The daily giveaway is taking place throughout the month of January and will give consumers prizes such as purses, pedicures and Skinny Cow candy and ice cream. To enter, consumers must purchase a Skinny Cow product and type in the bar code from the box or six-digit game code from the wrapper to see if they are winners.

“The campaign has been designed to drive people to the store to buy their product, which means that a larger number of the people participating will be on the go and mobile ready,” said Danielle McCormick, senior director of marketing at Skava, San Francisco.

“Thirty percent of all Web traffic is now coming from a mobile device,” she said. “As a fast-moving consumer good that is often consumed outside of the home, mobile plays an integral part to a brand that is trying to acquire new customers.

“Once that brand gets its customers on board its mobile marketing initiatives they will be able to send them push notifications of special offers at the point of purchase. Marketing is the perfect instant gratification device which should tie perfectly with Skinny Cow’s situational based marketing initiatives.”

Ms. McCormick is not affiliated with Skinny Cow. She commented based om her expertise on the subject.

Skinny Cow could not meet press deadline.

Resolve to indulge
Consumers can play up to five times a day, and each entry goes towards both the daily prize and the grand prize. The microsite for the sweepstakes is http://www.resolvetoindulge.com/.

For instance, a recent prize was a $250 gift card towards the consumer’s favorite spa. The day’s resolution was “to not let the pressure get to you unless it’s at the hands of that cute masseur …”

Another featured prize is a $250 Zappos gift card, and the resolution is “to go to boot camp … or maybe just get the boots.”

The grand prize is a new pair of shoes every week for a year, in the form of 52 $200 gift cards. On top of that, Skinny Cow will donate 52 pairs of shoes and cash to Dress for Success, an organization that provides mentoring and interview attire for disadvantaged women seeking work.

The entry site for the contest is optimized for mobile, so consumers can enter on any device they prefer.

In order to enter, consumers must first log in with their birth date and email address. Then they must enter either the 12-digit bar code from the box of Skinny Cow candy or ice cream or the six-digit code from the inside of a Skinny Cow candy wrapper.

Afterwards the consumer will find out if he or she is an instant winner. The consumer will automatically be entered for a chance at winning the grand prize as well.

Consumers can enter five codes a day, and they can also tweet about the contest for another entry into the grand prize sweepstakes.

Mobile sweepstakes
The experience for the Skinny Cow sweepstakes is equally accessible and smooth on both desktop and mobile.

A number of other brands have also leveraged mobile and social for engaging sweepstakes.

For instance, Jockey celebrated football fanatics and promoted its men’s Sport Performance underwear line by launching a mobile social sweepstakes that asks women to upload photos of the sports fans in their lives (see story).

Post Foods also leveraged mobile and social in a competition between Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles to see which is more popular among fans (see story).

The Skinny Cow sweepstakes adds another layer to the mix by incorporating the wrapper and box, requiring consumers to make a purchase to participate. While this may sway some consumers from participating, it adds incentive to purchase products.

Skinny Cow could have possibly improved the physical to digital connection with a QR code or other print-to-mobile technology that drove a consumer directly to the sweepstakes microsite from the packaging.

“Mobile is now used as a ‘first-screen’ by Skinny Cow’s audience, so neglecting the platform isn’t an option,” said Guillaume Lelait, vice president of North America at Fetch, San Francisco. “If they want to compete with their competitors they have to enhance their brand experience for small screens.”

Mr. Lelait is not affiliated with Skinny Cow. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

“Twitter will enable the campaign to go viral, as it will encourage participants’ followers to enter the giveaway,” Mr. Lelait said.

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York