The mobile ads appearing in the TV Guide iPhone application. The campaign is part of a broader marketing initiative to promote a new line of Crest and Oral-B products that fight plaque.

“I don’t think many consumers will buy toothpaste via their mobile devices, but advertising raises awareness, which can lead to later purchases,” said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

“A store locator is a good idea as the mobile consumer could be in a remote area or an area they’re not familiar with or have some other reason they’d like to find the closest store,” he said.

Mr. Buckingham is not affiliated with Crest. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Crest did not respond to press inquiries by deadline.

Mobile sales
The copy for the mobile ads feature the companies’ logos and encourages users to tap to learn more.

The banner ads then expand into a landing page that gives consumers two options — to find the product nearby or buy it online.

Consumers can either use their device’s built-in GPS or type in a location to find nearby stores that sell Crest products.

If users tap to buy a product, they are directed to Walmart’s mobile site via a landing page.

From there, consumers can browse more information about the products, add them to a shopping cart and check-out from inside the ad unit.

Additionally, consumers can search for Crest products in-store by using their device’s location.

An ad campaign such as this one from Procter & Gamble is a smart way to position a new product. The initiative not only lets consumers learn about Crest’s new products but also take a direct action on them.

In particular, a consumer-packaged-goods brand can directly benefit from mobile commerce by attaching an ROI to a marketing campaign that can be traced back to a mobile ad.

Given the small price tag of consumer-packaged goods consumers are consistently researching and buying products from their devices.

Small purchases
Procter & Gamble has run similar mobile ads in the past to drive sales of its brands.

For example, to encourage users to buy Charmin toilet paper via their devices, Procter & Gamble recently used an interactive ad campaign.

The ads showed consumers all of Charmin’s products and let them choose from online retailers such as Soap.com, drugstore.com and Walmart to buy from (see story).

Procter & Gamble has different mobile strategies for each of its brands, not all of which are commerce-enabled.

Covergirl, for instance, also recently ran a campaign that promoted a new line of lipstick by linking to the brand’s mobile site to learn more about the product versus directing users to a commerce-enabled mobile site (see story).

“Advertisers such as Procter & Gamble routinely have large cooperative marketing dollar programs with retailers like Walmart. As such, these kinds of programs contribute to the wider relationship between the CPG manufacturer and the retailer,” Mr. Buckingham said.

“Whether or not commerce enabling this ad is a good idea depends on the wider relationship between the two companies,” he said.

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