In late January, more than 3,000 New Yorkers received high-end Vosges chocolate, custom cookies and the most coveted item of all, OPI’s Hello Kitty Lacquers. Retailing for $9.50 per bottle, each came with a $2 coupon. All of this was offered from OPI’s Hello Kitty beauty truck.

Beauty trucks have clearly been taking a nod from food trucks over the past two years, with some of the most recent takers including Urban Decay, Clinique, Conair, Fresh, Shiseido and Rhianna’s fragrance, RhiRhi, among others.

It’s one of the newest initiatives and marketing concepts beauty companies are investing in as they take an interactive approach with consumers.

“We wanted to do something different and we realize people appreciate a great experience so in addition to advertising and social media, we really wanted to touch our consumers and interact with them,” said Rebecca Brown, Public Relations Manager for OPI. “The beauty truck gave us an opportunity to engage with consumers, and gave consumers an opportunity to try our products and offer them a coupon if they wanted to purchase another item.”

A food element to pair with the brand is typically added to these events, after all, it is a food truck. Last summer, Urban Decay partnered with the award-winning Kelvin Natural Slush Co. for a mobile food truck activation that encouraged people to “chill out” while being introduced to the brand’s summer collection. Over two days, hundreds of thirsty patrons stopped by the beauty truck to enjoy a refreshing Kelvin slush that coordinated with the range of shades of the new Revolution Lip-gloss. The result was more than three million social media impressions. In mid-October, Clinique partnered with Chloe Lane of Bon Puf cotton candy. The duo handed out free branded treats and Clinique chubby sticks to all visitors from their truck, which visited three different stops over two days. Overall results were not revealed.

OPI’s concept took three months, start to finish, including two weeks of preparing the truck, which is owned by Debbie and Derek Kaye, a couple who rent out their two Eddie’s Pizza Trucks for venues such as these. An art designer is often brought in, along with a vinyl wrap company, who works with an existing template of the truck. Once the events are over, the vinyl wrap is peeled off.

As one can imagine, it was beauty mayhem among the crowds for the Hello Kitty truck. Both men and women stood on line in the cold on January 21 and January 22 at four different locations; the West Side Highway, in the Flatiron, Bryant Park and Chelsea Market, where the Hello Kitty truck parked for three hours at each stop.

Ms. Kitty was available for photos, as was Disney celeb Peyton List, who made a quick appearance. It was selfie-city for all involved. Latecomers were disappointed to find that cookies and polishes ran out after two hours. OPI’s two-day truck effort brought in more than six million social media impressions.

Perhaps what’s most impressive, aside from the instant feedback from people Facebooking, Tweeting, Snapchatting and Instagramming, is the ability to track the coupons the company dispensed.

“It’s really a call to action,” said Rebecca of the $2 coupon. “It’s great for us to check in with Ulta, [the company’s main retailer] and find out how many people have redeemed it. We can measure it instantly while getting immediate feedback based on our social posts. We can also see if people are buying it on ulta.com to get those redemptions. We can now track and research everything in real time as it’s happening.”

This leaves industry insiders wondering if this is the next step big in marketing.

“Awareness is everything, and in the world of marketing you can be the best product on the block, but if people don’t know you exist, then you won’t exist on shelf space or online in regards to sales,” Rebecca said. “Being visual in little pockets like this helps you be known. If it’s a person that’s never heard about us, we have the opportunity to give them a product and hopefully turn them into a loyal customer.” She also added that consumers have a powerful voice now. “They can make something an overnight sensation,” she admitted. “And that’s what we aim for.”