• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, August 4, 2011

PepsiCo is among the companies employing consumer mobile app tagging on TV (and other media formats) to significantly expand reach/ROI, reports DM News. PepsiCo America Director of Digital Shiv Singh confirms that mobile tagging capabilities enable a more direct conversion path for television advertising.

For example, the PepsiMax brand, throughout the Major League Baseball season, is running TV spots that can deliver a digital coupon for a free 20-ounce bottle via the IntoNow mobile app.

Singh notes that the mobile tagging enables linking TV, mobile and in-store in new, highly cost-effective ways. It provides a way to connect TV's mass reach with the rapidly growing use of digital coupons, enabling the brand to encourage consumers to go into stores and redeem coupons.

Singh acknowledges that it's challenging to get consumers to recognize a TV spot's mobile delivery capability and launch the app within a spot's usual 30-second time frame. He says these initiatives are aimed at younger, tech-savvy consumers who own DVRs and can rewind/pause the ad.

Other brands already using tagging capabilities on TV ads include HTC Corp., Paramount Pictures and Progressive Casualty Insurance Co.