Coronado Brewing Co. was struggling to reach its public and outcome the competitors. As in already many cases, technology seemed to be the savior solution. Coronado Beer also competes with national brand and they needed something to differentiate. The solution was to implement a mobile marketing solution that would create a link between online and offline. The company decided to interact with it customers through mobile phone and create a strong connection with them. To become a voice in a noisy environment is burdening the budget in most cases. But, technology can sometimes make a leap and create the maximum of impact.
Coronado Brewing Co. hired the agency Thinfilm to integrate a different solution for their marketing plan. So, they decided to use NFC (near-field communication) technology in packages, labels, and merchandise product tags. Similar to a digital key, but way much safer, the technology allowed consumes to scan the product tag with their mobiles and access the beer platform or anything else the brand intended to communicate. So, the gap between real world and the digital one was filled via technology. After the tapping, the user could freely explore the brewery platform. The company also used a new set of metrics – tap rates – to see how many scans were made daily and how many customers used the technology to access the platform. The NFC managed to engage the consumers and rapidly spread to all mobile functionalities. No matter where the consumer was, they could tap the packaging and access the platform. The smart coasters were delivered in 20 boxes containing 2,500 coasters each.
The primary target of the company was millennial craft beer drinkers that were seeking for a story of their product. This public is also very sensitive to mobile apps and it comes easy to create engagement among them. And now comes the flip side of the coin. This kind of public is in permanent search of new flavors and brands, so the intention of the brand was to make the craft beer connoisseurs loyal. The purchase process is very sensitive to mobile search as well. 74 percent of millennials research a beer on the internet before going and buying it. The results were very good and the company had a raise of 92 percent in mobile traffic to the CoastWise Session IPA landing page.
The NFC technology speeds up the client – brand interaction. This campaign conducted by Coronado Brewing managed to combine as well IoT technology and allow users to tap the packaging and access the company’s platform. Comparing to QR technology, each small piece of material containing the NFC has a distinct identity, allowing an extended data collection, useful for future campaigns.
