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Meredith bites into mobile with food-related strategy

Mobile will play a key role for Meredith as it looks to build a stronger role in food media.

The recent relaunch of Recipe.com brand last week included a mobile Web site. Along with Meredith?s acquisition of the EatingWell Media Group and its popular mobile food app, the move reflect a bigger overall focus on food, as well as mobile.

?You will see a very significant mobile strategy for food from Meredith because we need to have a relationship with our consumer in multiple locations,? said Dan Hickey, senior vice president of digital engagement at Meredith Corp., Des Moines, IA.

?All things related to our food strategy will in some way have a mobile component to it,? he said.

?The overall investment in food is going to bring a stronger investment in mobile.?

Reaching shoppers
The Recipe.com brand includes a Web site and a magazine. The company?s mobile site is positioned to provide on-the-go consumers with recipe and meal-planning content along with savings from stores and manufacturers.

Time-crunched consumers are looking for help preparing healthy meals on a tighter food budget.
Research suggests they are using multiple media platforms, including print, online, mobile, social and video, to assist in these efforts, per Mr. Hickey.

?The whole meal planning and preparation experience is a multilocation experience that takes place in the kitchen, in the car and at the store,? Mr. Hickey said. ?Because we need to have a relationship with her in multiple locations, you have to have this 360-degree marketing to her from a brand perspective.?

Mobile is the only way to reach this consumer on-the-go and while in a store, per Mr. Hickey.

The Recipe.com mobile site, which has all the functionality of the main site, will combine recipes from premium publishers ? not just Meredith ? such as the Food Channel and Vegetarian Times.

The brands working with Meredith to provide marketing content include Betty Crocker, Campbell's, Fleischmann's, French's, Keebler, Kellogg's, Morningstar Farms and Pace Salsa & Picante.

When a consumer looks at a recipe, individual ingredients will be highlighted that have an offer associated with them from a local store.

When users tap on the ingredient nearby stores and special offers will appear.

Users can choose their preferred stores if they want and only see offers from these locations.

?The real differentiator is the savings ? with the ingredients bringing in local sales based on ZIP code information,? Mr. Hickey said

?Our customers came to use and said, give me savings for things I want to cook,? he said. ?They want to use the recipes that are their favorites and for the coupons to flow from that choice.

?They don?t want to find a coupon and then have to go look for a recipe.?

Users can also save recipes, view cooking directions, nutritional information and any comments as well as rate recipes via mobile.

Another helping of mobile
Additional features are in the plans, including giving users the ability to add other items to a shopping list and to save recipes to a recipe box.

Meredith will also look to expand with other mobile solutions in the food area.

The company?s focus in mobile has been to serve mobile customers by developing mobile Web sites for all of its brands, including Better Homes and Gardens, Fitness and Family Circle.

The company has also created niche apps for each of its brands for a total of 12 apps.

?They really go across the board from a playground app for parents to the just-launched veggie lover app for the iPad, Mr. Hickey said.?

?More and more of our consumers are coming to us through their mobile devices,? he said.