Candy giant Mars is using mobile ads for its M&M brand to intrigue users about a new line of candies being launched during the upcoming Super Bowl.

M&M is using the mobile ads to connect to the brand?s social media sites to spread the word about the new campaign. The mobile ads are running inside the TV Guide iPhone application.

?Social media ties into mobile because it is the fastest way to allow the world to communicate with each other,? said Rick Singer, CEO of Greatapps.com, New York.

?Besides the interaction with friends, social media is now used for news, learning about new products and special alerts,? he said.

?As long as people have the appetite to share their every thought with their friends or even the world, social media and marketing will continue to go hand and hand.

Mr. Singer is not affiliated with Mars or M&M. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

M&M did not respond to press inquiries.

Snack on mobile
The mobile ads show a scene that entices users to learn about a new M&M product that will be revealed during the Super Bowl.

The ads feature the M&M characters with quotes such as ?She is so smart it is scary.?

After the series of characters finish running, the ad reads, ?Meet her during Super Bowl XLVI.?

Users can then tap to be taken directly to the M&M Facebook page to learn more about the brand and the campaign.

Here is a shot of the ad with one of the candy's characters

The upcoming new product will add a new type of M&M candy to the line, which already includes milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut, mint, coconut, peanut butter and crunchy flavors.

On the Facebook page, users can learn more about the new character and view a video that will live stream the news on Jan. 30.

The campaign is also using Twitter and television to promote the new product launch, pointing to the correlation between mobile as part of a multichannel marketing strategy.

?Besides the obvious use of running broadcast ads during the Super Bowl in terms of global reach, a large amount of the audience uses their mobile phones during the Super Bowl,? Mr. Singer said.

?Consumer mobile devices are readily available, and this is a built-in audience of users that can relate directly to mobile while watching the game,? he said.

Mobile placement
The M&M mobile ads effective for the company because they tie in with multiple other media channels and help the brand build its social media prescense.

Additionally, the TV Guide app is a prime place for the ads to run because of the obvious tie-in with TV.

Users who are browsing the TV Guide app are interested in what is being aired and will most likely be interested in watching the Super Bowl when the M&M news is revealed.

?I see this segment of the marking growing, and companies are using mobile and social media more as an attempt to reach consumers,? Mr. Singer said.
 
?Every major company has a Twitter account to promote and communicate with consumers, but I do feel there needs to be some new innovations as many companies are doing the same things as their competitors,? he said.

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