This year at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, Mondelez International – the world’s premier snacking company – and its OREO brand hosted a large-scale activation called "Trending Vending," which tapped into social media to create custom, real-time snack experiences using 3D printing technology.

The objective was to further distinguish OREO’s brand innovation leadership in a crowded snacking industry space with key audiences. With Trending Vending, OREO leveraged connectivity and customization in a creative, fun way to create engaging consumer experiences.

The activation drew 10,000 festivalgoers, including existing OREO lovers, new consumers and brand enthusiasts, as well as key SXSWi influencers.

OREO sought to challenge and explore the existing snacking paradigm where companies decide the cookies that consumers eat. They asked, “What if consumers could customize cookies according to their mood of the moment?”

This thought experiment produced Trending Vending. OREO created two proprietary vending machines that enabled SXSWi visitors to create custom snacks based on trending Twitter conversations. Using transparent touch screens, users could taste the trend by scrolling through a list of trending topics, with each trend representing a particular flavor combination and pattern. People could further customize selected cookies according to their mood, with over 16,000 possible combinations.

Trending Vending generated meaningful excitement and buzz, with results including:

• 10,000 visitors, or 1/3 of SXSWi attendees, who waited in line for 2+ hours for a chance to be part of the experiment

• 42+ million online/print and social media impressions

• Trending Vending was one of the most talked-about activations at SXSWi, with positive Twitter sentiment beating OREO and CPG benchmarks

• Highest Twitter engagement at SXSWi among comparable food and snacking brand activations, despite higher spend by competitors

• Nearly 5,000 tweets mentioned OREO and SXSWi together

• 360+ broadcast mentions in local and national TV outlets

SXSWi was the perfect test kitchen for OREO’s unique snacking experiment. Known as the venue where digital and tech culture breaks, SXSWi allowed OREO to showcase its thought leadership and one-of-a-kind technology to a social-savvy influencer audience hungry for innovation and new thinking.

The Trending Vending machines were built using 3D printing technology and were in themselves feats of engineering invention, receiving many patents. Once the machines were installed with 12 OREO crèmes, plus chocolate and vanilla wafers, and infused with social media-powered customization options, the activation truly embodied OREO’s “Wonderfilled” ethos: it was equal parts creative, original and delicious.