Energizer Personal Care?s Banana Boat sunscreen brand is gearing up for summer, its biggest sales season, with the Great Big Family Reunion sweepstakes and a companion mobile-optimized site that offers opportunities for entry as well as a customizable digital video that consumers can send to their family members via mobile, proving video?s growing popularity in marketing campaigns.

The Banana Boat Great Big Family Reunion sweepstakes will offer one winning family a reunion trip of up to 50 friends and family members, including complimentary flights. Consumers who opt to enter the sweepstakes on the designated mobile-optimized site can also send a digital postcard to friends and family in the form of a mobile video, featuring personal photos from Facebook or from users? smartphones or computers.

?It was important to Banana Boat that ?Great Big Family Reunion? was mobile-friendly,? said Chris Carballo, senior brand manager at Banana Boat, Shelton, CT. ?Banana Boat moms and shoppers are always on the go, and also always on their phone.

?The warmer weather makes it a great time for the family to get together and have fun outside so we wanted to make it as easy as possible to source helpful information about how you can have outdoor fun in the sun.?

Mobile video?s influence
Interested consumers can visit www.greatbigfamilyreunion.com to enter the reunion sweepstakes via their email address or Facebook account. They may also scroll down to view the ?Send a Postcard? feature, which displays the 30-second customizable video.

Users can then click ?personalize? to add up to five friends? or family members? photographs by uploading an image from their smartphones or computers, pulling from Facebook or taking a Web camera photo.

Once consumers position their friends? and family?s faces accordingly, the video will pop up, with options to share via Facebook and Twitter.

The sweepstakes site also features a ?Wheel of Fun,? which enables users to spin to view entertaining activities they can try with their families this season. The activities are showcased in the form of YouTube videos.

More brands have been turning to mobile video as a form of marketing after research studies have shown users? tendencies to consume large amounts of digital video. Mobile video is also suggested to be even more effective with particular demographics.

According to report from Brightroll, consumers who frequent quick service restaurants are often the same target groups who consume the largest amount of video on mobile, suggesting that many food and beverage brands are missing a crucial marketing opportunity if they are not leveraging video advertising to engage this audience (see story).

?With the U.S. moving way past the tipping point of mobile behavior and penetration, it is only logical and imperative that marketers make their sweepstakes accessible on mobile,? said Derrick Lin, senior mobile and brand strategist at Resource/Ammirati, Columbus, OH. ?Many marketers have learned how to optimize mobile display and browsing for their campaign experiences, however, making sure sweepstakes sites display properly on mobile is only half of the effort.

?It is important for mobile sweepstakes sites to streamline the entry process and boost the completion rate since typing on smartphones is still considered a hassle for many consumers. Marketers should also leverage tactics like social login, auto completion, menus for participants to select from, etc. to help alleviate the pain of inputting personal information on a smartphone screen.?

However, a paramount concern for all marketers must be the engaging quality of the content they produce for their campaigns.

Advertising and technology executives at the Mobile Media Summit Upfront at Internet Week 2015 conference highlighted how growing worldwide connectivity and the dawn of the Internet of Things will help boost mobile outreach and offer more opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers, who are increasingly demanding engaging and entertaining content (see story).

Ramping up for summer
The sweepstakes and mobile video are arriving at an opportune time for Banana Boat, as consumers are readying themselves to purchase sunscreen and other various personal care products ahead of sunny summer days.

?In May 2014, Banana Boat launched the fun and innovative ?Best Summer Ever? campaign, which drove awareness of sun protection and the importance of family fun ? core to the brand?s personality,? Mr. Carballo said.

?This summer, Banana Boat is building on that momentum and encouraging families big and small to get together and have fun outside in the sun with a ?Great Big Family Reunion,? while helping protect everyone from harmful UV rays.?

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