The Finnish candy brand Panda does groundbreaking work in engaging and delighting its customers.
Panda's augmented Easter egg ended up breaking records three years ago. This time, the surprise within the chocolate egg got extended.
Video by Miltton.
Long gone are the days when we expected surprise eggs to surprise us. Or are they? Extended reality can easily offer that same excitement and joy that once was the tiny plastic figurines we would play with for hours.
Only this time, the surprise is eco-friendly.
Gamified Easter egg
Panda brought an extended reality game to its chocolate surprise eggs this Easter.
The game features clouds hovering on top of the player, dropping little pieces of heaven - or Easter candy - for the user to catch. The more candies the player grabs, the further in the game and to higher levels they get. To gain more time to catch the candy, the player can also grab little timers dropped by a virtual panda from an aeroplane.
From differentiation to sustainability
Panda's first XR Easter egg launched in 2019. People of Panda felt that AR provided them with a unique selling point in a very saturated product segment. AR-enhanced surprise egg was something totally new and was a great differentiation from others.
In addition to standing out, XR content is a way of moving towards a more sustainable solution for the actual surprises inside the eggs. Panda's surprises have been gadgets + AR, but the long term vision is to remove the physical toys altogether.
The content needs to be entertaining and high-quality enough for an all-XR surprise.
"The latest development is a clear step in the direction of gamification, and the content is great. It's entertaining and engaging, and I believe it will increase the time spent with our brand," Anna Willberg, the Marketing Manager of Orkla, commented on the game.
"Co-operation with Arilyn has always been smooth and pleasant. Whether it's been a project fully handled by Arilyn, or one with an agency involved, Arilyn has always taken a proactive approach, ensuring the outcome is excellent. The turnkey solution combined with top-of-class execution is a combination I highly appreciate and value."
Small steps lead to big results
When taking on something new and fresh, you don't need to go all-in at once. Trying things and learning from them is the way to find the best fit.
"We soon realized that for the AR content to remain relevant, it needs to be updated regularly. We also felt that gamification would be a great way of getting consumers to spend more time with our brand, and that has been the leading thought in our latest update," Willberg said.
"We feel that XR is definitely something that will play a big role in consumer engagement in years to come. It provides exciting ways of offering unique added value, and we have therefore taken small steps towards using XR in some of our projects. Based on these, we can then evaluate whether XR is something we should include more permanently in our toolbox."
Check out Panda's last augmented Easter egg here.
