Peanut butter brand Skippy's first ad campaign in five years combines an interactive mobile Web experience with social media to stir up some fun and engage new customers. 

Newly positioned under Hormel Foods leadership, the brand aims to remind consumers that peanut butter is simple fun. The new Skippy Yippee campaign offers interactive media on its Web site, which is optimized for mobile devices, and promotes social media contact with fans.

?Skippy has clearly gotten over the mania that every brand should try to market its own app in order to market its real product,? said Matt Rosenberg, senior vice president of marketing at 140 Proof. ?They are doing the right thing - meeting people with a fun campaign through ads wherever the audience already is.?

Optimized for mobile
Skippy does not have a singular app available for iOS or Android. However, its Web site is optimized for mobile and offers the same functions.

Targeted fans will be able to access the interactive content on their mobile phones, which also has easy sharing access to major social media sites.

Its ubiquitous message of fun is promoted with the ?Fun Button," available on the Web site and mobile site. The button features a peanut with the word Skippy stamped on it, and offers a variety of clips, art and GIFs related to ?Yippee? moments or the campaign.

This interactive content is easily viewed on mobile devices and is likely to be a hit with younger fans viewing its media on shared tablets or phones. While many older fans remember childhood days with Skippy peanut butter, this new digital campaign also aims to reach new fans who may not have been privy to Skippy ads in the previous decade.

?They are promoting the idea of fun and associating it with Skippy -- which is a fun brand whether you're a kid, a young mom, or an unmarried dude who can't cook,? said Mr. Rosenberg.

The company is planning to introduce more interactive digital elements in the next year, including creating peanut butter art and developing a ?Fun Factory? challenge for fans. The brand is also encouraging fans to share their own ?Yippee? moments with the hashtag #SkippyYippee across social networking sites.

Social components
The Skippy Yippee campaign will be running television spots for the first time since 2009. The new direction under Hormel Foods focuses more on digital and video content in order to compete with other leading peanut butter brands.

Creating a more cohesive experience will help revitalize the Skippy brand and cater directly to consumers of all ages. The ?Fun Factory? ad and Fun Button are well-poised to reach fans of a younger demographic and remind older fans of the sticky fingers and childhood snacks that peanut butter is often associated with.

The 30-second ?Fun Factory? spot features a worker in a peanut factory sorting animated peanuts. The excited peanuts saying the word ?Yippee? are placed onto a factory conveyor belt to be made into peanut butter, while the grumpy talking peanuts are thrown into a bucket titled ?Not so fun peanuts.?

The less enthusiastic peanuts are then sent to be eaten during a boring office function.

?Getting the brand in front of the right people requires knowing what people are interested in before showing them the ad,? said Mr. Rosenberg. ?In mobile, the best way to do this is by combining sources.?

?Social data from across platforms works best, and combining it with shopper data makes it even stronger. That way, when you see someone come in through the ad server who you know for a fact is a great candidate for your ad, they see it; but if they're not relevant for your brand, they see something different.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York