Warc, 29 January 2013
NEW YORK: Brand owners like the Campbell Soup Company, Nike
and PepsiCo are partnering with start-ups and developers to create the next
generation of marketing tools.
The Campbell Soup Company, the food group, is offering a
prize of $25k and a contract of the same value to a developer producing the
best mobile app, game or similar service which helps consumers answer the
question: "What's for dinner?"
"We're looking for better, smarter and more efficient
ways to connect with our consumers," Adam Kmiec, director of global
digital marketing and social media at the Campbell Soup Company, told DigiDay.
"For us this isn't a stunt or a promotion; it's part of
the evolution of how we think about marketing. Being a digitally fit
organisation means moving at the pace of the consumer marketplace and to do
that we need to think differently."
Nike, the sportswear firm, has also launched the Nike+
Accelerator, a three-month "mentor-driven start-up" scheme offering
ten firms support to develop additions to its Nike+ stable of connected
products.
PepsiCo, the food and beverage giant, served as a forerunner
of such ideas with PepsiCo10, a digital incubator programme rolled out in
markets including Brazil, Europe and the US.
It was also one of the first marketers to ally with FourSquare,
tapping the mobile geo-location platform when it had a modest 30,000 users.
"Technology is becoming more important each day,"
said Josh Karpf, PepsiCo's director, digital media. "It's about building a
competitive advantage by learning and knowing about these tech companies. The
best way to do that is to have a direct relationship with them."
A similar goal informs the "Mobile Futures" scheme
being run by Mondelez International, the snacks company, where nine firms will
create innovative mobile tools in just 90 days for several brands.
"We see the Mobile Futures program as a wonderful
opportunity to infuse a bit of the start-up entrepreneurial spirit into our
organisation," Steve Doan, senior associate brand manager for OREO, such
one, said,
Sam Yagan, the chief executive of OKCupid, an online dating
service, argued "savvy brands" hoping to progress in "this brave
new world need to make nice with the technologists."
However, Jamie Smyth, chief executive of The Smyth Group,
warned that while marketers benefit from the "buzz" associated with
these plans, most developers ultimately "get nothing" for their
efforts.
Data sourced from DigiDay; additional content by Warc staff
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