Wrigley?s Skittles and 7-Eleven have teamed up with Kiip to reward consumers when they play the Unblock Me mobile game.

Both companies are running the mobile ads with the Unblock Me mobile application. The effort aims to drive user engagement.

?This is a great campaign because there are two major brands that are part of it,? said Brian Wong, cofounder/CEO of Kiip, San Francisco. ?Once they put in their email address to redeem, they get a bar code that they can take with them into a 7-Eleven store and get that reward.

?This is a astronomical leap to get something and then scan it in stores like 7-Eleven ? it?s amazing,? he said. ?Obviously Passbook helped quite a bit, but consumers are compiling something, but not getting it scanned in-store.

?We are using 7-Eleven?s POS scanning system to get the coupon off of the consumer?s phone.?

Redeem me
The Skittles mobile ad tells the consumers that they have earned a Kiip Reward by completing one of the puzzles.

Users are asked to tap on the mobile ad to redeem their prize.

From there, the page expands to reveal a deal ? $0.50 off any size pack at 7-Eleven locations.

Consumers can enter their email address to redeem their prize or gift it to a friend.

Users can bring that email to a 7-Eleven location and redeem their discount at the point-of-sale.

Mobile incentivized ads are all the rage, but what is great about this specific campaign is that consumers did not have to hunt for this incentive.

While many consumers may find them to be intrusive, marketers who add deals and prizes within the effort will see higher engagement.

?Typical incentive marketing actually involves incentives that are disjointed from the brand itself,? Mr. Wong said. ?Consumers aren?t told they have to go through a certain level to get the reward ? this is a marketer?s holy grail.

?The beauty of this if that you have been playing this because you wanted to, not just to get a reward from Skittles,? he said. ?It?s your choice to engage with the brand.

?And, the reward itself was actually from the brand and that is incredibly powerful. Skittles is able to build brand affinity.? 

Past efforts
Skittles is no stranger to mobile gaming.

In July, the company integrated its brand within the OvenBreak mobile application to engage consumers with its products and be kept top of mind (see story).

?We?ve expanded the concept of reciprocity,? Mr. Wong said. ?We?ve mastered the ability to bring brands in and not be intrusive.

?We don?t want people to hunt for rewards,? he said. ?A thing that?s been disabling to mobile coupons in the past is telling consumers ahead of time so they can chase after that.

?I truly believe that the surprise and delight angle exposes to the largest audiences without being interrupted.?

Final Take