Jones Soda Brings Labels To Life With Augmented Reality
Jones Soda is bringing a new twist to its signature labels through the use of augmented reality.
The Seattle-based beverage company is experimenting with AR for the first time in a campaign that enables consumers to transform soda bottle labels into videos via the Jones Soda mobile app.
Fifteen athlete and artist influencers participated to help create the content — including a tattoo artist, BMX rider, breakdancer, circus performer and skateboarder — which is offered on five different flavors across a total of 1.5 million bottles. To activate the content, consumers use their phone camera to scan the image, triggering a short video highlighting the influencer’s talents.
Though this is Jones’ AR debut, the company views it as just the start, Maisie Antoniello, Jones Soda head of marketing, told CGT, and the campaign is also being used to mark its 25th anniversary.
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“As we thought about the heritage of Jones and what makes stand out, it came back to our labels being in the original UGC [user-generated content],” she said. “Knowing that consumers are content creators these days, it seemed like the perfect opportunity marry those two things and bring things back full circle in a completely new and relevant way.”
Mark Murray, president and CEO of Jones Soda president and CEO, said in a statement that it’s a way for the company to expand its fan base and shelf appeal, particularly for the content-creating Gen Z generation. Indeed, the consumer engagement technology also unlocking a host of consumer insights via the mobile app, including consumer sessions, length of time, demographics, regions and interests. All of this is expected to help Jones understand its most loyal users, and the company intends to leverage the technology and findings moving forward.
“We’re excited to understand our consumers more and have it inform future campaigns, as well as our paid media efforts,” said Antoniello. She noted that AR is a powerful vehicle for brand storytelling and consumer engagement — provided it makes sense for a brand and is executed in an authentic matter.
“For those consumer goods brands that use it well, it will definitely have a big impact.”
The bottles are being sold in the United States and Canada retail stores this month, and Jones is also simultaneously staging a contest with consumers for a 2022 series.
