Chiquita drove significant engagement via a new mobile application, with 20 percent of users checking-in at participating retailers such as Walmart and Safeway via the app.

The Chiquita FanFun app, which was launched this summer, enters users into a sweepstakes every time they check-in at a participating retailer. Initial results include that 40 percent of users created a Chiquita-branded Little League card and shared it on a social network and that users played an average of 10.7 Banana Trivia games and four Banana Shot games.

“These results show that the mobile will become a key part of the shopping experience and fast,” said Adam Lavine, CEO of FunMobility, Pleasanton, CA.

“Once a consumer downloads your app, marketers can communicate and engage them far more cheaply than traditional advertising methods, and can further measure the effectiveness of those communications through open rate, tap rate, store visit rate and coupon/special offer redemption.

“In a nutshell: mobile is a new, intimate medium for retail marketers to build a relationship with their customer that can integrate with and enhance their existing marketing.”

Little League sponsorship
By gamifying the experience of visiting a retail store, Chiquita hopes to help retailers compete in a market where many stores carry similar product selections.

The new Trading Card app was designed to also drive awareness of Chiquita’s Little League sponsorship and enables users to create trading cards using by uploading a photo. The effort included QR codes on bananas at Safeway, Publix, Walmart, BJ’s Wholesale Club and others that can be scanned to download the app.

The app incorporates several AppWidgets developed from FunMobility, including a store locator and a check-in widget.

Users could earn points by checking-in, uploading photos of their children, creating Little League cards and posting them to social media sites. Additionally, points were awarded when users took a quiz about bananas.

The Chiquita FanFun sweepstakes included monthly prizes and grand prizes. The deadline to enter was Aug. 31.

FunMobility is currently in discussion with Chiquita to extend the program.

Mobile relationship management
With many shoppers walking into a retail outlet with a smartphone, marketers can use mobile to drive awareness of in-store promotions via push notifications, reward consumers for door swings via sweepstakes and mobile reward and loyalty programs, measure who actually walks in and when as well as continually build a relationship via ongoing mobile relationship management campaigns, per Mr. Lavine.

“It’s important to have both utility and emotional benefits in a mobile relationship management offering,” Mr. Lavine said.

“This campaign had utility benefits with the store locator, trivia and free games, and emotional benefits with the sweepstakes, Little League Cardmaker where you could take a photo of your child and create your own Little League card,” he said.

“Furthermore it offered gamified rewards – every action generated points, and the winners received regular prizes.  This created excitement and retention on the part of the consumer.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York