The company is running the campaign within Us Magazine’s mobile site. Additionally, the campaign is in both Spanish and English.

“One of the wonderful things about the mobile ad movement is that it is not just a local fad; smartphones are used all over the world and mobile ads are delivered in almost every major language, every day,” said Shuli Lowy, marketing director of Ping Mobile.

“In the United States, we are privileged to have people of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds,” she said. “It is therefore important for brands whose clientele includes a large non-English speaking audience to make sure their campaigns are multilingual.”

Ms. Lowy is not affiliated with Special K. She commented based on her expertise on the subject.

Special K did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile awareness
The Special K banner ad creative is in Spanish.

When consumers tap on the ad, they are redirected to a mobile landing page where they have the option of changing the language from Spanish to English or vice versa.

From there, the company aims to drive downloads for its mobile application where consumers can keep track of their goals and get helpful tools and tips to stay motivated in their journey living a healthy lifestyle.

Additionally, through the ad, consumers can learn more about the products, find out where to buy them and get suggestions.

Through the campaign, users can also sign-up for email news and interact with the company via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

“The landing page in the Special K campaign gives the audience an option to view the page in English or Spanish,” Ms. Lowy said.

“Clearly Special K views the Spanish speaking population as an important demographic in their client base and wants to be sure that they can understand the ad,” she said.

“However, multilingual campaigns within the U.S. must be carefully managed.  Few things are more wasteful than delivering a personalized ad in a language that is foreign to the receiver.”

Gaining traction
Special K has been using mobile for a while now.

In 2010, Kellogg Co. took its Special K Challenge mobile with the launch of its first applications in the United States (see story).

Furthermore, the company Kellogg targeted women with a campaign that focused on New Year’s resolutions for weight loss. Mobile was part of the multichannel mix (see story).

For this specific campaign, it would have been great if Special K ran an ad specifically targeted for a certain demographic.

For example, a person who does not speak Spanish would not click on the ad.

“Blindly blasting ads that aren’t in English in most areas of the US reduces the relevant audience tremendously,” Ms. Lowy said.

“While it is important to make sure your foreign speaking audience can access your content, it is more important to make sure that ads are delivered in a language that will be understandable to the most probable receiving audience,” she said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York