How OREO Changed the Way We See Barcodes

‘OREOCODES’ is a first-of-its-kind mobile-led commerce experience that brings together one of the most iconic duos of all time (OREOs and milk) in a unique and innovative way. It plays with the striking similarity between barcodes and stacks of OREOs by turning every mobile into a barcode reader to offer OREO discounts directly from milk packaging. Through this execution, every milk carton in America (including milk alternatives like oat and almond) became an OREO experience, providing thousands of offers for consumers to order cookies.

For VMLY&R COMMERCE, the project has been hugely successful, solidified by recent wins at Cannes Lions, where the agency picked up five awards across four categories: Creative Commerce (Gold), Direct (Gold and Silver), Industry Craft (Silver), Mobile (Bronze). The campaign was also shortlisted for the Brand Experience & Activation Lions.

LBB’s Ben Conway caught up with the creatives behind the project after their successful trip to Cannes to discuss how OREOCODES came to be. Taking us through the work are Jeremy Ruiz, VP, group creative director, Christina Ryan, account director and Sergio Leon, SVP, group creative director.

LBB> Have you worked with Oreo before? What was the brief for this campaign like?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> OREO has been a wonderful, long-time partner of VMLY&R COMMERCE. The brief for this campaign was quite open-ended - in a good way! Our partners at Mondelez and OREO have been major proponents and advocates for creative commerce, and have put trust in us as their commerce partner to consistently bring proactive ideas to the table that can drive business forward. On our end, this consists of being tightly connected to the brand business and consumer insights, understanding that any idea we bring must harness and engage consumers in a way that taps into the emotional experience of buying to drive conversion and sales.  

LBB> What were the key insights you found and used to shape the campaign?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> Despite OREO maintaining a 99% brand awareness across the US, there are still thousands of American households that purchase milk but don't buy OREOs - yet. We recognised a distinct opportunity to capitalise on an incremental purchase occasion, partnering with three major US Retailers: Albertsons, Safeway and Jewel-Osco.

We also noticed that year on year, the cookie brand was not making it into shoppers’ carts. Not only were shoppers skipping OREO, primarily buying only for ‘special occasions’, but they also weren’t even going down the cookie aisle. The cookie category overall was declining versus the prior year. We asked ourselves, ‘how could we remind shoppers of the joy that OREO brings them and drive purchase of OREO in that same moment?’. The opportunity presented itself in cookies’ favourite partner – milk! Not only had milk had a consistent base and high frequency, but the category was also seeing growth, with trips-per-buyer up.

Creatively speaking though, it all began with a barcode. We had begun to notice that a stack of OREOs bears a striking resemblance to barcodes. And once you begin looking at barcodes in that way, it's really impossible not to see OREOs alongside them – believe us. That's when we realised the perfect match for OREOs would be any milk carton barcode. That's how the idea was born.

LBB> How did you build the custom ‘OREOCODES’ technology? Who did you work with to bring this to life?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> We’ve always believed that tech is a great enabler of creative commerce, so it was only natural to work with our spectacular in-house MarTech team to build this custom technology and ultimately bring it to life. What started as an idea, eventually turned into visual mock-ups and a detailed user flow that our MarTech team turned into technological reality.

LBB> The black barcode lines obviously lend themselves to an Oreo-based design! How did you go about designing the ‘dunking’ barcode visuals for the campaign?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> We had a lot of fun with the design team reimagining barcodes as OREO cookies. We explored numerous possibilities – experimenting with shapes, lines, packaging, and even hands grabbing an OREO within a barcode. One of the designs that stood out was a barcode dunking in milk, which looked pretty cool. We then crafted fun copy that conveyed our intention of showcasing OREOs within barcodes, resulting in some fantastic visuals.

LBB> What was the hardest challenge you faced on this campaign and how did you overcome it?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> The hardest challenge was definitely getting it into market as quickly as we did. With such a brilliant idea, our partners at Mondelez did not want to wait to execute. Through our wonderful partnership at Mondelez International with commerce leaders such as Steve McGowan, Anne Martin and Nicolas Henault, we broke barriers and expedited the review process to get this campaign into market as quickly as we did.

LBB> How was the reaction from the brand and the audience been so far?

VMLY&R COMMERCE US> We’ve received rave reviews and reactions from not only the brand team but consumers as well. Really beginning last year, the commerce ideas that OREO has been putting into market have gotten the attention of the brand team, and collaboration has been amazing as Mondelez moves deeper into leading within the new modern commerce ecosystem. This activation, along the last year’s OREO ‘StufScan’ are a driving catalyst for the incredible growth of the OREO brand overall. Beyond that, the campaign delivered on its promise of strong brand awareness and high social engagement, resonating with both new and loyal OREO lovers, and importantly, among milk drinkers looking for milk’s perfect cookie. 

Representing the playful nature of the OREO brand, what better way to engage and give back to its consumers than an experience that unlocks incentives on their favourite pairing – OREO cookies and milk?