Connected packaging, the innovative use of QR codes on product packaging to deliver interactive digital experiences, has moved from an experimental marketing tactic to mainstream success story in the Middle East.
The numbers tell a compelling story. A campaign for KDD in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia generated over 100,000 scans, while Suntop in the Middle East launched a One Piece partnership that achieved over 600,000 scans. Gulf Union in Saudi Arabia attracted 227,000 visitors and extended its campaign to 12 months based on the results. Perhaps most impressively, Sunny Oil in the UAE recently ran an AI-driven personalisation campaign which generated over six minutes average engagement time.
The power of connected packaging
Connected packaging is a powerful media channel. It offers the perfect mix of technology adoption, consumer behaviour and cost-effective marketing. From an engagement perspective, it delivers 14 per cent scan rates compared to 0.10 per cent click-through rates for digital adverts, with consumers spending an average of 2-3 minutes in active sessions.
The data capabilities are equally robust. Connected packaging provides first-party, real-time information that brands own, contrasting with the ‘rented’ audiences of traditional digital platforms. The cost efficiency is high, with zero ongoing media costs compared to the average $3-10 cost per thousand (CPM) impressions typical of digital advertising.
Importantly, connected packaging helps to amplify traditional marketing channels rather than replacing them, creating a complementary ecosystem.
Success in the Middle East
Take the KDD campaign, for example, which created an engaging connected experience that showcased their brilliant range of dairy drinks and offered a fun for all ages. The interactive games included a 2D ‘School Run’ racing game and 3D augmented reality three level jump game ‘What’s in my Lunchbox’, both in Arabic and English, with shareable AR selfie filters and a leaderboard for competitive play.
The web-based app tracked real-time interaction including flavour scanned, average engagement time, location, scan rate, number of visitors, return visitors and social media shares, enabling the brand to optimise marketing in real-time.
In the first three months, over 100,000 scans were achieved, with the various games being played more than 191,000 times and the average session duration being 2 minutes and 39 seconds. The appealing design of the different levels has ensured that the bounce rate was only 1.09 per cent. More than 9.9k users entered their data to appear on the leaderboard, providing KDD with a lot of interesting information about its users.
The Suntop and One Piece partnership showed the power of combining connected packaging with popular entertainment properties. The campaign achieved one million unique visitors, with an exceptional 4.8 views per visit demonstrating outstanding re-engagement. The total reached 5.6 million page views, and the total number of entries was 673,418. These numbers reflect not just initial curiosity but sustained interest and repeat engagement.
Gulf Union’s results reinforced my belief that connected packaging delivers lasting value.
The fun and interactive connected packaging experience was created for its Original juice brand to give young people a boost at the start of the school year on their fruit juice carton packs.
It generated 227,000 unique visitors, collected 4,400 email addresses and generated 23,500 scans. They extended their campaign to 12 months based on these results, which shows the commercial viability of the approach. When brands see measurable ROI, they double down on investment.
AI powered connected packaging
Sunny Oil’s AI-driven personalisation campaign represents the next evolution of connected packaging in the region. The campaign, ‘Keep it Smart, Keep it Sunny’, the brand aimed to highlight the benefits of using quality cooking oil. It showed customers how the product can save time in the kitchen, freeing them up to spend with their family and friends.
The web app based connected experience offered users the opportunity to play games to win prizes, learn new cooking hacks and take part in fun daily activities. The smart packaging campaign, accessed via QR codes, ran across three Sunny products including Everyday, Crunch Lite and Sunflower.
Using AI to make life easier, users could select ingredients from the ‘My Fridge’ list, which suggested recipes combining existing items found in the fridge. The app had an unlimited number of combinations available ensuring users will never get the same recipe twice. The ‘Daily Hacks’ section could store up to 50 recipes encouraging users to keep returning to the experience for regular cooking inspiration.
The campaign engagement metrics exceeded industry benchmarks, delivering 10.7k total page views with highly engaged users exploring multiple pages, reaching an impressive average of 11.43 pages per visits. It had a six minutes and 46 seconds average visit duration (233 per cent above benchmark which is around two minutes) and a 21 per cent bounce rate demonstrating a solid retention rate (45.5 per cent better than the 36.7 per cent benchmark).
Connecting directly with (and entertaining) customers
Packaging is extremely targeted marketing – it’s a direct gateway to customers who have already bought the product or are in the store aisle about to buy something similar. Most consumables are never decanted, so the packaging becomes part of the consumer’s ongoing engagement and experience with both product and brand.
The Middle East region has shown remarkable enthusiasm for fun, engaging and educational interactive experiences. I believe we’re only seeing the beginning of brand adoption of connected packaging in this market.
As more brands recognise the multitude of benefits including cost-effective marketing, direct customer connections and valuable first-party data, connected packaging will become an essential component of integrated marketing strategies across the region.
Connected packaging doesn’t just reach consumers; it engages them, delights them and builds lasting brand loyalty.
By Jenny Stanley, Managing Director, Appetite Creative.
