Banana Republic links QR codes on wine bottle to party-planning content

By Chantal Tode

October 25, 2011

The limited-edition wine bottles designed by Banana Republic

Banana Republic is teaming with a winery on a QR code campaign that extends brand engagement via a one-stop shop for party planning.

Limited-edition bottles of wine from Clos du Bois Winery feature a tie-in with Banana Republic that includes labels designed by the retailer’s creative director and a QR code. The QR code on each label gives users access to a holiday party soundtrack, style tips, entertaining advice and food and wine recommendations.

“In this campaign, the QR Codes are connecting consumers to additional content right from the bottle,” said David Javitch, vice president of marketing at Scanbuy Inc., New York. “This is a fantastic way to extend brand engagement from something as simple as the package, and the content they are providing is adding value to the consumer.”

Mr. Javitch is not affiliated with Banana Republic or Clos du Bois and spoke based on his experience with QR code campaigns for brands.

Strategic planning
Placing QR codes on product packaging enables marketers to connect users with information that they cannot put directly on the packaging because of space constraints. QR codes also give marketers a way to extend their brand, reach new audiences and to display media content in a new way.

Wine distributor Nathan Lion, a Scanbuy customer, has seen over 200,000 scans from a campaign with codes mainly on the bottle, per Mr. Javitch.

QR codes campaigns that start from a strategic idea, such as enabling party planning around the holidays are a good way to drive interest in the content.

The Banana Republic/Clos du Bois wine retails for under $20 and features festive hand-sketched labels designed by Simon Kneen, Banana Republic’s creative director. The labels are found on the wineries’ two most popular wines – the North Coast Chardonnay and North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon.

The limited-edition wines were designed to be great gift items as well as to help buyers with their party planning.

The QR code on the wines offer users a one-stop shop for party planning, including style tips from Mr. Kneen, entertaining advice from lifestyle expert Katie Lee as well as food and wine recommendations from Clos du Bois wine marker Gary Sitton.

The wine is available for purchase on ClosduBois.com starting Nov. 1.

Partnering with another brand to complete a QR code strategy can give both brands a way to reach new customers.

“QR codes to need to start from a strategic idea, and clearly this partnership is helping to meet that strategy,” Mr. Javitch said. “Codes can then be used to help deliver content and track results at the same time if using a managed platform.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Comments on "Banana Republic links QR codes on wine bottle to party-planning content"

1. Denis Cancellara says:

   October 26, 2011 at 10:44am

   Great use of QR codes. I've always said it's limited to our imagination.
   Denis

2. Karla Campos says:

   October 26, 2011 at 10:22am

   What a great article, as a consumer I find QR codes fun and as a business owner I can see the value in them for numerous reasons, providing information to customers is only one. I think placement is key and product packaging is a great place to put QR codes.