VML Brings OREO’s Playful Spirit to the Pavement

​VML’s latest creative commerce idea for OREO has taken the brand’s signature playfulness out of the aisle and onto the pavement, literally. With OREO Walks, OREO has transformed the crosswalks outside select Kroger stores into irresistible offers, cleverly designed to intercept shoppers before they even pick up a basket.

The concept is simple, but the execution is anything but. In cities like Cincinnati and Columbus, passers-by approaching a Kroger store are met with their most playful out-of-home campaign yet: a set of illustrated faces appearing to munch on a stack of OREO’S, created by blending minimalistic character art with the black-and-white lines of the store’s actual crosswalk. Turning the crosswalk into a towering row of OREO cookies seen from the side.

This unexpected takeover stops shoppers in their tracks and invites them to scan the QR code on the pavement or visit oreo.com/oreowalks to unlock a special OREO offer, redeemable in-store, targeting those who may not have planned to visit the cookie aisle. Extending OREO’s playful push to encourage consumers to find OREO’s in plain sight, this campaign seeks to convert everyday foot traffic into impulse-driven purchases. It’s a bold, beautifully crafted moment of commerce that happens at the exact point where intent is still forming.

“We know shoppers don’t always head to the cookie aisle, so we brought OREO Cookies to them, right at the entrance. It’s a great reminder that creativity doesn’t just build awareness, it drives purchase,” remarked Carly Kerlakian, director of omnichannel activation, Mondelēz International.

The strategy behind OREO Walks is as layered as the cookie itself. By placing the experience outside the store, the brand shifts from being a product on a shelf to a visual and behavioural cue that primes purchase. Tackling awareness and conversion at the same time. By linking the creative directly to an offer, OREO guarantees that what begins as a smile-inducing surprise can turn into real in-store impact.

The illustrations themselves are a standout in their own right. Building on OREO’S consistent design evolution over the past four years, the characters are executed with a minimalist charm and graphic discipline that stays true to the brand’s black-and-white visual identity. It’s out-of-home with a level of craft rarely seen in grocery-driven marketing, let alone in parking lots.

OREO Walks proves that the most effective ideas in creative commerce don’t interrupt; they seamlessly integrate into the world around shoppers, and quietly (or loudly) influence behaviour at exactly the right moment. By turning a crosswalk into a cookie stack and a store entry into a trigger for trial, VML and OREO have created a campaign that’s equal parts joyful, strategic, and unmissable.