Eggciting news popped up on my screen last week. The American TV network CBS enlisted eggs to attract viewers.
Eggciting news popped up on my screen last week. The American TV network CBS enlisted eggs to attract viewers.
The company's logo and slogans linked to the network and its series will appear with coded expiration dates on eggs sold by grocers. More than 35 million eggs will be marked with phrases such as "CSI: Crack the Case on CBS" and "The Class, New Grade-A CBS Comedy" as part of a deal between the CBS Marketing Group and EggFusion , an egg-coding company.
The campaign will begin in September to attract viewers when the new TV season starts. The campaign is part of what the network is calling its "Outernet strategy," an effort to reach viewers "outside their homes as they go about their daily lives," the network said in a statement. "Shelling Out Laughs," "Funny Side Up," and "The Class: New Grade-A CBS Comedy" are other series to help make the viewer's TV-watching decisions over-easy in 2006-07," said George Schweitzer, president of the CBS marketing group.
CBS is the first advertiser to use this writing-on-eggs technology, which was developed by EggFusion, based in Deerfield, Ill. USA. It makes use of laser technology to create the messages as well as the expiration dates on eggs. The laser etches the shell without the use of ink. It is safe and almost maintenance-free. The system can be fitted onto graders instead of the current ink jet printers.
EggFusion received the official EU approval and will soon have their first talks with interested packers and supermarkets to launch the idea there as well. To make the changeover more attractive, EggFusion offers the equipment for about the same price as typical ink jets. A typical system ready for fitting on a large grader can laser print codes and advertising messages on up to 140,000 eggs per hour.
Isn't a great way to reach people with your message in an unexpected way? It opens up new options for the egg industry to generate more money. Soon the question will be raised where that money will go. Is the packer the winner or is there something in if for the producers as well? Time will tell.
