Danone was sponsoring a Rio de Janeiro samba school for the first time. And it needed to differentiate itself from the traditional Carnaval advertisers. Moreover, the brand has several products with very different target audiences, such as connected women, mothers, mature couples, children, youths. We needed an innovative platform, but it had to be as democratic and encompassing as the Danone product line itself. In a country with over 200 million mobiles, the solution was obvious.

The solution was based on a guerilla and mobile marketing tactic to occupy a space that had never been explored before and create the largest digital Carnaval in history. Thanks to augmented reality technology with geo-tagging, Rio de Janeiro’s main streets turned into the stage for Danone’s parade of virtual characters. It was as simple as pointing a cell phone’s camera. Each location showed a different animation, telling the history of the brand’s products.60 million people watched the parade sponsored by Danone, live on TV.17 million people were impacted by the digital Carnaval: mobile + web + street + supermarkets.3,200 mentions on social networks.A return of US$ 3 million from the press coverage.Bought media reach: 80%Digital properties engagement rate: 60.36%

We occupied an out of home space that had never been explored before and created the largest digital Carnaval in history. Thanks to augmented reality technology with geo tagging, Rio de Janeiro’s main streets turned into the stage for Danone’s parade of virtual characters. It was as simple as pointing a cell phone’s camera. Each location showed a different animation, telling the story of the brand’s products.One month before Carnaval we started activating the project, mapping all of the contact points intersecting the Carnaval theme and the Danone brand. We placed augmented reality codes on 4,000,000 packages and distributed 2,000,000 Carnaval masks at supermarkets to people purchasing Danone products - or the competition’s - in an action with 0% dispersal. A strong online action publicized the project during that same period, placing the brand in all discussion points about the event.

60 million people watched the parade sponsored by Danone, live on TV17 million people were impacted by the digital Carnaval: mobile + web + street + supermarkets3,200 mentions on social networksA return of US$ 3 million from the press coverageBought media reach: 80%Digital properties engagement rate: 60,36%