Kind Snacks is inviting consumers to acknowledge their appreciation for family members and friends by sending them an ecard through Facebook, Twitter or email, which asks the recipient to input his or her address to receive a complimentary Kind bar.

Fans of the snack brand can visit its eponymous mobile site or campaign microsite to reward an act of kindness with an ecard, which can then be redeemed for a free granola bar. Kind Snacks is attempting to leverage organic marketing methods by associating its brand with positive acts and distributing complimentary products to target consumers via mobile platforms.

?Celebrating kindness is a cool idea,? said Jeff Hasen, founder of Gotta Mobilize and author of The Art of Mobile Persuasion. ?We all should do more of that.?

Staying #kindawesome on social
To access the campaign, individuals can visit Kind Snacks? site or its How Kind of You campaign microsite. Visitors can toggle through several slides detailing the process of sending a loved one a free Kind bar before indicating whether they would like to send the ecard via Facebook, Twitter or email.

Consumers can simply click on their preferred communication method?s icon to get started. If they would like to send the ecard via social media, they will be prompted to input the recipient?s Twitter user name or Facebook name.

If individuals opt to use email instead, they must enter their email address, which will prompt Kind Snacks to send them a message containing the #kindawesome ecard.

Pressing the ?share now? button will bring users back to a fill-in form on Kind Snacks? campaign microsite, where consumers will be asked to enter their name and email as well as their friend?s or family member's name and email. Ecard senders can also include a message thanking the recipient for his or her act of kindness.

Once the ecard submission has been sent, the recipient will be alerted by Kind Snacks via email, Facebook or Twitter before being asked to input the address at which he or she would like the complimentary Kind bar to be delivered.

The easy redemption process enables recipients to claim their free granola bar within seconds and decide whether they would like to participate in the campaign themselves. The ?pass it on? nature of the distribution model will also allow Kind Snacks to organically reach more mobile users and paint its brand in a positive light.

Unpacking new engagement strategies
A slew of CPG marketers are attempting to tap into new ways of boosting mobile engagement and spreading awareness about their products.

For example, Stonyfield Farm is cultivating mobile moments designed to engage Pokemon Go players by targeting them on other applications when they are at a location where characters can be collected (see story).

Meanwhile, General Mills? Nature Valley brand is leveraging the cachet of emotionally charged mobile video with clips of consumers sharing messages of encouragement to loved ones on Facebook, an initiative that has sparked positive responses from thousands of users (see story).

If brands are seeking to give away sample products to target consumers, however, employing Kind Snacks? strategy may be the most fruitful option.

Instead of simply filling out a request form for a free snack, the marketer is giving consumers plenty of opportunities to thank a friend or family member for being awesome ? with the addition of an enticing freebie.

?What might make this cooler is if there was a way to salute random acts of kindness from strangers rather than family members or friends,? Mr. Hasen said. ?That could have even more meaning.?