The Game is Better at Hungry Jack’s

This week’s launch of the Hungry Jack’s UNO™ promotion is the successful outcome of the collaborative effort between Hungry Jack’s, Result Group, TLC Marketing, Multi-color Corporation and Detpak with Result Group taking the lead and managing the game development and deployment with packaging due to its expertise around unique variable data, promotional implementation and management as well as demonstrated knowledge and skills of industry specific application machinery and processes to bring the promotion to life.

We have teams that specialise in solutions for each of the four business units we supply: Product Identification, Value Added Packaging, Process Automation and Self-Adhesive Materials, and all of these skills and knowledge were utilized in the development and deployment of the UNO™ promotion.

Luke Pavan, Hungry Jack’s’ Marketing Director said, “Result Group have played a pivotal role in bringing the UNO™ at Hungry Jack’s campaign to life. The rigorous testing and problem-solving abilities to apply the UNO™ Game Card Panels on our Hungry Jack’s packaging has been flawless, and the final output truly showcases the quality of work. Thanks to Result Group, the collaboration with UNO™ will not only deliver a unique brand experience by having compelling packaging for customers to engage with during the promotion, but remind our customers of the unique, flame-grilled flavour at Hungry Jack’s.”

Background

Twelve months ago, Hungry Jack’s appointed Result as the head packaging developer and risk manager for an integrated marketing campaign based on the game UNO™. Charged with assessing, mitigating and eliminating future risks in marketing for the UNO™ promotion with a prize pool in excess of 80 million dollars.  In essence, developing the consumer game piece and then getting it onto consumer packaging, specifically Drink Cups and Fries Scoops.

Very early on, Result worked with Hungry Jack’s to identify the different concepts associated with the project’s complexity and, in particular, the factors and characteristics related to the complexity of the label development. Despite its integrated and streamlined experience to source the best service suppliers, sourcing a label partner was not an easy task.  Initially, a global partner outsourcing exercise was explored in the US and Europe however, a partnership on home soil was finally established with Multi-color Corporation (MCC).  The partnership would draw on MCC’s world-class expertise in label solutions in both conventional and digital printing, simplifying processes, maintaining compliance and driving cost savings for what is one, if not the most complicated labels ever developed with a prize distribution as complex as ever done in promotional printing in Australia.

The Promotion & Game Design

UNO™  is ‘free to play’ for customers when they buy a regular or large value meal from Hungry Jack’s. The regular and large drink cups and fries scoops come with 2 or 3 respectively game ‘cards’ that allow customers to match and win a variety of major non-food prizes, minor non-food prizes, food and beverage prizes or No Win with the option of a 2^nd chance draw.  TLC Marketing negotiated the UNO™ agreement with Mattel and provided all the non-food prizes partners. There is something for everyone and chances to win some amazing major prizes including cars, holidays and home entertainment. TLC Marketing Agency Director, Cindy Tsang, said “It was a pleasure to work with Result Group who managed to bring to life Hungry Jack’s biggest ever on-pack promotion – executed beautifully”.

Image courtesy of Hungry Jack’s

There is also a high consumer engagement factor with a 1 in 4 instant win chance across the entire volume of product in market.

There are cards with unique codes that can be redeemed online for the major instant win prizes and cards printed with unique 2D codes that are redeemed at store level across the counter directly into Hungry Jack’s POS (Point of Sale) terminals all across Australia.

The ‘cards’ consist of four different colours (red, yellow, green, blue) as well as the ‘Wild,’ ‘Skip,’ ‘Draw Two/Four,’ and ‘Reverse,’ action cards. Instant Win prizes, unique codes for redemption management in both a human readable and 2D code format as well as regulatory terms and conditions type static data are all printed on well in excess of 10 million game pieces used across the promotional period of up to 6 weeks.

All in all, participating in the promotion is very easy. Simply buy food, peel ‘open’ the label and pairs of UNO™ game cards tell the story of the INSTANT win. This simplicity, at least on the consumer’s side, is one of the key reasons why Hungry Jack’s UNO™ campaign is anticipated to be a huge success.

However, it gets more complex when we dissect the mechanics of the promotion in more detail.

Hungry Jack’s UNO™ makes use of a number of different complex gamification mechanisms and packaging technologies to create a fun, enticing and highly engaging experience for its customers. And, of course, the entire promotion itself takes inspiration from one of the most popular board games of all time……UNO™!!!!

The Label

Image courtesy of Hungry Jack’s

Utilising computer databases, digital print devices and highly effective software to create high-quality, full-colour game pieces for the fries scoops and drinks cups with a look and feel comparable to the highest of quality printing. All labels supplied are traceable to each manufactured roll and unit produced.

Data Generation

Data generation for the Human Readable Unique Codes, 2D DataMatrix and relevant artwork was created by Result Group using our propriety code management tool, developed and enhanced since 2003 and used for many large Australian and New Zealand promotions.

The software allowed the generation of codes with a complete print-ready alphabet spread, based on the approved number character code.

DataMatrix for the game cards was carried out using the HP Indigo at MCC.  The compact 2D (two-dimensional barcodes) were the ideal choice allowing for a seamless flow of standardised data throughout the supply chain and facilitating the storage of a large amount of data in a relatively small space.

Furthermore, Hungry Jack’s crew has the ability to scan the 2D Barcodes featured on winning game labels into the POS (Point of Sale) system to verify and redeem food prizes for all instant wins at a store level, enabling fast and efficient handling, critical to a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) environment.

Packaging Applicators

HERMA 500 Label Applicator

For the automation of label application, Result Group with our partner HERMA designed and engineered servo-driven Self-Adhesive applicators for best speed and accuracy.

Both Drink cups and Fries scoops’ label application is via the customised HERMA applicators; with labels for the drink cups and fries scoops being applied in Australia and abroad. All installs were managed during a pandemic where overseas travel was not an option.

“We were proud to partner with foodservice market-leading innovators, Detpak in the delivery of the UNO™ promotion. Their reputation as a provider of high quality, custom printed packaging solutions as well as entrepreneurial spirit to make brands shine, ensured the successful delivery of this high level customised and innovative project,” said Michael Dossor.

Detpak’s commitment to sustainability meant it was imperative to maximise the rate of production through existing equipment and reduce waste, thus we were able to seamlessly integrate the applicators into Detpak’s existing production lines.  The integration meant less waste, more sustainable manufacturing.

Testing

Three levels of testing were carried out at store, functional and supply chain level.  The full supply chain testing was carried out on completion of the label printing. The challenge was overcoming the many parameters that could have affected the functionality of the label especially with production being undertaken in two different parts of the world.  Environmental conditions such as temperature, air pressure and humidity can affect the quality of the labels, so it was imperative that our testing and analysis considered all these environmental variables as well as the physical ones encountered in a global and domestic supply chain. Bottom line, effect on the label printing, shipping and application process was critical to the success of the game piece reaching the consumers’ hands.

Why Result?

Change in process is always a hard sell. Couple this with environments that simply can’t slow down, stop or loose efficiency and then add a gaming solution with risk into a repetitive production environment and production and technical personnel are understandably nervous. “We have pretty much seen it all,” said Michael Dossor, Group General Manager at Result Group. “Advertisers and marketers wanting to make amazing offers to consumers, and production staff worried not just about the effect on the line, but the chance of operators or printers making a decision that could adversely affect the program. That’s where Result’s expertise comes in.  We offer both on and off-line process control software, printing/labelling equipment and manage the risk as well as the technical production aspects. Of particular interest is that these programs are usually required quickly and Result has built processes and technology to deliver within those customer expectations.”