Dive Brief:

• Michelob Ultra is using a Facebook Messenger bot to get users to sign up for weekly, "influencer-led" workout sessions, according to MediaPost.
• The sessions will be put out via Messenger in a bid to better accommodate busy working schedules. The effort was created by agency Laundry Services with the help of mobile messaging platform Snaps and includes discounts on e-beverage platform Drizly in some U.S. markets. Michelob in March ran a campaign on Amazon Alexa in partnership with fitness and media company Rodale, per MediaPost.
• Three Olives Vodka, in another app marketing effort cited by MediaPost, is leveraging the dating app Tinder with an age-gated offer for a $2 rebate on the iBotta app as part of its "Find Otherness" campaign.

Dive Insight:

As consumers and especially young consumers like millennials spend more time on messaging apps, marketers are realigning their app marketing strategies to engage them directly via tools like bots. Apps with widespread adoption such as Facebook Messenger also have targeting options based on the rich data mobile devices provide on their users. Michelob running a branded workout program via Messenger is a little unusual — one doesn't usually associate fitness with drinking beer, however low-carb — but the combination of bot technology and ever-popular influencers might brew up interest.  

While Messenger bots have quickly grown in number to the tens and hundreds of thousands, including a pizza-ordering one from Domino's, their functionality and discoverability have been an issue, causing frustration with users. In March, Facebook released Messenger Platform 1.4 with a number of updates helping bot developers and marketers, adding a persistent menu to better instruct users on how to navigate the bot experience, along with social sharing capabilities, deep links for custom message sharing and new top-level analytics.

The Three Olives campaign is more straightforward, but notable for the platform it's being run on. Tinder has emerged as something of a surprise player in the app marketing space, with a number of brands eyeing the app to get users to swipe right for offers and discounts. Often the brands have some sort of tie-in, such as the Three Olives rebate becoming part of Tinder date or Casper mattresses playing off Tinder's reputation as a "hookup" dating app.