Best Practices: Mobile Marketing & App Strategies for Food Brands

We recently spoke with Jami Lawrence, associate director of mobile marketing at Publicis Modem & Dialog. Here’s a clip from the full interview on eMarketer Total Access, in which Lawrence discusses best practices for developing a mobile application strategy that can strengthen the relationship between brands and target consumers.

eMarketer: Why would a consumer packaged goods marketer want to offer a mobile app?

Jami Lawrence: Marketers need to ask themselves that question: Why would a consumer want to engage with their brand on a mobile device? What is the incentive?

There are two sectors through which consumers would want to engage with a brand through an app. One is time-killers; these are for entertainment, building brand awareness, equity and engagement. Games fall into this bucket. Coca-Cola has a game that’s like a Magic 8 Ball where you shake the bottle and then the fizz pops off the top. The app answers questions. For example, “Is today going to be a good day for me?” You shake the phone and app responds with something like, “Outlook not so good.” It’s more of an experiential type of app.

In the second bucket are time-saving convenience-oriented apps. For example, a lot of CPG apps fall into the recipe realm—offering recipes, storing recipes and meal-planning tips. Kraft’s iFood Assistant app enables users to find ingredients by store aisle. (See “Kraft App Yields Tasty Tidbits.”)

These types of apps save consumers time. General Mills’ Betty Crocker brand has an app that we helped promote. It first launched in February 2009, and it uses the same content that’s on BettyCrocker.com. If you indicate what’s in your refrigerator, the app pulls up a recipe based on what you have at home. A lot of people are using the app at home in the kitchen.

One of the advantages is that it doesn’t use the Internet; the recipes are hard-coded onto the app. This is a big plus for owners of the iPod Touch, which runs solely off WiFi. Grocery chains usually don’t have WiFi, so it helps users access recipes in the store while they’re shopping.

eMarketer: But what makes a mobile app in this category compelling?

Ms. Lawrence: The app has to offer a value exchange. Consumers who are looking for applications need to be sold on why that app makes sense for them. It’s either got to be highly entertaining or it needs to provide an incredible sense of value. You’ve seen a lot of applications in the CPG realm—I’m not going to name names—that don’t truly engage consumers.

eMarketer: What do you see as the most popular uses of mobile apps in the CPG category? And how do you see them being linked to a brand’s customer loyalty program?

Ms. Lawrence: Games, delivery of information, brand loyalty programs. Notifications are a big push into the brand loyalty piece for apps because they communicate regularly with consumers and brands can use them to update apps with different functions.

Updates can help customize the app for the consumer. For example, when a consumer downloads an application, the brand can potentially ask that consumer what sorts of things they like. So if it’s a food app, you can ask, Do you like to bake? Are you more interested in recipes for 30-minute meals? Are you a vegetarian? The content can be pulled in a way that is very customized to the user of the app. I think you’re definitely strengthening that relationship. Loyalty communication can be completely customized based on how you engage the relationship up front.

eMarketer: How are branded apps incorporating social media functions?

Ms. Lawrence: Brands tend to use Facebook Connect within an app and mobile GPS capabilities to find a local store. A liquor brand could sponsor a Yelp-type application that allows consumers to find restaurants and purchase a drink there.

We’re working on a plan for Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks—the Gushers and Fruitrollups brands. It’s called Playfinder and is inspired by the idea of bringing kids back to play, getting them off the couch rather than playing videogames. The program is about taking kids to parks and playgrounds.

One part of the Playfinder program involves an iPhone app that will enable moms to find information about playgrounds, rate them, add their own neighborhood playgrounds and tips on what to do there. While at the playground you can take photos of you and your child, create a play journal that lives within your application. Those images won’t be dispersed—they’re hardcoded to your app. However, moms can post them to their Facebook page and on Circle of Mom, a partner on Playfinder. We are targeting women ages to 25 to 49 with young kids, ages 4 to 12.

eMarketer: What kind of engagement metrics are you looking for from mobile apps?

Ms. Lawrence: Looking at the number of downloads isn’t really specific enough. One reason is that the iTunes platform is such a saturated distribution channel. In order for a brand to generate awareness and attract users, you need to be part of the top 100 most downloaded free or paid apps. You should make it a goal to be part of the top 25 in your category. It’s difficult for CPG brands because they’re in the most saturated category—lifestyle.

eMarketer: What are some best practices?

Ms. Lawrence: You can’t launch an iPhone app without supporting it. You must support it on the mobile channel and particularly with paid mobile media and paid search. You can garner 100% of your audience. You can run mobile media directed to iPhone users only. The only people seeing the ad are those who can actually download the app.

For example, the Betty Cookbook achieved more than 1 million downloads in less than a year. With the Betty Crocker application, we put together a media plan that was iPhone-targeted, but also contextually relevant to cooking. We placed it in applications like Cooking Timer that allow you to set your timer and walk away, and on mobile sites like Chow and Women’s Day. You need to plan a mobile media strategy and use organic channels: e-newsletters, your Websites, Facebook and others. We’re seeing apps promoted by print and out-of-home advertising by tagging existing campaign media.

Some brands try to make an application like a one-stop shop. I prefer to see a brand build several apps. You will have consumers that are entertainment enthusiasts, some are into store locators. They’re not trying to solve for all marketing needs.

Pizza Hut takes the one-stop shop approach. It offers a game that is embedded in its ordering system, but I would be surprised if people use both. There are the gamers and there are orderers. I think it’s too much of a good thing.

Marketers considering developing an app should create an application roadmap and understand how will it solve consumer goals and brand goals. Part of the app road map should show development on different mobile platforms—iPhone, Android, Palm, BlackBerry.

The full version of this interview is available here, to eMarketer Total Access subscribers only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs.

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