth audiences. To overcome these barriers, Campbell’s Goldfish crackers developed a fun and creative immersive experience to spend some quality time with their brand. 

Helping Teens Remember Before They Forget

To launch its new ketchup-flavored Goldfish cracker, Campbell’s looked for ways to raise awareness, create connection and encourage trial among a very specific audience: teenagers aged 13 to 17.

Goldfish found that their target audience spent a lot of time online gaming and using Snapchat. They combined both to create the “Focus Faceoff Lens,” a gamified Snapchat AR lens that challenged user’s attention spans. 

Using eye movement technology, the game challenged users to track a slow-moving Flavor Blasted Kravin’ Ketchup Goldfish coming out of a ketchup bottle on the screen for longer than 9 seconds while distractions and notifications pop up around it. The longer players concentrated on the Goldfish, the higher their score. 

If the player succeeded, they were rewarded with discounts and a scorecard to share with their Snapchat friends. Players could also improve their score the more they played. 

In an interview in The Message about the resulting campaign, Mariah Weir, manager of media and digital platforms at Campbell’s, said: “When the user is finished playing with the lens, they receive a coupon code to share with their parents for a discounted bag of Goldfish Flavor Blasted Kravin’ Ketchup to encourage trial.”

Gobbling Up Snacked Sized Experiences

When it was introduced, the new ketchup Goldfish cracker line quadrupled dollar sales for the iconic brand and exceeded expectations. In its first two months, it beat out many other new product competitors.

Within Snapchat, the primary KPI for a lens is play time. The Focus Faceoff Lens had an average play time of 22.31 seconds, exceeding Snapchat’s historical data of 11 seconds by 103%. 

Learning from the Goldfish

Valuable personally relevant experiences are a critical component of effective digital marketing, and Campbell’s Goldfish caught a winner by using completely new technology for this immersive marketing experience.

While not every situation requires groundbreaking technology to be personally relevant, having a genuine interest in building connections with a target audience is vitally important for delivering a valuable personally relevant experience. 

Weir stated so much in her statement to The Message: “The primary target for the lens are teens, we want to connect with them in new and interesting ways to build a connection between them and Goldfish Flavor Blasted Kravin’ Ketchup.” 

Another key takeaway from this campaign for us is the value of segmentation and targeting. While the teen audience was new for Goldfish, their approach, both creatively and technologically, was a winner. 

Want to learn more about how valuable personally relevant experiences can impact your brand? Put the crackers down and contact us.