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DonQ mobile ad campaign generates 4.4M impressions

During the first quarter, DonQ Rum ran a mobile campaign within the Mixology drink recipe finder and bartending guide for Apple?s iPhone that exceeded expectations.

The two-month campaign on both the free and paid ($0.99) versions of the Mixology iPhone application was powered by appssavvy and Undercurrent. DonQ Rum drink recipes were integrated into a button found on the homepage, which led to nearly 4.4 million impressions?nearly doubling the planned user interaction with the Mixology application.

?We were thrilled to be partners with Mixology,? said Yisell Muxo, national field marketing director at Serrallés USA, distributor of DonQ Rum, Ponce, Puerto Rico. ?It's the natural evolution of the cocktail guide, with a very comprehensive list of drinks.

?The alignment with DonQ's spirit of discovery was spot on,? she said.

DonQ Rum, also known as Ron DonQ, is a Puerto Rican rum brand that is distilled, manufactured, bottled and distributed by Destilería Serrallés. It is sold internationally, and competes against Bacardi for market share.

The Mixology iPhone applicaton features nearly 8,000 drink recipes based upon more than 1,300 ingredients.

Undercurrent is a digital strategy firm based in New York.

Shot of in-app advertising
In addition to the 4.4 million impressions, the DonQ button within the Mixology application led to more than 90,000 views of DonQ drink recipes, of which individual DonQ drink recipes were viewed a total of 42,000-plus times.

The campaign is an example of how brands can engage application users by being relevant and adding value to the experience, according to appssavvy.

?DonQ was looking for an out-of-the-box opportunity in the mobile space and the opportunity to do something integrated and custom was appealing,? said Rob Holiber, director of East Coast sales at appssavvy, New York. ?The target demographic of the mobile campaign was obviously people over 21, with a slight skew male.?

Appssavvy claims to be seeing tremendous interest from brands and agencies in the mobile applications space.

?Undercurrent is DonQ?s agency and this deal was done as all deals at appssavvy are done,? Mr. Holiber said. ?The company is always calling on agencies ? in this case, Undercurrent ? and brands directly as to the opportunities in apps, whether on the iPhone, Facebook or other emerging platforms.

?In addition, appssavvy is the exclusive direct sales team for Mixology,? he said. ?This campaign was not promoted outside the custom integration on the [Mixology] app, which has in the neighborhood ? at last check ? of a million and a half downloads.

?The idea here is to not drive people to the app, but to engage relevantly with the existing and every day new audience in a way that adds, rather than detracts, from the app?s experience.?