Shazam makes chocolate bar packaging interactive

Music discovery app, Shazam, has announced a partnership with Nestlé that sees Shazam-enabled KitKat bars distributed as part of a consumer promotion and competition.

Chokkie lovers are invited to purchase a specially marked KitKat, ‘Shazam’ the packaging, visit the website and follow the prompts.

We get that the ‘Shazaming’ bit is easy – consumers simply needing to open the app on their smartphone, hold it over the front of the wrapper and click the camera icon, but then isn’t this simplicity counteracted by the fact that they’ve got to go to a website and follow a bunch of prompts?

Not that the prize bag isn’t worth all the effort, with entrants having the chance to shop big for up to $23,000 worth of free music, tech products, travel and sporting goods.

Visual recognition, which was launched by Shazam in June last year, makes consumer products become effective touchpoints. When coupled with the app’s existing audio recognition capabilities, it allows marketers to make all consumer facing touch points clickable; including traditional media, point-of-sale and packaging – effectively building a bridge from physical to digital.

The biggest obstacle, then, might be those cheapskates who refuse to buy these consumer products and instead clog up the aisles at your local Coles or Woolies, snapping away at products on the shelves.

You have been warned.  Antonino Tati