This is the second year that Eckrich has partnered with Operation Homefront, and the company will donate up to $250,000 via the campaign. The campaign spans a variety of mediums, including out-of-home, radio, television, Web and social media.

“We feel strongly about the goals behind Operation Homefront, and this year we have taken the partnership to a new level,” said Jennifer Zmrhal, senior brand manager at Eckrich, Lisle, IL.

“This year we thought it would be fun to do the text-to-donate in an easy, turnkey fashion,” she said.

Smithfield Foods is a $13 billion pork processor and hog producer. John Morrell Food Group is a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods that includes brands such as Eckrich, Armour, John Morrell, Curly’s, Patrick Cudahy, Healthy Ones and LunchMakers.

Operation Homefront is national nonprofit that provides assistance to the family members of service members.

Text in to donate
To participate in the mobile portion of the campaign, consumers can text the keyword INSPIRE to the short code 27722.

Once users send the message, a reply message prompts users to confirm a $5 donation to the cause with the keyword YES.

The donation is then billed to a consumer’s phone bill through their carrier.

To get the word out about the text-to-donate portion of the campaign, Eckrich will promote the campaign on the company’s Web site and Facebook page.

Additionally, Eckrich is developing a public service announcement that will run on NBC and encourage users to donate using their mobile devices.

Multichannel campaign
The campaign is part of a much bigger marketing push from Eckrich that will put Operation Homefront as a key touch point across any marketing collateral that consumers come across from the brand in the coming months.

Eckrich plans to donate five cents from every purchase of specially-marked products from May 1 – July 4 to raise up to $250,000.

Additionally, the company will air a 30-minute TV special featuring NBC’s Al Roker and NASCAR’s Richard Petty. The special will run this summer across major markets in the U.S.

SMS is still the go-to mobile channel for marketers to use to drive quick donations.

The channel is ubiquitous across all mobile devices and can be used effectively to cement quick donations from consumers on the spot.

Eckrich also has a mobile site to let consumers access the brand from their mobile devices.

“We’re going to be promoting it on everything we do this spring and summer,” Ms. Zmrhal said.

“Basically everywhere that consumers see Eckrich, they will see Operation Homefront,” she said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York