How to put a game on your packaging

The QR code on your package is the most-printed piece of marketing you own, and most of it points at a landing page. Here is how brands are turning it into a game, step by step, and what they get back.

Step 1: decide what the scan is for

Pick one job. For most brands it is the repeat purchase, so the scan should end in a coupon for the next one. For a launch it might be sampling, so the reward is buy-one-get-one on the new flavor. For a retail partnership it is the display, so the reward redeems at that retailer. One job per code.

Step 2: make the product the hero

The game should star the product, modeled with the real label, in the place the product lives: the aisle, the kitchen, the tailgate. Thirty seconds of play is thirty seconds of the shopper looking at your pack on their screen while holding it in their hand. That is the whole point.

Step 3: one code, printed once

The QR code points to the game's address forever; the levels and rewards change behind it. You never reprint for a new campaign. If you want to know which SKU drove the scan, give each SKU its own code that opens its own level.

Step 4: wire the coupon

The reward ticket at the end holds a code. Online, it applies at your checkout. In retail, it is a coupon code your partner's system accepts, or a unique code the shopper shows at the register. Set the value small and the frequency high: $1 off the next purchase beats $5 off the fifth.

Step 5: give retail partners a level

A co-branded level with a reward that redeems only at a partner's stores is a reason for the buyer to take the display. It costs you one level; it earns you an end cap.

Step 6: read the data

You get scans, plays, clears and redemptions by SKU and by region, which is more than most brands know about any piece of packaging they print. Use it to find the SKUs that get picked up and not bought, and the regions that redeem; both are marketing decisions you were making blind.

What it costs

Our Packaged Goods plan is $399 a month with a $2,000 build fee spread over 12 months, including the on-pack QR program, coupon management, a new level every other month and the co-marketing assets for retail partners. A game is live within ten business days of the intake form, which is usually faster than your next packaging run.