PepsiCo?s Tropicana Orange Juice brand has brought its popular Juicy Rewards program to the mobile space to let loyal consumers collect points for great savings even while on the go.

Tropicana?s Juicy Awards launched in February and is a major marketing play for the company. The rewards give consumers 20,000 different ways they can get more value from their orange juice and the new iPhone application is meant to complement that strategy.

?Apps like the one Tropicana offers give brands another way to engage with mobile consumers,? said Neil Strother, practice director at ABI Research, Kirkland, WA. ?It can reinforce the brand?s image and the payoff for the consumer can come in the form of discounts on products or services.

?Beyond a branding lift, though, the real question for an app from the marketer?s point of view is does it drive more sales of products or services?? he said. ?If that can be shown, then it?s an easy call.?

Tropicana declined a request for an interview. 

Getting the juices moving
Tropicana?s Juicy Rewards program presents consumers with offers and incentives via points for each carton of qualifying Tropicana juice that they buy.

So far the rewards have included Adidas gear, TaylorMade golf balls and trips to amusement parks, museums and water parks.

The Juicy Rewards application lets consumers review rewards on the go, enter codes and share with friends.

By providing incentives and rewards on the go, Tropicana can engage its target audience. The entire loyalty program and the complementing application is good for branding and definitely influences consumer perception of the application.

As an added bonus, there is a Tropicana-themed supermarket bowling game.

Here is a screen grab:

"Leveraging the popularity of apps is going to be critical to developing a sound mobile marketing strategy," said Patrick Mork, vice president of marketing of GetJar, San Francisco.

"With the core demographic of 18-34-year-olds moving more and more to mobile and the app market expected to boom, brands have to learn how to engage with consumers on mobile applications," he said.

GetJar's research has shown that young consumers ages 18-24 now use the mobile Internet more than the fixed Internet by a margin of 2:1. 

Applications represent the most personal way of reaching these consumers. 

"The phone has a very limited amount of retail space available and therefore whenever a consumer decides to download the application for your brand, they are making a deliberate, conscious decision to give you some of that space and to actively engage with your brand," Mr. Mork said.

"This possibility is significantly more powerful than running banner ads or SMS campaigns where user engagement is limited at most to a click or passive view of the brand's message," he said. 

"Brands have to come to terms with this and also with the realization that using apps is more than just about the iPhone. True mass-market campaigns need to be cross-platform to achieve reach. 

"Leveraging Android and mobile Web, for example, will be essential to amplify brands' message to a wider audience."

CPG love apps
Consumer packaged goods brands, in general, are really ramping up their involvement in mobile applications.

According to eMarketer, there will be a projected 242 million mobile users in the United States by year-end. This will spur the mobile applications race between CPG brands.

CPG marketers are increasingly turning to mobile applications to get an edge in the competitive market.

In the case of Tropicana, the brand?s loyalty program helps the application achieve utility and the added bowling game is an entertaining value.

An overwhelming 64.8 percent of marketers and publishers reported planning to invest in mobile applications this year, according to a December 2009 survey conducted by DM2Pro and Quattro Wireless.

Mobile applications will generate nearly $1.6 billion in revenue in the United States this year, according to a new study by the Yankee Group.

Apple iPhone users and AT&T subscribers download more applications than anyone else, but Yankee Group predicts that Android will be the next breakout smartphone application platform.

?I think overall we are big believers in extending platforms and extending messages,? said Chris Cunningham, CEO of appssavvy, New York. ?In a perfect world, when running loyalty programs there are various platforms involved, which offer more breadth and more reach in the context of supporting rewards.

?We are at a pivotal turning point where people that are called developers are building the future of what people consume and how they spend their time," he said. ?It?s a fundamental seismic shift and brands are participating and riding the wave.?