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Dove sweetens mobile strategy with ad campaign

Dove is running Valentine?s Day-themed mobile ads as a way to bolster holiday sales of the sweet treats.

The Dove banner ads give users a series of holiday-themed recipes that incorporate the company?s products. The Dove ads are running inside the Today show iPhone application.

?Consumers are actively engaged on their smartphones and mobile devices so it is important for consumer packaged goods companies to be where the consumers are,? said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

?Chocolate is often an impulse purchase and since mobile devices are carried with consumers as they shop, the reminders from mobile advertising can be a powerful sales tool for a brand like Dove,? he said.

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with Dove. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Dove is a product of Mars Chocolate. The Mars Chocolate brand also includes M&M?s, Snickers, Milky Way, Galaxy, Mars and Twix.

Mobile sweetener
The Dove banner ads expand into a one-third size ad that reads, ?Share love? with a picture of Valentine?s Day candy in a bowl.

Once a user taps on the banner ad, they are taken to an optimized landing page. Users can swipe through 12 different pages.

The ads feature three different recipes that users can make with Dove miniature chocolate products.

In addition to running the mobile ads, Dove is also the sponsor of the app for the month of February.

Valentine?s Day is one of the biggest holidays for the candy industry, and running ads to show users how to incorporate the product is a smart move.

Brand world
In addition to advertising its product, Dove?s branding inside the app is a good example of how a company can marry its brand and products to content.

Dove is not the only Mars Chocolate brand banking on mobile advertising this year.

The M&M brand recently ran an ad campaign to create buzz around an upcoming product launch and bolster its social media efforts (see story).

For a consumer packaged goods company, mobile is a natural place to take a brand to a new level with a piece of extra content.

?Consumers typically budget to spend more discretionary dollars during holidays, so actively engaging with a holiday-specific message helps consumer brands such as Dove ensure they capture part of those budgeted dollars being spent by consumer,? Mr. Buckingham said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York