Since a number of us who write for this blog have a background with Navigation / GPS technology, more about I thought I would post this little bit of odd usage for GPS technology. It seems Unilever’s Omo detergent (Sold in Latin America, primarily in Brazil) is adding an unusual ingredient to its two-pound detergent box in Brazil: a GPS device that allows it to track shoppers and follow them to their front doors.
The idea being that teams will randomly search out the boxes with the GPS tracking and award prizes to the consumers who purchased the detergent. “Of course, Brazil has a high crime rate, and not everyone is going to open the door to strangers who claim to have been sent by her detergent brand to offer a free video camera. Bullet has thought of that. If the team tracks a consumer to her home but she won’t let them in, they can remotely activate a buzzer in the detergent box so that it starts beeping. And if the team takes too long to arrive, and the consumer has already opened the box to see if she’s a winner or just do laundry, she’ll find, along with the GPS device and less detergent than expected, a note explaining the promotion and a phone number to call.”