Beef jerky isn’t usually associated with cutting-edge technology, but one marketer in the category is claiming success with a mobile campaign.
Oberto Sausage Company has picked up 259,454 sweepstakes entries and a surging number of opt-ins during a mobile-and-micro-site campaign for its beef jerky product line that relied on good-natured taunts among male friends. The effort was the first foray into mobile for the Kent, Wash., brand, which is midway through the second part of a three-pronged run that will end this fall.
The first leg of the campaign used the call-to-action, “Text-Taunt-Win,” and ran Jan. 26 through March 15. It appeared on in-store displays, product packaging and at the micro-site Ultimatealphazone.com.
Ryan Post, senior brand manager at Oberto, said that effort produced 132,315 sweepstakes entries and a reasonably healthy number of mobile opt-ins for an initial attempt. The stint offered consumers the chance to be among five sweepstakes winners, with the prizes consisting of a Wii console, a Blue-Ray player, a Home Depot Card, an iPod Touch and an air hockey table.
“Our core consumer, the Gen-X male, is very much a trendsetter,” said Post, senior brand manager at Oberto. “[He]buys beef jerky at convenience stores and eats it in his car at three o’clock in the afternoon. He’s busy. He’s on his iPhone or Blackberry. This whole mobile campaign, in terms of getting attached to the handset, was just a natural fit for us. What we want the brand to do is fit into his lifestyle.”
The second leg employed the call-to-action, “Get Into the Ultimate Alpha Zone,” and has been slated to run from March 16 through June 15. Adding to the microsite, Post and his team implemented downloadable ringtones and wallpapers for this part of the run.
For the sweepstakes, the second leg has been offering more potential winners. Five people will be getting an “Ultimate Alpha Zone” custom leather chair and two cases of Oberto Beef Jerky. Other winners will receive either $300 or a $100 gift-card from retailers like Fathead.com.
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