At Wawa Augmented Reality Technology is Relevant

 

When asked what convenience store chain with over 500 stores has the highest sales volume per-unit the answer always comes back to Wawa according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  It’s been widely reported that Wawa’s unit sales average over $ 5.5 Million per year. 

Success does leave clues and at Wawa there is a new augmented reality (AR) game as an extra feature to its line of Kids Meals, which debuted in August which is customer focused, multigenerational, interactive, and participatory according to Johnson.

Wawa partnered with Pennsylvania-based developer Neo-Pangea to create a free and interactive game, "Wally's Adventure Game," starring Wawa mascot Wally Goose and designed to entertain beyond mealtime. I know, we said multigenerational it’s the parents that will help the kids get informed of the game and connected to it.  That garners incremental generational buy-in.

So, Wawa is the first c-store operator with an Augmented Reality Kids Meal game in its market, according to the company. Johnson stated that digital technology is driving rapid success in every sector of business today. Just look at the pace in which Pfizer pharmaceutical was able to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.  Parents today want their children to embrace technology earlier than parents even one generation before them.  

In the new Wawa Kids AR game, players can flap Wally's wings and move left and right to fly around trees, over fences and beneath storm clouds on a quest through the forest to collect as many Kids Meal Boxes as possible. It is accessible through a QR code on the Kids Meal boxes. Players can scan the QR code or visit www.wawakidsmeals.com/game on a mobile device to play, with no downloads required.

Chief Product Marketing Officer Mike Sherlock stated, "In addition to providing wholesome foods, it's our hope that creating such a fun AR game gives families a reason to laugh and play together during meals," said.

So, the Wawa Kids Meals offers a choice of entrée, including Junior hoagies with turkey, ham, roast beef or cheese; small mac & cheese; cheese quesadilla; chicken strips; small meatballs; and small chicken noodle soup, accompanied by one side of apple slices, yogurt (outside of Florida), mozzarella string cheese, and a one-ounce bag of chips or chocolate chip cookie, plus a choice of beverage, including water, milk or chocolate milk.

Success does leave clues. One clue that time and time again continues to resurface is “the consumer is dynamic not static”.  Regular readers of this blog know that is the common refrain of Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®.  Our Grocerant Guru® can help your company edify your brand with relevance.  Call 253-759-7869 for more information.