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Dodge takes multichannel approach via app sponsorship

Dodge?s Ram aims to connect with outdoor enthusiasts this hunting season through a sponsorship with Bonnier Corp.?s Field & Stream. 

As part of the campaign, Dodge?s Ram is the exclusive sponsor of both the Field & Stream Reader and Deer Camp application. The company is working with Zumobi on this campaign.

?The Field & Stream app provides a comprehensive, community-focused guide to help outdoor enthusiasts make the most of the season,? said Marla Schimke, vice president of marketing for Zumobi, Seattle.

?Ram wanted to connect with this highly engaged audience and saw their Deer Camp Essentials guide as the perfect bridge,? she said.

?The Field & Stream campaign with Ram is a great example of taking a comprehensive approach that?s based on community interaction across multiple platforms. We understand the importance of connecting brands with their audience in a native and organic way that is tailored to how consumers are naturally interacting with content and are pleased with the engagement Ram is seeing from the mobile ad campaign.?

Building brand awareness
The campaign is targeted at deer hunters who are prepping for their annual Deer Camp trip.

Dodge?s sponsorship is specifically for the automaker?s 2012 Ram 1500 truck.

The Deer Camp app is a new tool from Field & Stream that lets hunters track their data and patterns from their experiences. Dodge?s sponsorship includes banner ads that run along the bottom of the app and lead users to a landing page that pulls in the company?s mobile site.

The 2012 Ram 1500 truck is then featured prominently on the site.

Inside the Field & Stream Reader app, both banner ads and units with sponsored content are running. When users tap on one of these ads, they are directed to a custom-made landing page.

On the page consumers can flip through a list of 15 hunting tips.

Additionally, a branded 30-second video walks users through steps to improve their hunting game.

The ad unit also includes a call-to-action that promotes the Deer Camp app.

Dodge is also an advertiser in the November issues of Field & Stream and Outdoor Life, which includes an eight-page insert.

There is also a Web component to the campaign that can be accessed at http://www.fieldandstream.com/deercamp.

Sponsored opportunities
App sponsorship is a great way for brands to attach themselves to content from publishers.

In this case, Field & Stream has a few mobile apps, which the publisher can leverage to promote a campaign-specific app.

Additionally, by using different forms of mobile ads, Dodge is able to cater to a wider group of app users who might find banner ads intrusive.

Since beginning the campaign, Zumobi claims that the average user spends 1.25 minutes inside the ad unit, showing how users are clicking and interacting with multiple components.

Additionally, the average Field and Stream Reader app user accesses more than 100 pages a month.

?To drive a compelling native experience on mobile for the Ram brand, we knew that incorporating a rich video experience would prove critical to connecting with the audience within the Field & Stream app,? Ms. Schimke said.

?As app publishers ourselves, we recognize how challenging it is to integrate advertising into apps in a way that is both elegant and effective for brand advertisers,? she said. ?By bringing a more holistic rich media approach with the ZBi platform, we are addressing a major pain point for publishers while providing advertisers with innovative brand experiences that are native to the experience.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York