Download bandit

Snacking on music

“Ever wished that your favourite track would come out of your favourite chips?” asks The Smith’s Snackfood Company – part of PepsiCo International – in Australia. The snack brand has teamed up with Sony Music Entertainment Australia on a new large-scale on-pack download giveaway. Those purchasing packets of Smith’s Chips, Doritos, Twisties, Cheetos and Burger Rings will be able to go to Bandit.fm – the Australian music destination that houses 1M MP3 tracks – to download a free song. In addition to the download giveaway the brand is also giving away 200 full Band Hero Kits via an online competition.  Entry to the competition requires users to collect specially marked tokens from Smith’s 20’s Multipack or 6’s Multipacks.  The campaign is live now and runs until June.

Aside from the freebies and competitions visitors to the Smith’s website can also play around with Chip Sync, a web app which enables them to create music of their own.  Users simply select their choice of chip packet – Doritos representing Mexican samba, Smith’s snacks opting for Rock and Twisties some form of hip hop/rock crossover.  The player then lets users turn various instruments on and off and edit in lyrics of their choosing (certain words result in ‘bleeps’ – we know, we tested it). The results can then be shared via Facebook.

The title of the campaign ‘Track A Pack ‘ obviously plays on the ‘Track Pack’ moniker Guitar Hero utilises for additional downloadable content and seems like a good win for those who eat a lot of crisps down under. However, the argument always levelled against on-pack downloads is that in a world where most songs are freely available online anyway – albeit illegally – will a purchaser actually bother to download just one track from a new destination site? Amid a credit crunch freebies should be welcomed, however historically redemption on these types of offers are usually low.

However, Bandit.fm isn’t just a download destination. The site enables users to create playlists, stream audio and video plus gain access to a wealth of information on artists and music genres. Most importantly Bandit.fm has social functionality built in – letting users set up their own music channels to showcase their interests.

The Chip Sync app – although fairly minimal in its execution – is the more interesting side of the campaign and plays on social sharing.  Built into the Chip Sync part of the Bandit site is an email a friend mechanic (up to three) and integration into Facebook, which could provide increased traction for the brand.

Increasingly personalisation and bespoke experiences are becoming the driving force behind digital music campaigns in the snack food market – and Smith’s generosity on the download site could possibly have benefited from a more tailored music experience for its users.

A 2007 offering from Doritos saw Missy Elliot providing an online mash- up experience and the creation of an exclusive track for the brand. Tim McGraw also embarked on a different kind of on-pack promo in 2008 when he bundled a behind-the-scenes DVD from his tour with 500,000 limited edition McGraw tins of Spicy Jalapeño Fritos.

In addition a recent Brazilian campaign for Doritos offered up added innovation value by supplying on-pack Augmented Reality characters – which could be brought to life by placing a code in front of a webcam. These creatures – which were all individual – could then be utilised within Orkut, Brazil’s most popular social network. The Augmented Reality concept was also utilised by the brand in the US to put live bands such as Big Boi and Blink 182, literally, into the palms of music fans last year via an interactive on-pack code.

So what for the future of the on-pack download. Well a couple of start-ups (both in the US and Australia)  are attempting to roll out a new model with brands ‘gifting’ downloads which could hold the answer.  Both Free All Music (US) and Guvera (Australia) are beta testing free downland ventures whereby visitors select the particular brand that they would like to have purchase a song on their behalf. Once selected a short pre-roll ad runs and the download is theirs to keep. There is also social functionality built in to the Free All Music model whereby those who opt in will have their choices circulated via social media – for all to see.  Although this is currently a digital only concept , and somewhat removed from the on-pack premise, it does highlight a new trend for consumers pulling  content from brands as opposed to having tracks pushed via packaging. The addition Social Media traction offered also sees brands turning somewhat detached ‘downnload and go’ consumers into mini brand ambassadors.