• by Maryanne Conlin , August 21, 2013

A popular article today on MediaPost, “Hillshire Farms Ups Mobile Reach,” obviously attracts viewers in our industry since we all snarf up any tidbit of information on marketing through this platform. But, hidden in the details is a strategy for co-op radio ads that makes sense for almost any food brand marketing to moms.

“Because it can track people where they’re using Pandora, Hillshire Farms also runs ads when people are listening to Pandora while driving home, so they know where they can pick up food products locally.”

This classic radio strategy is easily adaptable to mobile technology. Unlike traditional radio, though, Pandora users enter their name, gender and zip code when signing up for the service, allowing fine targeting to both moms and local retailers. 

With mobile smoothly combining “always on” with hyper-local, food brands can catch that wave with strategic ad campaigns complemented with social. 

Why social? 

The hard truth of eating habits that has been shown in survey after survey is that consumers are much more influenced by their families and social circles than they are by advertising. Food preferences are developed in childhood and modified by schools attended, neighborhoods and regions where we live and more and more by posts on Facebook and Pinterest (and other social platforms to a lesser extent.)

So, while we’re all excited about the possibilities that mobile brings from an advertising perspective, social needs to be an integral part of every strategy – especially for moms.