Poptopia
- Brand
- Pringles
- Year
- 2024
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Dentsu Creative
- With
- Merkle
- With
- Adobe
Objective
Kellanova wanted to turn the Pringles can itself into an always-on channel with shoppers, replacing dozens of one-off local promos across Europe with a single QR code and destination. The goal was to build direct, first-party relationships with players so the brand could personalize offers and keep people coming back, while also cutting the packaging waste and cost of reprinting cans for every new promotion.
Solution
Scanning the QR code on a Pringles lid drops the player straight into Poptopia, a map of floating islands hosted by the brand's mascot, Mr. P. From the map, the player picks an island and jumps into a bite-size game: on Pringoooals they take a once-a-day football skills challenge for a shot at a dream trip, while on Stack and Sort they drag and match falling brand-themed pieces across more than 50 levels grouped into five sets. A Pop of Fame area lets players share their results, and the hub also surfaces ongoing prize draws and creator content to pull them back in. The whole experience is built mobile-first — open it on a desktop and it simply shows the QR code and asks the player to continue on their phone.
Results
Poptopia drove a 30% increase in first-party data collection, a 93% increase in return visits, and a 133% increase in engagement duration. Kellanova also reported a 40% gain in operational efficiency from replacing per-promotion packaging with one standing QR code across cans in over 40 markets worldwide.
- 1
Players enter Poptopia by scanning a QR code printed on Pringles can lids, or by going directly to poptopia.pringles.com, which detects the visitor's country and loads a localized version of the site.
- 2
The experience is mobile-only: a visitor arriving from a desktop browser is not let in, and instead sees a prompt to continue on a phone along with a QR code to scan.
- 3
A welcome screen pitches unlockable fun and promotions behind a single "Discover Poptopia" button, which opens a hub offering three paths: promotions with prize draws, mini-games, and a section connecting players with brand content creators.
- 4
Inside, the brand mascot Mr. P guides the player, and the world itself is a map of animated, floating themed islands, each one a separate activity to visit.
- 5
The featured island, Pringoooals, is a dribbling-based skill mini-game; each attempt also serves as an entry into a dream-trip prize draw, and players are limited to one attempt per day, encouraging daily return visits.
- 6
A second island, Stack and Sort, is a fast-paced matching and sorting game built from branded pieces (chips, cans, product lines) instead of generic tokens, spread across more than 50 levels of rising difficulty grouped into 5 themed sets tied to different Pringles campaigns and product ranges.
- 7
A third section, Pop of Fame, is a social mechanic that lets players share their results to social media.
- 8
Saving progress and entering prize draws requires creating an account through a dedicated login/registration screen.
- 9
The promotions section rotates over time and by market, having featured a Nintendo Switch and Super Mario Bros giveaway, a 2025 Mystery Flavour Challenge tied to special silver packaging offering a trip to New York, and, more recently, an Xbox collaboration and a merch section.
