Mondelez to digitise products to encourage snacking

The snacks maker is one of the first to test Ogilvy’s K1ND innovation hub where it will brief business challenges to a team of technologists, inventors and cross-disciplinary creative. The unit will collaborate with Mondelez’ own Fly Garage innovation team throughout 2014.

Details on upcoming projects are yet to be confirmed, however, Mondelez says the partnership is focused on creating complementary services tied to its products while at the same time encouraging increased consumption and repetition. The company cites Nike’s move to put computer chips in trainers so runners can track their training regimes as an example of how it wants future products to benefit customers.

The initiative is aimed at building brands through consumer experiences rather than relying solely on brand messages to deliver cut-through. It is an approach Mondelez has been working towards since it spun off from Kraft in 2012 with the business overhauling how its brands are presented in some stores across Europe to drive impulse sales. Most recently, it revealed it is testing hidden cameras in store shelves across America to better understand how shoppers are interacting with its products.

The K1ND tie-up will focus on projects in the Asia Pacific region, one of the company’s fastest growing markets, but Mondelez adds there is a possibility it could be introduced to Europe and other markets in the future. It would see the partnership follow in the same steps as Fly Garage, which was first launched in the Latin America in 2011 but then quickly expanded to other markets.