Unilever?s Axe is leveraging an in-store partnership with Walmart designed to attract the brand's young male audience with relevant music downloads on mobile as a reward for purchasing products.

Consumers may download rewards platform Snipp to partake in the campaign, which runs through December 31. The free download promotion will likely appeal to Axe?s main demographic of younger males, proving that offering attractive, instantaneous rewards is a strategy that more consumer packaged goods brands should consider implementing.

?Identifying the right reward is always a combination of matching the best reward, for the demographic, that reflects the Axe brand and that has the right perceived value to drive the desired sales uplift,? said David Hargreaves, chief client officer of Snipp, Bethesda, MD. ?With music we can deliver a highly personalized choice to match the audience.

?The value of music was demonstrated in a recent promotion we did that resulted in a 30 percent increase in repeat purchases where music was the most popular content category redeemed.?

Rewarding target audiences
Axe?s campaign with Walmart and Snipp displays the brand?s willingness to reward its loyal consumers with relevant prizes and attempt to gain new customers with an enticing incentive. If an individual visits a Walmart seeking to purchase deodorant or shower gel and spots signage advertising the promotion, he or she may be much more likely to buy an Axe product over a competitor brand to receive the free music offer.

Consumers who have downloaded the SnippCheck platform onto their smartphones may enter the code found on select Axe items. If a customer prefers to use SMS, he or she may snap a photo of the receipt and send to 811811 with ?AXE? in the body of the text.

Online users may submit an emailed image of their receipt to .

After the purchase has been validated, Snipp will send the consumer a unique music code and URL to redeem via Hip Digital.

?Acquiring Hip and its premium digital content catalogue enables clients to run the entire mobile promotion, from activate, to validate, to reward, on the Snipp platform and create the best possible user experience,? Mr. Hargreaves said. ?We will be continually developing the Snipp rewards platform to deliver a broad suite of digital rewards including some entirely new types of rewards not currently available.

?We are already running a number of programs that use digital currencies such as PayPal as the reward.  We will continue to explore new ways to reward and engage the digital consumer.?

Instant gratification
Consumers respond well to promotions where rewards are guaranteed with purchase. Although instant win campaigns may result in elevated mobile app engagement for some brands, Axe is employing the right strategy by not teasing its fans and offering an incentive to anyone who buys the participating products.

The sheer simplicity of entering a code receipt into an app or sending a scanned image via SMS will also likely fuel more participation.

Snipp has previously teamed up with a slew of major consumer packaged goods brands for similar promotions.

This past January, a Clorox campaign held in conjunction with Snipp let consumers earn the right to enter a $1,000 monthly sweepstakes by submitting product purchase receipts, leveraging a retail-agnostic strategy to drive sales and enhance customer relationships with the CPG brand (see story).

Ultimately, Axe is keeping in mind its target demographic?s favorite pastimes and is well-poised to reach new consumers by providing a reward with real meaning and relevance.

?Of all our reward offerings, music continues to be the one that draws one of the highest responses from consumers,? Mr. Hargreaves said. ?In fact, the average American in the US spends on average 25 hours a week listening to music.

?This means that listening to music is the top form of entertainment in the U.S., according to Nielsen, even ahead of watching TV.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York