Buy Special K with Instagram Photos

By Andrew Barratt on Friday, June 7, 2013

Special K Store Lets You Pay With Instagram Photos

An Instagram photo has suddenly become slightly more valuable – one photo is worth a box of Special K. Well, in Stockholm it is.

The Kellogg Company brand’s store offers a free box of its new product development range in Special K to anyone who snaps a picture and tags it with #nyaspecialk, which is Swedish for “new Special K.” Just show the cashier your pic and you get your box of Special K!

But, why Instagram rather than Twitter or Facebook? Jan Hedegaard, the Nordic marketing director at Kellogg Company, says Instagram is more popular in Sweden than Twitter, which is the typical home of hashtag promotions.

Interesting – because in September 2012 last year, in London a similar idea was activated by Kellogg Company but it was a Special K Tweet Shop using Twitter rather than Instagram. This highlights that in brand messaging and communications, understanding the subtle social norm differentials that exist geographically, culturally and digitally are key to effective communication strategy and execution.