Consumers swap smiles for chocolate in high-tech campaign

Confectionery giant Hershey Co. has made an impact on-shelf by offering a free sample to every shopper that smiles into a branded kiosk.

Hershey worked with tech firm Wild Blue Technologies to create technology, provided by Affectiva, that would entice consumers to engage with the brand.

Affectiva's technology reads and analyses human emotion from a single expression, and Hershey's Frank Jimenez says the campaign has driven foot traffic and loyalty.

“For a brand like Hershey, giving up space was worth it if it meant getting people down the aisle and driving just one potential sale," he said.

"If I can get more impressions at retail, that's extremely valuable for us – especially in a category that [benefits from] unplanned purchases. This experience allows us to do that. Retailers even offered to give us more space because of the idea."

Wild Blue Technologies validated the effort by asking people to tell them if they'd come back and use the 'smile machine' and technology again.

President Steve McLean said the technology has proven useful in validating qualitative behaviour.

"They were giving us real-time feedback,” he said.