Tag: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Tostitos Party Safe Bag

On Super Bowl Sunday 2017, Tostitos puts safety into the packaging. The limited-edition “Party Safe” bag can detect when you have been drinking, then helps you get home safely from the party.

The trigger is built into the bag itself. The bag is created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners and comes equipped with a sensor connected to a microcontroller calibrated to detect traces of alcohol on a person’s breath. If alcohol is detected, the sensor turns red and forms the image of a steering wheel.

Then it turns that moment into action. The bag provides a $10 off Uber code along with a “Don’t drink and drive” message. If you have an NFC-enabled smartphone, you can also tap the bag to call an Uber.

Why Tostitos ties this to the Super Bowl

The campaign starts from a hard, uncomfortable statistic. According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 45 people are killed in drunk-driving crashes on Super Bowl Sunday 2015, nearly half of all traffic fatalities that day.

So the “Party Safe” bag frames itself as a practical intervention on the one day when party behaviour and driving risk collide at scale.

This is IoT packaging with a clear behavioural goal

The packaging is not a gimmick for novelty’s sake. It is packaging that nudges a specific decision at the moment it matters most. Do not drive. Call a ride.

The smart detail is the friction reduction. The message is immediate, the code is immediate, and the tap-to-request option removes even more steps.

The pattern worth stealing

If you work on connected experiences, the structure is reusable.

  • Put the sensor where the decision happens, not in a separate app.
  • Translate detection into a single, obvious next action.
  • Pair the behavioural nudge with a concrete incentive that accelerates compliance.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the Tostitos Party Safe Bag?

A limited-edition bag that can detect alcohol on a person’s breath, then helps them get home safely.

How does the bag detect drinking?

A sensor connected to a microcontroller is calibrated to detect traces of alcohol on the breath.

What happens when alcohol is detected?

The sensor turns red and forms a steering-wheel image. The bag provides a $10 off Uber code and a “Don’t drink and drive” message.

How does the Uber action work?

You can use the $10 off code, and NFC-enabled smartphones can tap the bag to call an Uber.

Dali Museum iPhone App

To build awareness for “The Dali Museum’s” fantastical new building, ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners developed a customized picture-editing app that created dreamy surrealist overlays over photos.

With zero budget, they turned to Hipstamatic to help bring the smartphone app to life. The team at Hipstamatic liked the idea so much that they waived their fees and pledged to donate the proceeds from the app to the museum. Plus, their 1.2 million loyal followers provided the critical mass needed to reach the general public.

In the first couple days after the release, the Hipstamatic site crashed due to extremely high traffic. The blogosphere bubbled with over 19,000 mentions and in the first month alone 50,000 people purchased the app.

Why the “zero budget” part mattered

Most museum awareness efforts struggle with the same constraint. Great content, limited reach. This solved it by building the campaign inside an existing distribution engine. Hipstamatic already had the habit, the audience, and the sharing behavior. The app simply plugged into that.

That is the key move. Instead of spending money to manufacture attention, it borrowed attention from a platform that was already culturally relevant to iPhone photography.

What to borrow if you are marketing a place or institution

  • Turn the subject into a tool. A museum became a creator utility, not a brochure.
  • Partner for distribution, not just production. Hipstamatic brought the audience and the habit.
  • Make sharing the default output. Every edited photo is a piece of media that carries the idea forward.

A few fast answers before you act

What was the Dali Museum iPhone app?
A customized picture-editing app that applied surrealist, dream-like overlays to users’ photos to build awareness for The Dali Museum’s new building.

Who created it?
Goodby Silverstein & Partners developed the app concept and execution.

How did they launch it with zero budget?
They partnered with Hipstamatic, which waived fees and pledged to donate app proceeds to the museum.

What did Hipstamatic contribute beyond technology?
Distribution. Their 1.2 million followers provided the critical mass to reach beyond the museum’s natural audience.

What were the early results?
Hipstamatic’s site crashed from high traffic, the campaign generated over 19,000 mentions, and 50,000 people purchased the app in the first month.