Kraft-Heinz, Walmart, and Eko Partner For Shoppable Cooking Videos

The first of these new custom episodes from Kraft Heinz, Walmart, and Eko will include offerings featuring Kraft Heinz brands such as, “Tasty Toast, presented by Philadelphia Cream Cheese,” and “Summer Refreshers, presented by Country Time and Kool-Aid.” Viewers will be guided through the immersive video experience, choosing in real-time between options like “sweet or savory” and “Strawberry or Honey Pecan Cream Cheese,” based on their own preferences in order to ultimately create a personalized meal recipe. The shoppable video series will also provide the option to purchase the associated products in the desired recipe as it is created, and consumers will have the option to either subsequently pick up the purchased items in-store, or have them delivered to their own front door.

All 11 episodes coming out of the Kraft Heinz partnership will feature various choice-driven ways that Kraft Heinz brand food products can be used for healthy and convenient meals. The custom, integrated experiences are viewable online and on mobile through Walmart Cookshop, an innovative video hub for cooking enthusiasts that brings choice to both grocery shopping and meal planning by providing convenient recipe ideas for customers.

Built on the Eko platform for shoppable and interactive video, the new series serves as an example of how shopping occasions are moving online and into the live-selling territory as companies increasingly utilize embedded virtual tools, interactive entertainment, and immersive experiences to mirror the best of the in-store retail and event occasions. In PSFK's report, Social Media's Growing Commerce Ambitions, PSFK researchers have noticed more and more of these activations across online and social channels, as, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses and brands are realizing a high level of social commerce engagement across a variety of digital platforms. In fact, 72% of consumers plan to shop online regularly in six months’ time, with a significantly lower percentage (57%) intending to shop at brick-and-mortar stores. 

Select upcoming Walmart Cookshop content will include a Kraft Heinz-exclusive “Sandwich Shop,” featuring a selection of seasonal sandwich recipes, and other future experiences are set to include seasonal offerings like Thanksgiving leftover meals, holiday baking recipes for the whole family, and unique spins on other timely moments like fall tailgating, as well as a breadth of other shoppable content. In 2018, Walmart announced a $250 million joint venture with Eko to create a slate of interactive media, and this new series is just one of the many ways the multinational retailer and its brand partners are tapping into the choice-driven technology Eko is fast becoming known for in order to provide a best-in-class experience for the retail brand’s customer base and partners.

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This article originally appeared in PSFK’s research paper, Exploring Social Media’s Growing Commerce Ambitions