Mondelez International Launches Mobile Marketing Initiative
Mondelez International, Inc., formerly Kraft Foods Inc., unveiled a mobile marketing initiative during New York's Advertising Week. The new program, Mobile Futures, aims at igniting the company's consumer connections by working and collaborating with some of the brightest and most innovative minds in the mobil world—start-up entrepreneurs. The program will pair Mondelez International's power brands with select start-ups to not only accelerate and scale existing mobile innovations, but also incubate brand new mobile ventures, each in just 90 days.
"American consumers spend more than 23 percent of their daily media consumption on a mobile device. Yet most marketers dedicate less than one percent of their media spend to mobile. This is a huge gap, and it's driving us at Mondelez International to think differently about consumer engagement and path to purchase," says Bonin Bough, vice president of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Mondelez International. "We are planning to invest 10 percent of our global marketing budget in mobile activations and channels across the entire consumer journey. Our goal is to become one of the top mobile marketers in the world.”
The first phase of the program is about understanding and embracing the start-up entrepreneurial spirit. Selected start-ups will work one-on-one with Mondelez International's brands, such as Oreo, Trident, Ritz and iDGum, to scale and activate pilots into market within 90 days. Brands will also spend one week working alongside their start-ups, immersing the company's marketers into start-up culture.
Next, the company says it will bring the start-up spirit inside the organization and spark "intrapreneurship." With the help of the program's start-ups and incubator PreHype, brands will create and incubate completely new mobile ventures. At the end of 90 days, Mondelez International will pitch those new venture concepts to angel investors and venture capitalists with the hopes of securing seed funding.
"Mobile Futures is a first-of-its-kind program because it begins and ends with startups. Startups are the innovative lifeblood for the digital world and we are committed to supporting them," continues Bough. "At the same time, this program will further drive innovation within our own organization and create a culture of 'intrapreneurship'. Out of that new culture will emerge new, innovative ideas that will shape the future of mobile."
"Mobile Futures is so exciting for us because it offers a chance to unlock an emerging platform. Every brand is searching for the right way to use mobile to enhance consumer engagement. This initiative harnesses true experts to accelerate our growth in this space," says Cindy Chen, director of marketing for Oreo at Mondelez International.
The Mobile Futures Network consists of innovative organizations whose knowledge and experience will be invaluable to the success of the program. Members include: Viacom; AT&T AdWorks; two key convenience retailers; incubator partners Prehype and Kicklabs; angel and venture capital investors: First Round Capital, New World Ventures, Commerce Ventures, OCA Ventures, Intel Capital, BlueRun Ventures and Transmedia Capital; the Mobile Marketing Association; the Boston Consulting Group; and agency partners: Ruder Finn, Horizon Media and MediaVest. These organizations will play a key role in various stages of the program by bringing their unique expertise and perspective.
Start-ups are encouraged to apply online at www.mobilefutures.com when the application process opens on Wednesday, October 10at 9:00 am EST. The application process will remain open until 5:00 pm EST on Friday, November 9, 2012.