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Instant Karma Is Going To Get You Branded

That's what I took away from OMMA Mobile opening keynoter Ed Kaczmarek's presentation this morning. Kaczmarek, the director of innovation-consumer experiences at Kraft Foods, was talking about a new mobile apps platform dubbed CauseWorld, which ties cause-related marketing to Kraft's products and brands.

When consumers participate in the apps, Kaczmarek said the users accrue "karmas," or points for engaging with Kraft's brands.  Initial findings have been encouraging, but Kaczmarek said Kraft wanted to see if they could improve on karma, so they came up with something, well, new and improved. He calls them "Double Karmas."

"The double karmas definitely ignited the scanning," Kaczmarek said of mobile users scanning, or participation with Kraft's brands.

Kaczmarek said results indicate a more favorable disposition toward Kraft's brands, but he said the killer app, isn't the marketspeak, but the app itself.

"The most important thing that we've learned is that a user will open up an app to check in and get something of value," he said, noting that the utility is the primary feature and that the brand sell is the secondary benefit. If you do that, he said, you'll get some good karma.

So what's the ultimate nirvana in mobile marketing applications? Well, for that, Kaczmarek says you'll have to stay tuned, er stay connected, until next summer when Kraft kicks off its next mobile app platform. Fittingly, Kaczmarek says it will be called the "ShopKick" app, and he promises you ain't seen nothing yet.

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