A case study about Factory 360’s highly successful experiential marketing activations for Kraft Foods was the cover story on the Advertising Specialty Institute’s February 2016 newsletter.

ASI is the promotional products industry’s largest membership association. They regularly publish articles on successful promotions in their widely-read bulletin to members and supporters.

The article highlighted an experiential marketing campaign Factory 360 planned in partnership with Kraft Foods (makers of food products including Kool-Aid, Capri Sun, Oreo, Nabisco and Chips Ahoy). The goal of the campaign was to increase sales among Hispanic consumers. As an incentive, brand ambassadors provided a way for consumers to connect with their families (besides sitting down for a meal). They handed out international calling cards to grocery store shoppers who supported the Kraft brand.

Here’s how it worked: During Hispanic Heritage Month, Factory 360 brand ambassadors traveled to grocery stores in a Kraft-branded vehicle. They wore t-shirts emblazoned with the Kraft logo while they roamed the aisles of local stores, searching for Kraft foods in shoppers’ carts.

When an ambassador spotted Post cereals, Oscar Mayer meats, Maxwell House coffee and other Kraft products, they informed shoppers that if they purchased an additional three items, they would be eligible for a free calling card valued at $12 (which was imprinted with the Kraft logo, of course). Brand ambassadors also educated shoppers about the wide range of foods that fall under the Kraft brand and helped them locate those foods if they needed help. All brand ambassadors spoke fluent Spanish so they could have meaningful conversations with consumers.

Activations took place at 800 stores in three major cities (Miami, Chicago and New York) and handed out a total of 60,000 phone cards. The average number of cards distributed per store was 50, an impressive number considering that brand ambassadors spent only a few hours at each site.

Sales of Kraft products rose 34 percent during and immediately after these events. That represented a big win for the company as well as each partnering grocery store, which saw hikes in sales during the activations. Participating stores included Gristedes, Braves, Western Beef and C-Town in New York; Cub Foods, Pete’s Market, Tony’s Finer Food and Delray Farms in Chicago; and Publix markets in Florida.

“The campaign was so successful that it ran for three consecutive years, with the second being the year that marked the largest number of participating stores and phone cards,” says Factory 360 staff member Gaby Neves, who was instrumental in implementing the events.

Factory 360 is proud Kraft Foods trusted us to deliver this campaign. We’re also grateful to the Advertising Specialty Institute for featuring our successful experiential marketing partnership in their newsletter. This case study shows how understand the needs of your audience, providing them with a meaningful reward, and engaging them in conversation can make a real impact on companies’ bottom lines. We hope to complete many similar campaigns with outstanding national brands in the future.