Popchips is helping members of the military stay in touch with family during the holidays via a mobile promotion in 460 retail locations.

For the Share the Love campaign, military members are being provided promotional codes that, when used in the Postcard on the Run app, enable them to send two free personalized postcards anywhere in the world. The mobile promotion is taking place at Army and Air Force Exchange Service locations in the United States and around the world.

?For popchips, we want to be on the platforms were our snackers are spending their time,? said Brian Pope, senior vice president marketing for popchips, San Francisco. ?Today, that's increasingly more on mobile devices powered by iOS and Android.

?By offering our content on mobile devices, we're making it accessible to more people in more places, anywhere they are,? he said.

Facilitating connections
The promotion began on Dec. 12 and runs until Jan. 31, 2013.

Retail displays will explain that military members can send two free postcards to family and friends using the Postcard on the Run app courtesy of popchips. The displays feature a call to action encouraging users to either scan the QR code or go to the URL www.PCOTR.com/popchips to download the app and learn more.

?Troops and families are stationed all around the world,? said Josh Brooks, founder and CEO of Postcard on the Run, Los Angeles.

?Their schools, their addresses and their time zones change frequently depending on where they're stationed,? he said.

?Chances are, their smartphone numbers and the pictures saved on their devices are some of the few things that stay constant. Utilizing mobile for this campaign makes sense because most of us, including service members, rely heavily on mobile to stay connected with friends and family.?

Bridging mobile, print
The Postcard on the Run app is available for iPhone, Android and Windows mobile devices. It enables users to take a picture on their phone and use it create a print postcard that can be sent through the mail. Users can also place images in a postcard from their photo library.

The app offers features such as the ability for users to sign postcards with their fingers, write a personal message and add a map to a postcard using GPS.

Another feature is the ability to choose from 11 different scratch and sniff scents that can be added to a postcard, including pine tree and holiday spice.

Popchips is a line of popped chips that promises half of the fat of fried chips.

?Our product delivers a warm, personal, postcard without the hassle of trying to find a mailbox or stamps,? Mr. Brooks said. ?It's all done conveniently from the Postcard on the Run mobile app.

?Capture the moment in the moment, and share it as a physical keepsake that can be delivered to any mailbox in the world,? he said.

?Our mobile application takes a beloved travel tradition and marries it with the power of mobility, allowing our users to create and send a personalized postcard from wherever in the world they may be."

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