Selling Oreos through apps and videos

SPH Brightcove Video
Oreo cookie maker Mondelez International is betting on game apps and original video content to boost sales.

CHICAGO, Illinois (Reuters) - Craving Oreos? Their maker - Mondelez International - is making sure that you do.

The company is working on a new promotion strategy after its free mobile app, Twist, Lick, Dunk, became an unexpected hit. In fact, it made Mondelez twice as much money through in-app purchases and ads as the company had invested in it.

The plan is to promote more products through interactive content - games, video, and live televised events - and less through traditional media, like TV and newspapers.

Mr Dave Morgan, from the marketing technology company Simulmedia, said: "I think Mondelez' strategy to do in-game apps, and create their own digital content, makes a lot of sense. I think, that's the way we're going to see more and more brands go in the future, because in the digital economy, in the digital market place today, it's essential for brands, like Mondelez and Oreo cookies, to have direct relationship with consumers."

He adds, however, that it's going to cost more than people think, and take longer to see measurable results. For that reason it is also a gamble that investors will stay on board.

Bur this kind of creative advertising is where many big players are going, says Mr Scott Rothstein, sales director at mobile media platform PadSquad.

"To get consumers engaged with your brand, and, hopefully, then thinking of you, if you are Pepsi, if you are Red Bull, if you are, you know, name your product, when they go into a store and purchase your product because they've seen that messaging before," said Mr Rothstein.

In fact, just this week Red Bull announced a content marketing and promotion deal with action camera maker GoPro.

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