Post Foods? cereal brand Honey Bunches of Oats kicks off a music-themed campaign this week that simplifies engagement via a mobile-optimized micro site where consumers can upload a video of their dance moves.

The Bunches of Beats campaign includes dance tutorials set to a new signature song, Smile While You Shake It, and gives consumers a chance to win prizes by uploading a video showing them dancing. Early next year, the brand will launch a mobile application featuring the user-generated content from the contest.

?Mobile usage is growing at a rapid pace for our Honey Bunches of Oat's consumer, including the use of devices for entertainment purposes,? said Jennifer Mennes, director of media and public relations at Post Foods, Parsippany, NJ. ?We wanted to capitalize on this and extend the campaign?s reach beyond our traditional digital and social channels.

?Additionally, PostFoods.com, the site which houses the microsite experience for this campaign sees a significant amount of traffic from mobile,? she said. ?Over the last six months approximately one-third of its traffic has come from mobile devices.

?We wanted to make sure we could offer these users the same quality user experience as those who take part in the campaign from a desktop.?

Bunch of Beats
The campaign launched on Nov. 11, targeting both general and Hispanic markets. Honey Bunches of Oats is the No. 1 ready-to-eat cereal among Hispanics, according to Post Foods.

For the effort, Honey Bunches of Oats has partnered with musicians Domino Saints to create an exclusive music video for the brand?s new song signature song, Smile While You Shake It. The video incorporates boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats, with dancers shaking them while they dance.

The microsite, BunchofBeats.com, features a tutorial with the musicians teaching viewers the dance moves from the Smile While You Shake It video.

Consumers can upload a video of their own dance moves to either a custom Facebook tab available on the general market and Hispanic market Facebook fan pages or to the Bunch of Beats microsite.

Beginning next week, one entry will be chosen each week to win a $500 Visa gift card. The sweepstakes will run for 31 weeks, with a total of $15,500 worth of prizes.

User-generated content
During the second phase of the campaign set to launch in early 2014, Honey Bunches of Oats will introduce an interactive content-rich mobile app that will feature videos, including user generated content collected from the sweepstakes.

The campaign will be supported with digital banner and online video advertising, social media calls-to-action and radio buys. Additionally, the campaign will appear at the Latin Grammys and as part of radio station Z100?s Jingle Ball.

The program is an example of how brands are leveraging mobile social to go beyond product placement in music videos and creating content from scratch that showcases a brand and is shareable with the goal of helping a brand connect with fans and drive brand equity.

It also exemplifies the growing use of the photo-sharing capabilities of smartphones to drive campaigns built around user-generated content.

?We know from past successful campaigns that our consumers have a natural affinity to capture photos and videos using their mobile device,? Ms. Mennes said. ?We wanted to tap into this behavior to allow ease of use for these consumers and maximize video capture opportunities.

?We want our community to be able to connect with the brand in the manner in which they are most comfortable,? she said.

?Lastly, the campaign has several music event components and allowing a mobile video upload will allow our brand ambassadors to collect videos directly from events, creating a wholly integrated campaign experience.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York