Del Monte is doling out information and ideas this summer through a mobile application and desktop site to help moms looking for quick recipe help.

Del Monte has created a summer-themed collection of virtual notebooks on Springpad, which can be accessed across desktops or via a smartphone and tablet application. The summer campaign is part of the food brand?s growing investment in mobile as it looks to reintroduce its products to consumers.

?Springpad is one vehicle in a broader marketing mix for us as we think about mobile as a platform for reaching consumers and delivering assistance to her that is relevant,? said Brian Ng, marketing director of brand strategy and trademark development at Del Monte Foods, San Francisco.

Spring into summer
To use the Springpad app, consumers can create a profile account or sync the app with their Facebook or Twitter profile.

The Springpad app is available for iOS and Android devices and lets consumers create virutal notebooks where they can store recipe ideas, products and other pieces of content.

Del Monte has created a notebook called ?Garden Fresh Entertaining,? which includes seven different food and drink recipes that incorporate the brand?s fruit and vegetable products for summer.

Once users find a Del Monte recipe that they like, they can save it to one of their notebooks to access later. The notebooks can be made either public or private.

The recipes include step-by-step directions and a toggle that lets consumers choose if they want to make a recipe or if they have already made an item.

If consumers have already cooked a recipe, they can enter a review of the item and can rate the recipe on a scale of five stars.

Del Monte has been using Springpad for a few months, and it is part of a bigger marketing mix to reintroduce consumers to the brand after keeping mum for a few years, according to Mr. Ng.

For summer specifically, mobile makes sense for Del Monte to use during the summer when its core demographic of moms are off of their regular schedule with kids out of school.

Additionally, the content that Del Monte is pushing this summer is geared towards helping inspire moms with ideas on how to incorporate the brand?s products in a specific moment that she is looking for help.

?We think about the consumer journey, and I?m very interested in mobile with the opportunity that we have not had before,? he said. ?That is to catch consumers in the context of what they are doing.?

?There are a host of things that we are exploring with the primary objective of reaching her at the point where she is making a purchasing decision.?

Cross-channel content
Other brands leveraging Springpad as part of the app?s ?Spring into Summer? campaign include Breville, Wayfair, Glamour magazine and TripAdvisor.

For example, TripAdvisor has created a summer-themed notebook with ideas for beach trips this summer. Via the guide, consumers can view maps and information on popular summer beach destinations.

Glamour magazine on the other hand is using its summer guides to highlight its edited swimsuit picks for the summer.

Brands and publishers are increasingly looking for ways to target consumers with contextual content, and are especially interested in getting that content across desktops, smartphones and tablets.

?People will not be tied to their desk this summer ? having access to a mobile device is a great value to the brand that has been creating content that works across different modes,? said Jeff Janer, co-founder at Springpad, Boston.

?What we?re seeing is that not only are [the brands] getting this information to people, it?s also useful information and not just product information,? he said.

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