Last but not least: Nestlé and the chocolate factory
Nestlé slips into the role of Willy Wonka, who hid five golden tickets in chocolate bars in the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". For the current campaign in the UK, the food multinational has fitted sweets with GPS transmitters.
In the film, Charlie Bucket is one of the five lucky winners who are allowed to visit the legendary chocolate factory, which is not open to the public, as a prize. The lucky consumers who buy the six chocolate bars equipped with GPS transmitters (including Kit Kat) do not get a tour of the Nestlé executive floor, but they do win 10,000 pounds: When the packs are opened, the transmitter triggers a signal and Nestlé is at the door within 24 hours to hand over the check. The campaign comes from JWT London.
Incidentally, Nestlé is not the first company to hide GPS transmitters in products and visit the lucky winners at home. Even though Graham Walker, Nestlé UK's Head of Communications, says that Psfk.com would like to see: "Nestlé Confectionery is delighted to be first to market with this highly innovative GPS based promotion." According to the site Adage.com Omo equipped detergent packs with the Privacy Killer in Brazil in 2010. The prizes were video cameras and family outings. In Brazil, nobody likes to open the door to complete strangers, even if they claim to be Omo representatives and have video cameras with them. The bearers of the good news could therefore trigger a beep signal in the Omo transmitter - as proof that there were no criminals at the door.
Of course, the idea of being tracked or visited by a company using GPS without your explicit consent takes some getting used to. But at least in the current case there is a decent amount of compensation. Enough other companies constantly know when we are where and why. And apart from the right to buy a smartphone or use a search engine, in most cases we are only paid with air, love and a few nice words. (hae)
