Grocery store chain Kroger is promoting Luvsome, a new line of pet products, through an instructional video for kids and a sponsored cartoon on mobile application ChoreMonster.

The video, featuring the Luvsome-branded ChoreMonster, Pete Foobowitz, creates a new chore for kids to learn, teaching them to help feed their pets. While providing education, the video lacks a redirection to a coupon site or further information regarding the Luvsome brand.

“When engaging a content management company, there should always be an action tied to the content that will engage consumers further and benefit the brand with collection efforts of some type enabling a deeper engagement down the road,” said Marci Troutman, CEO and founder of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Ms. Troutman is not affiliated with Kroger or ChoreMonster, but agreed to comment based on her expertise on mobile advertising.

Kroger was unable to comment before press deadline.

Roundabout advertising
Kroger’s Vimeo video begins with an introduction explaining that kids love their pets and pets love their owners, and part of showing love for a pet is feeding them. Then the video presents three steps to follow: getting the food out, measuring and pouring it into the pet dish. The pet food used is labeled Luvsome.

The video, providing simple instructions for kids to learn this chore, captures the attention of the audience and leads them to wonder about the Luvsome brand.

ChoreMonster is a free app that promises to make chores fun for kids and easy for parents.

When kids complete the “Feed the Pets” or “Help Feed Pets” chore, they earn a limited edition Luvsome monster. Parents can learn more about Luvsome by clicking on their offer in the ChoreMonster parent dashboard.

Since April 2014, ChoreMonster is free to all users, opening up features previously available only to subscribers, according to  Alex Bowman, vice president of marketing and operations at ChoreMonster.

“Working with brands like Kroger’s Luvsome allows us to create additional content for families using ChoreMonster like cartoons that show kids how to do chores,” said Mr. Bowman.

Building mobile presence
To encourage sales, retailers should educate, but also entice, consumers. Over the last couple years, Kroger has extended its mobile presence to build awareness and appeal to families.

The brand’s multi-faceted application that plays up rewards, locations and customized offers is proving to be effective in targeting moms and ultimately driving in-store traffic.

A report from Placed finds that during the month of November, the grocery store chain was visited by more smartphone-owning moms than any other grocery chain. With moms increasingly enlisting their mobile devices to help plan meals and grocery lists, store and redeem coupons, as well as support their visits to stores, Kroger is leading other grocery stores in delivering services that meet this important segment’s needs (see story).

Procter & Gamble’s Crest and Oral-B brands also used ChoreMonster to promote dental health to kids by rewarding parents who prompt children to brush their teeth with mobile offers in exchange for using an application.

The brands have partnered with the ChoreMonster app to offer exclusive content and offers for one month. The deal is the latest example of CPG brands integrating with third-party apps to scale their mobile initiatives (see story).

ChoreMonster delivers special offers directly to the parents as they choose daily chores for their children, which would make this promotion more enticing.

“In order to have a brand benefit from a tutorial piece such as ‘how much to feed your pet’, there should be a link to a mobile optimized site, a coupon site, more information available via mobile or even a link to allow consumers to use GPS to find a location nearest them,” Ms. Troutman said.

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon, editorial assistant for Mobile Marketer, New York