February 19, 2014

Campbell’s, Procter & Gamble and Unilever are a couple of big consumer packaged goods brands which are rolling out in-application rewards to Meredith Corp.’s apps to assist the publisher push repeat usage.

The lifestyle publishing brand will incorporate Kiip’s SDK into the Allrecipes DinnerSpinner and the higher Homes and Garden Must-Have-Recipes apps. The rewards pop up randomly within Meredith’s apps and should be triggered by actions that buyers take, corresponding to sharing a recipe through social media or making a shopping list.

“Allrecipes’ DinnerSpinner and higher Home and Garden’s Must-Have-Recipes apps are excited by engaging and social experiences with food and recipes,” said Alysia Borsa, vice chairman of tablet and product development at Meredith, Des Moines, IA.

“These apps are used heavily — there are a combined 20 million-plus downloads for these two apps and high levels of engagement,” she said. “We believe that providing compelling rewards to our consumer shall be extremely valuable to her and therefore continue to drive engagement.”

App rewards
Better Homes and Garden’s Must-Have-Recipes app is already enabled with in-app rewards from brands including Campbell’s Bolthouse Farms beverage brand.

When consumers add a recipe to a shopping list inside the app, an ad for a Bolthouse Farms coupon may pop up. The coupon is distributed to an email address and might be printed from a desktop. 

The goal behind integrating rewards into these apps is to exploit the longer periods of time that buyers spend inside lifestyle apps.

For example, Meredith claims that Better Homes and Gardens’ Must-Have-Recipes app averages a 13-minute visit.

An in-app ad from Breyers

Moreover, the in-app rewards are supposed to complement actions that buyers are already performing.

Research from Allrecipes finds that recipes, coupons and savings were the highest explanation why consumers add items to a shopping list.

With consumers turning to their mobile devices more to access recipe content before shopping and in stores, CPG brands are increasingly seeking to target consumers with messages on the exact moment that a brand is top of mind, inclusive of when a recipe with a selected ingredient is bookmarked.

The Allrecipes DinnerSpinner app is accessible for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. Better Homes and Garden’s Must-Have-Recipes app can also be downloaded without cost on Android and iOS handsets.

DinnerSpinner claims to has been downloaded greater than 16 million times, and Must-Have Recipes boasts 4.7 million downloads through January 2013.

An ad with a Quaker mobile coupon

Mobilizing print
Meredith has tested a couple of mobile tactics to monetize content and increase readership.

Most recently, All Recipes supported the launch of a print magazine with augmented reality in its February/March issue (see story). 

Meredith also rolled out a branded augmented reality app for the June/July 2013 problems with Parents, American Baby, FamilyFun and Ser Padres magazines.

In June 2012, the publisher rolled out digital versions of eight of its publications to Google Play (see story). 

Big name publishers have already hit a tipping point with mobile representing nearly all of traffic, but monetizing this growth is still a challenge for many.

In-app rewards are a method that publishers are tackling monetization with ads beyond the everyday static banners.

“The users of Allrecipes DinnerSpinner and higher Home and Garden’s Must-Have-Recipes trust our brands and are highly engaged – they share, favorite, add [recipes] to shopping list, etc,” Ms. Borsa said.

“They are using the apps to get inspired, plan after which shop in-store,” she said. “We believe that providing relevant and compelling offers to her in response to her engagement is a natural extension of what the apps provide her today.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York