Tic Tac is using two mobile applications and augmented reality to drive repeat engagement for digital-savvy millennials who always have their mobile phones nearby.

The new Tic Tac Viewr mobile app and another app that will be launched soon are part of a new 360-degree marketing campaign called ?Shake It Up.? The mobile components encourage users to interact with the brand?s advertising and packaging in a fun and playful way.

?Our target audience - 18-34 year olds - is heavy mobile users,? said Noah Szporn, category manager from Tic Tac Mints at Ferrero USA Inc., Somerset, NJ. ?Mobile is also the only medium that enables consumers to interact across multiple touch points.

?For this reason, we developed the Tic Tac Viewr mobile app, which allows consumers to engage with the Tic Tac brand ? via ads and product packaging ? wherever they are through a medium that they never leave behind,? he said.

?The goal of the Tic Tac Viewr mobile application is to increase engagement with our target demographic.?

Markerless AR
The Tic Tac Viewr mobile application lets users interact directly with the brand?s outdoor and print advertising as well as product packaging via an augmented reality experience.

In mid-February, Tic Tac will launch its first Times Square billboard and a second mobile application featuring AR capabilities.

Consumers interacting with the Tic Tac Times Square ad via the app will be able to create a personalized billboard with their image seen on their phones. Users will be able to share the image on their Facebook page.

?Tic Tac mints is the first candy brand in the U.S. to launch markerless Augmented Reality experiences available year-round that not only utilize advertising, but also integrates product packaging experiences,? said Diane Hernandez, group account director of Merkley + Partners, New York.

?The brand uses cutting-edge markerless technology and, as a result, breaks new ground in the U.S. market by the number of AR experiences offered in a single mobile application,? she said. ?The Tic Tac Viewr app includes 5 separate AR experiences and up to 20 microgames.

?The AR experiences offer users the chance to interact and engage ? not simply view virtual images.?

Consumers can download the Tic Tac Viewr app to interact with advertising or a box of Tic Tac mints simply by pointing their device at the outdoor ads, print ads and packages.

The app provides colorfully illustrated, tongue-in-cheek tips on how they can shake up their everyday life.

Each print and out of home advertisement offers different mobile experiences.

Tic Tac Tibby is a playful experience that uses the box of every flavor of Tic Tac mints as a background for a game where the user scores points by tossing Tic Tac mints into the mouth of a 3D character.

The apps were designed by Merkley + Partners and developed by Total Immersion.

Tic Tac Viewr is available to download for free for iOS and Android mobile devices. The app is also available by texting "MINTS" to 313131.

In addition to the mobile apps, the campaign includes interactive TV as well as outdoor and print advertisements that highlight facts about routine daily activities, such as that most Americans spend 13 years of their lives watching TV. 

 ?The Tic Tac Viewr app was born from the fact that Millennials are a digital generation who cannot and will not live without their smartphones,? Ms. Hernandez said. ?The brand recognizes and celebrates this target's desire for exploration and discovery as well as their need for visceral excitement by entertaining them with this totally unique and interactive mobile experience.?

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