How important is mobile marketing to a brand with locations on, seemingly, every street corner? Some might think it’s not all that important, but the marketers at Dunkin’ Donuts would disagree.

Although the brand continues to rely heavily on traditional channels (TV, radio, outdoor and point-of-purchase among them), its digital outreach is the company’s fastest-growing marketing tool.

Dunkin’ Donuts mastered social media long ago, and has recently turned its attention to reaching consumers via mobile networks. Its mobile app, launched in August 2012, boasts more than 2.4 million downloads. The app includes a restaurant locator and allows customers to pay for goods and send electronic Dunkin’ gift cards ranging from $2 to $100.

“Traditional marketing remains very effective with a very good ROI. Some are forgetting about old media,” said John Costello, president of global marketing and innovation for Dunkin’ Brands, which includes Baskin Robbins. “In our case, we’re moving aggressively in digital and social, but traditional continues to work. We’re going to focus on what’s relevant, what works, and not get buried in the hype.”

MARKETING LESSON: Consider adding mobile marketing to your marketing mix, so you can capitalize on one of the most effective consumer outreach channels around.

Mayonnaise is one of those products with many uses, but consumers often get into a rut of using it for just one thing – sandwiches. Hellmann’s knows that better than anyone. To help inspire grocery shoppers to think beyond the usual two-pieces-of-bread formula, the brand created the Recipe Cart.

The cart includes a touchscreen tablet mounted to the handle. While tech-savvy carts are nothing new, this one takes digital thinking to a new level by using near field communication (NFC) technology to suggest different mayo-based recipes for the shopper’s grocery-buying experience. The device is triggered when a jar of Hellmann’s mayo is placed in the cart. Then, when the consumer approaches key locations within the store, the tablet springs into action with a video demonstrating recipes using ingredients within reach.

The tablet also includes a map tool, which helps shoppers locate all the ingredients they might need for each recipe. Shoppers can even share recipes with friends.

For now, the cart is only being tested at a store in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Check out the video below for a better look at the Recipe Cart in action. The dinner option mentioned at the 50-second mark – “Onion Fish” – might sound a little odd, but it’s probably delicious if you have exotic tastes.  Read more...

If you’ve ever found yourself craving an oversized, messy cheeseburger but didn’t have time to free up two hands (or even one hand) to eat it, Burger King has the solution.

To help celebrate the brand’s 50^th anniversary in Puerto Rico, the chain has created the hands-free Whopper holder – a device worn around the neck that allows fans to chow down while keeping their hands available for all sorts of tasks.

A video (above) featuring the hands-free Whopper holder shows the device used by a dog-walker, policeman, dancer, landscaper and others. The device is comical, but it’s also very real. It’ll be handed out to loyal Puerto Rico residents with the 50 highest scores in Burger King’s CRM database.

The website built for the campaign features a video of the alleged production of the device on a 3D printer. Will the hamburger holster make its way to U.S. shores any time soon? For the sake of already text-happy drivers nationwide, we really hope not.

MARKETING LESSON: If you can reward loyal fans AND help them consume your product more efficiently – even with a half-joking product launch – you might as well, right?

If the new colorful, animated commercials from Oreo make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and you’re not sure why, you’re not alone. Many others feel the same way. That, of course, was the goal.

The campaign, which imagines how differently popular stories might turn out if the villain were given an Oreo cookie, is bursting with toe-tapping happiness. (The toe-tapping part is thanks to a catchy custom soundtrack performed by Owl City’s Adam Young.)

“Wonderfilled captures the universal human feeling that kids are naturally so good at, yet adults need to be reminded of: a sense of wonder in the world,” said a representative behind the campaign.

Does the campaign subtly target kids? We don’t think so. It definitely targets adults, that’s for sure, because after watching the extended spot (below), we wondered why it’s been too long since we’ve had an Oreo.

MARKETING LESSON: Does your brand have the power to bring out the good in people? If so, you might make that transformative power the focus of your next ad campaign.

Ever since building our first mashed potato snowman at the age of four, we’ve been madly in love with good food sculptures. The most recent example of food art comes from the Maryland Food Bank.

Like most food banks, they have no trouble gathering goods during the kindhearted Christmas season. It’s the other 11 months of the year that provide the biggest challenge. And when you’ve got 460,000 people (including 178,000 children) who rely on your services – as is the case with the Maryland Food Bank – you need to think of increasingly creative ways to get attention and donations.

To do that, the Maryland Food Bank teamed up with a local architecture firm to create three eye-catching sculptures made from stacked cans of food. The displays – “Lily Pad Lunch,” a slice of cake, and a box of Girl Scout cookies – are on display at the White Marsh Mall until June 8. After that, the food will be donated to the Maryland Food Bank and other emergency programs in the area.

Visit White Marsh Mall’s Facebook page to check out all three “construction” creations and vote for your favorite.  Read more...