The mobile initiative is taking place during “Pets Love Walmart” month, which will go on until till the end of September. The companies believe the technology-driven initiative will help fulfill shelter dogs’ need for nutrition.

“We continually like to look at different ways we can raise awareness of this cause with consumers,” said Lisa Campbell, senior brand manager at Pedigree Brand, Nashville, TN.

“We want to get consumers excited and to give them an opportunity to make a difference,” she said.

Pedigree offers a wide variety of products for different dog life stages.

Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at over 9,200 retail units under 69 different banners in 28 countries.

Mobile cause
The program is powered by Scanbuy.

Consumers can scan a QR code, which is featured on any package of Pedigree sold at Walmart, with their smartphone.

Every mobile bar code scanned represents a bowl of Pedigree food for dogs that the company will donate to an animal shelter – up to 500,000 8-ounce bowls.

Throughout September, Walmart is facilitating a dialog about pet ownership.

Walmart locations will host weekly educational demonstrations and will display local shelter information on-shelf for ways to donate to a pet in need.

“We’re continuously looking for opportunities to help shelter dogs in need,” Ms. Campbell said.

Consumers can scan the QR code

Mobile future
Walmart has been a big player in the mobile space.

Last year, the company made a bigger play for holiday dollars with the launch of a application that complemented its mobile Web and SMS efforts, but was equally geared to driving traffic to its stores nationwide (see story).

Recently, Walmart made several recent investments in digital and mobile companies, including its recent purchase of OneRiot, suggesting that the retailer is looking to catch up with others in the competitive space (see story).

“Walmart is one of our great retailers and we’ll continue working with them,” Ms. Campbell said. “I think that this is the first time that we’ve done a program this way and help dogs.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York