A discussion today started on the idea of branding cereal with iTunes. The idea made a lot of sense to me, since there are a wide variety of ways available to marry physical items with the ethereal digital realm… The trick is not confusing your consumers in the process.
The immediate idea was to have some sort of redemption code available with the cereal, but this could lead to theft and damaged goods in the store. While it is sad to think that there are people who would tear open multiple cereal boxes simply for some downloadable music, it is a possibility.
It seems to me that the best option would be to have the redemption code only available after purchase. Recently, I received a printed notice on my grocery receipt that I had purchased a product that was recalled, and I was given all of the necessary information on how to obtain a refund. This same system could be used in the cereal/iTunes marriage. When the receipt is compiled and sent to be printed, the stores system could just insert the activation code to the receipt, helping to eliminate the risk of theft.
But people are all about going “green” these days, so we should try to reduce waste. One way to deliver the activation code in a paperless form is to pull the email address from the customer’s preferred shopper card. The customer would then receive the necessary information directly to their computer, and they could launch iTunes and add the music credit with one click.
Another option for delivering the activation code would be the use of a 2D bar code. These dot-matrix codes are finding their way in to the mainstream, and they can be used to deliver advertisements and various informational links. The customer could have one of these 2d bar codes displayed on the screen (or printed on the receipt, or emailed to them) and they could take a picture of it with their mobile device. The device would then read the bar code, process the stored information and then start communicating with iTunes to apply the credits.
