Oreo’s latest campaign, “Oreo Walks,” brings out-of-home advertising (OOH) directly to the point of sale.

• The campaign, created with VML, combines crosswalk installations with shoppable elements outside select Kroger stores.
• The crosswalks feature simple illustrations of characters eating cookie stacks, paired with QR codes that unlock special in-store offers.

The goal is to connect brand awareness with immediate purchase opportunities.

“Although Oreo has great awareness, that doesn’t mean that the category isn’t in decline as a whole,” said Sebastian Cuevas, creative director at VML. “So for us, it’s really important that people at least go to the cookie aisle, because we know we’re going to be considered. So that’s why we thought, ‘hey, if we want to show up in crosswalks, we’ve got to show up in crosswalks in front of stores.’”

Enter “Oreo Walks,” which builds on previous activations like Oreo Codes, which let users scan milk product barcodes for exclusive offers, and Oreo Calls, which turned March Madness referee calls into shoppable moments.

“Oreo’s main objective is staying playful,” said Cuevas. “So no matter what we do, it needs to be a playful approach to transactions.”

By design: While the campaign idea was simple, bringing it to life was challenging, said Cuevas.

“We had to make this work visually, because it’s not easy,” he said. “It needs to be such a minimalistic illustration, because otherwise the crosswalk is not going to feel part of the illustration… ironically, it ended up being the simplest designs of them all. But simple is so difficult to achieve in a right way.”

The team also had to balance creative goals with safety requirements.

“You’re so focused on it looking amazing, until you remember that a crosswalk has been created for safety,” said Cuevas. “So you’ve got to make sure that people are safe. Because if you have, for example, a QR code on the ground, you’ve got to make sure that that QR code is far away enough from the place where the cars are going.”

Cookies and cream: The campaign will be evaluated through sales in-store and engagement metrics, including if people unlock the offer redemptions.

For Cuevas, the real impact comes from combining brand-building with conversion in a single effort.

“If you’re doing something for awareness, try and see if you can also make it drive sales,” he said. “More often than not, you can, right? So why not do both things at the same time?”