Campbell?s, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are a few big consumer packaged goods brands that are rolling out in-application rewards to Meredith Corp.?s apps to help the publisher push repeat usage.

The lifestyle publishing brand will incorporate Kiip?s SDK into the Allrecipes DinnerSpinner and the Better Homes and Garden Must-Have-Recipes apps. The rewards pop up randomly within Meredith?s apps and will be triggered by actions that consumers take, such as sharing a recipe through social media or creating a shopping list.

?Allrecipes? DinnerSpinner and Better Home and Garden's Must-Have-Recipes apps are focused on engaging and social experiences with food and recipes,? said Alysia Borsa, vice president of tablet and product development at Meredith, Des Moines, IA.

?These apps are used heavily ? there are a combined 20 million-plus downloads for these two apps and high levels of engagement,? she said. ?We believe that providing compelling rewards to our consumer will be extremely valuable to her and therefore continue to drive engagement.?

App rewards
Better Homes and Garden?s Must-Have-Recipes app is already enabled with in-app rewards from brands including Campbell?s Bolthouse Farms beverage brand.

When consumers add a recipe to a shopping list within the app, an ad for a Bolthouse Farms coupon may pop up. The coupon is sent to an email address and can be printed from a desktop. 

The goal behind integrating rewards into these apps is to take advantage of the longer periods of time that consumers spend inside lifestyle apps.

For example, Meredith claims that Better Homes and Gardens? Must-Have-Recipes app averages a 13-minute visit.

Moreover, the in-app rewards are meant to complement actions that consumers are already performing.

Research from Allrecipes finds that recipes, coupons and savings were the top reasons why consumers add items to a shopping list.

With consumers turning to their mobile devices more to access recipe content before shopping and in stores, CPG brands are increasingly looking to target consumers with messages at the exact moment that a brand is top of mind, such as when a recipe with a particular ingredient is bookmarked.

The Allrecipes DinnerSpinner app is available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. Better Homes and Garden?s Must-Have-Recipes app can be downloaded for free on Android and iOS handsets.

DinnerSpinner claims to have been downloaded more than 16 million times, and Must-Have Recipes boasts 4.7 million downloads through January 2013.

Mobilizing print
Meredith has tested a number of mobile tactics to monetize content and increase readership.

Most recently, All Recipes supported the launch of a print magazine with augmented reality in its February/March issue (see story). 

Meredith also rolled out a branded augmented reality app for the June/July 2013 issues of Parents, American Baby, FamilyFun and Ser Padres magazines.

In June 2012, the publisher rolled out digital versions of eight of its publications to Google Play (see story). 

Big name publishers have already hit a tipping point with mobile representing the majority of traffic, but monetizing this growth continues to be a challenge for most.

In-app rewards are one way that publishers are tackling monetization with ads beyond the typical static banners.

?The users of Allrecipes DinnerSpinner and Better Home and Garden?s Must-Have-Recipes trust our brands and are highly engaged - they share, favorite, add [recipes] to shopping list, etc,? Ms. Borsa said.

?They are using the apps to get inspired, plan and then shop in-store,? she said. ?We believe that providing relevant and compelling offers to her based on her engagement is a natural extension of what the apps provide her today."

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