• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, April 26, 2010

The Stride gum ostriches will find you, whether you're online or offline.

In TV spots, these ostriches threaten anyone with bodily harm who dares reveal Stride's mega-mystery flavor.

The animal with a face only its mother could love has also invaded the mobile realm, specifically the app world.

Stride has been running an ad within Pandora's iPhone app throughout the month of April to drive awareness to the mystery gum, available for purchase through May.

The rich-media ad was created and served by Medialets, a rich-media ad platform for mobile apps.

The ad appears as an expandable banner below the name and album cover of the song currently playing on the Pandora app, the 26^th most downloaded free iPhone app, according to the App Store.

"Tap this banner to learn the secret flavor of the new Stride mega mystery," reads the ad. Once users oblige, the screen shows a box of Stride gum and cliffhanger copy: "The real flavor of new Stride mega mystery is..." But the answer doesn't come that easily. Actually, it doesn't come at all. An ostrich head overtakes the screen and starts tapping away, theoretically cracking the iPhone screen.

"Don't reveal the secret flavor of new Stride mega mystery. Or we'll find you," concludes the ad.

Horizon Media, Stride's media agency of record, handled the media buy. The agency presented the ostrich concept to Medialets, which created the rich-media ad in a week's time.

Medialets uses asynchronous delivery when placing mobile ads, meaning creative is delivered to mobile devices prior to a campaign launch, and already located on the phone once the campaign debuts. That way, a user doesn't have to wait for a rich media ad to load. It's ready and waiting.