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Frito-Lay?s Tostitos taps SMS for NFL promotion reminders

Frito-Lay?s Tostitos is teaming up with the National Football League this football season for a themed promotion that uses SMS to keep consumers continuously involved.

The Tostitos QB Matchup campaign includes SMS, a microsite and social media to complement a promotion around Monday Night Football games. The campaign also collects a consumer?s email address and ZIP code to send out offers and coupons at retailers.

?We?ve partnered with strong retailers across the U.S. to make this a 360-degree promotion, bringing the spirit of football to the shopping experience,? said Vesna Stojanovic, senior director of marketing at Frito-Lay North America, Plano, TX.

?To do this, it was imperative that our consumers be able to interact and participate in the promotion in a very simple and seamless manner,? she said. 

Mobile entry
To participate in the Tostito?s campaign, consumers can text the keyword QB to 24477.

By texting in, consumers automatically opt-in to receive one SMS message per week throughout the campaign.

Consumers that click on the link within the SMS message are directed to the campaign?s microsite https://www.tostitosqbmatchup.com, which is optimized for mobile.

To play the weekly game, consumers first need to create an account that can be connected to a Facebook account.

The site?s content changes every week based on which teams are playing on Monday night.
 
Consumers can then pick between the two quarterbacks to decide who they think will win the game.

Additionally, consumers can share the content across Facebook and Twitter, and the site tracks a consumer?s predictions all season long.

The site also uses a consumer?s ZIP code to send out coupons and special offers from retailers including Stop & Shop and ShopRite.

Each week, Tostitos will pick a prize winner from the group of consumers that guessed the winner correctly.

The campaign runs through Dec. 23.

Text in for mobile
Although SMS is not the newest mobile tool available to marketers, it is still a workhorse for marketers with these kinds of one-off promotions.

Another brand that has also leveraged mobile messaging recently for a campaign is Coors Light.

For example, Coors Light recently used MMS for a mobile photo-sharing contest (see story).

In this case of the Tostitos campaign, SMS is a way to continually reminder consumers each week to participate in the campaign.

Additionally, SMS still reaches the widest swath of mobile users, and is often a second screen that consumers use while watching sports and events.

?This season, we wanted to create a promotion that allowed consumers to vote, play, and enter no matter where they were ? whether that be at a tailgate, party or watching the game at home with friends,? Ms. Stojanovic said.

?As we continue to see mobile usage rise, we understand the value of it playing a significant role in this campaign, which allows us to engage with our consumers during that party occasion,? she said.

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