OREO Cookies have been milk and cookie fans’ top choice for over 110 years. Since then, it has made a tremendous effort to become, in the brand's own words, "Milk's Favorite Cookie.”

Despite OREO maintaining a 99% brand awareness across the U.S., there are still thousands of American households that purchase milk but don't buy OREO Cookies — yet. We recognized a distinct opportunity to capitalize on an incremental purchase occasion partnering with 3 major US Retailers: Albertsons, Safeway, and Jewel-Osco.

To maximize the opportunity, we had several key objectives:

- Reverse category and portfolio unit sales declines among shoppers at Albertsons

- Drive +15% increase in OREO Cookie trips among shoppers at Albertsons, growing beyond the -14.8% declines of 2022.

- Grow buyers by +8.5%, replacing half the -17.0% lost OREO Cookie buyers at Albertsons.

OREO Codes is a first-of-its-kind commerce experience that turns milk barcodes into scannable OREO offers, tapping into something hidden in plain sight, the striking similarity between barcodes and stacks of OREO Cookies, an interactive experience that reminds consumers that every glass of milk deserves an OREO Cookie.

How it works:

1. Consumers access the web app at oreocodes.com.

2. Take any milk carton from their fridge (including milk alternatives like Oat and Almond)

3. Flip or place the barcode in a vertical position (to reveal a stack of Oreos) and scan it with their mobile devices.

4. See the OREOCode convert into dunkable offers available at three major retailers in the U.S.: Albertsons’, Jewel-Osco, and Safeway.

For Albertsons shoppers, eating a cookie always calls for a glass of milk, but milk doesn’t always need a cookie partner. As such, the status of this seemingly beloved relationship has changed to “it’s complicated” with milk increasing trips by +2.6% while both the cookie category (-23.3%) and OREO Cookie (-23.4%) unit sales declined year-over-year at ABSCO.

Through IRI analysis, we noted that the Cookie Category at Albertsons was declining in April of 2022, with unit sales down -23.3% (3.0MM) year-over-year resulting in a -0.9% ($305K) fall in dollar sales. Driving this decline was drops in both buyers (-21.4%, 1.0MM) and trips (-22.0%, 1.6MM) vs. 2021. To compound this decline, shoppers were constantly more focused on the perimeter driving bakery sweets like pastries and doughnuts, growing trips by +19.3% (371K) year-over-year.

To do this, we targeted millennial Albertsons families who are passionate about treating their households to something special (50%).

Cookie sales were down at Albertsons due to declining relevance (less buyers and trips). Shoppers were spending their time walking the perimeter of the store and avoiding center store and therefore packaged cookies.

We needed a compelling reason to win these shoppers back by drawing them into the cookie aisle and select OREO. Therefore, rather than fighting the perimeter traffic, we embraced it. Leveraging OREO & milk’s shared equity, we hacked milk’s barcode converting it into a visual stack of OREO - reminding shoppers every glass of milk is sweeter with OREO, growing category unit sales +22% and OREO +32%.

To bring the OREOCODES experience to life, we created a web app and integrated UPCs

(Unique product codes / Barcodes) of over 1000 milk products (including milk alternatives like soy, almond and oat milk).

With our mobile website enabling barcode scanning technology, we turned every milk barcode into a new, fun way for people to buy OREO cookies at home.

Consumers just had to grab any milk carton (at home or in-store), flip it, scan the OREO-looking barcode, and receive a coupon to save on OREO cookies.

To drive awareness and education of this fun new technological experience, we leveraged

influencers to spread the word, along with in-store communication, social ads, and digital out-of-home advertisements invited people to engage on the spot via their mobile devices.

Through the program, we reversed category unit sales decline at ABSCO vs. year ago, growing the aisle +22.3% (+27.7% dollar sales). We also reversed OREO Cookies unit sales decline at Albertsons vs. year ago, growing +32.1% (+39.8% dollar sales). And grew OREO Cookie trips by +18.4% at ABSCO vs. year ago. By increasing OREO Cookies buyers at Albertsons by +16.1% vs. year ago.

We grew repeat buyers by 25.2%, proving our campaign didn’t just drive trial, it truly created a ritual tied to frequently purchased milk. This is especially impressive given the short window of this campaign; seeing repeat purchase spike in 4 weeks proves there was a sustainable increase in consumption of OREO Cookies.

Overall, the campaign had a $26.81 ROI (a 4x ROI+), garnered 8.1MM paid impressions, 26.6MM earned impressions (+42% vs a period prior) and $3.4MM in attributable sales.