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A Touchdown for Mars Wrigley’s Connected M&M’S NFL Pack

At the AIPIA World Congress, Mars Wrigley and WestRock detail a pilot that used digital printing and Augmented Reality for a collectible, connected M&M’S pack in Green Bay, WI.

M&M'S NFL pack, back
Each carton included stats on the most recent game and the Packers’ record that week within the division. It also used AR technology to allow consumers to collect stickers and take selfies with their favorite M&M’S characters, as well as unlock exclusive content.

M&M'S NFL pack, frontEach week of the NFL season, a new limited-edition box made its way to Green Bay stores.For the 2019 NFL season, licensee Mars Wrigley piloted an innovative project using smart technology-connected, digitally-printed packaging to get more bang for its licensing buck while providing consumers with personalized experiences. In terms of price point and product velocity, the results were “astonishing,” according to John Dwyer, Vice President of Business Development for WestRock, the packaging supplier that spearheaded the project.

At the AIPIA (Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association) World Congress, held in Amsterdam in November 2019, Dwyer, along with WestRock colleagues Erin Allen, Innovation Integrator, and Carol Hammond, VP Innovations Europe, as well as Flint Eckstein, Mars Global Packaging Innovation Manager, took to the conference stage to share the story of Mars Wrigley’s M&M’S Green Bay Packers NFL promotion, which at the time of the event, was scheduled to run through Dec. 29.

WestRock is primarily a supplier of conventional paperboard-based packaging. But in 2017, it moved beyond material science, establishing its Connected Packaging Solutions offerings to bring real-time intelligent interactivity to packaging, displays, and signage. The program relies on collaboration with a number of smart technology providers, such as Digimarc,  with its digital watermarking technology, and IoT platform providers EVRYTHNG and Talkin’ Things, among others.

“Our focus is really deploying at scale,” said Dwyer. “In our industry, the technology needs to be wide-scaled and open-sourced. Our goal is to work with all of our partners to understand what the technology addresses and what the specific challenges are, and create an ROI around that. Nobody makes money running pilots. We want to help solve problems within a supply chain. How do we make things more efficient? How do we reduce waste? How do we make consumers more accepting of products?”

At Mars Wrigley, Eckstein is part of a dedicated new team tasked with “scanning and scouting” new technologies to address market opportunities. After gathering information from suppliers, regional counterparts, and consumer insight agencies, Eckstein’s team identified five buckets. One big one, he said, is personalization.

“It has almost become a little cliché, but consumers are looking for experiences,” he said. “Nowadays, we already have the high-quality product out there. We already have well-known brands, so we don’t necessarily have to work on that part of our business anymore. It’s now about creating experiences with the brands we have, finding the relevance for these products and consumers.

“In general, we see that consumers are more willing to pay extra if the value proposition is right, with new products or new experiences from a product.”

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