ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

General Mills targets tech-savvy moms with interactive mobile TV campaign

General Mills has teamed up with Shazam for a television campaign that promotes the company's Pillsbury products.

The TV ads will run through December and features the Shazam logo that users can snap during the commercials to learn more about the Pillsbury crescent rolls. The campaign is aimed at moms looking for quick and easy food preparation tips.

?General Mills is a company built on innovative ideas, products and technology,? said Gregory Zimprich, spokesman for General Mills, Minneapolis, MN.

?We?re integrating mobile calls to action because we know millennial moms use their phones heavily and expect brands to help them find easy and smart ideas,? he said.

Holiday staple
The mobile calls to action are being used as part of the ?Holiday ideas made easy? campaign from Pillsbury.

The TV spots feature a crescent roll and brie recipe, which users can find more information about by using their mobile devices.

During the 15-second commercials, the Shazam logo appears in the upper right-hand corner, which consumers can scan with the Shazam iPhone and Android applications.

The app then uses voice recognition to understand what the user is watching and saves the content as a tag for users to access.

Consumers are then taken to a mobile-optimized page where they can find holiday-themed recipes and tips for Pillsbury crescent rolls.

Users can also access videos and learn more about General Mills and its brands.

Compared to other Shazam campaigns, the General Mills promotion is unique because all of the content is kept inside the app, letting users save the recipes and holiday tips for a later use.

?We?re hoping to engage millennial moms with this innovative technology,? Mr. Zimprich said.

?This savvy group of younger, on-the-go moms grew up connected to email and the Internet, and they?re actively seeking quick ways to round out their holiday and entertaining menus,? he said.

Interactive TV
Shazam has been tapping into a lot of new territory recently and proving that it is more than just a music discovery platform for consumers.

The company recently partnered with Calvin Klein to equip stores with the Shazam technology to let consumers interact with the brand and discover new music while in-store (see story).

For General Mills, mobile calls to action on TV make sense for the brand at this time of year because Pillsbury crescent rolls are a staple of holiday dinners for families.

The campaign is also an example of a smart campaign because it targets a specific group of consumers ? moms that own smartphones.

"This campaign represents a modern approach to holiday entertaining that will resonate with General Mills and Pillsbury?s tech-savvy consumers, particularly millennial moms in search of easy, delicious recipes this holiday season," said Evan Krauss, executive vice president of advertising sales at Shazam, New York. 

"These busy, modern women already use mobile and tablet technology to streamline their busy lives, so integrating a mobile strategy makes perfect sense," he said.

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