SoLoMo is becoming an increasingly important part of every marketing campaign, and one mobile ad network is seeing big benefits from brands using their platform. Anne’s Pretzels is one, partnering with three global franchises – The Coca-Cola Company, Millennial Media and Sparkfly Inc to develop new location based mobile advertising campaign that bridges the gap between mobile deal offers and consumer point of sale purchases.  The biggest perk in this cross-company team up is the ability to leverage rewards points as trackers, measuring the campaign in an entirely new way.

As part of the collaborative mobile advertising campaign, Millennial Media will target ads to the right customers during the heart of Back-to-School shopping season; Coca-Cola and Auntie Anne will test different combinations of items for purchase at ten Atlanta-area Auntie Anne’s locations; and Sparkfly will capture item level and consumer specific data based on the performance of specific purchases. The program will then offer redeemable points and reward programs for consumers at Auntie Anne’s point of sale terminal.

“One of the primary benefits of the partnership is to track an offer from the onset to point of purchase. Not only can we measure how effective individual offers are, but we can analyze the performance of individual display units. We have never been able to measure either of these before, and it’s a solution that we can see taking us into the future,” said Heather Neary, Auntie Anne’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Being able to have a program that can reward new and loyal customers with offers that they want and will redeem, is an extreme benefit to both the consumer and Auntie Anne’s.”

Sparkfly’s patented software platform, in combination with Millennial Media’s advertising analytics, will track the point of sale redemption through integration with major point of sale systems across retail locations. The solution will provide unique advertising campaigns, such as how often ads were viewed, and redemption data down to item-level detail for Coca-Cola and Auntie Anne.

“In partnership with Millennial Media, we have solved the long-time digital advertising dilemma of how to track an ad’s impact on consumer purchases at the retail point of sale,” said Catherine Tabor, CEO, Sparkfly Inc.

As in the application, users are attracted to different locations, and Coke and Auntie Anne will also be able to obtain unique data on consumer behavior to track transactions within a single application.

The promotion will run on more than 7,000 devices across more than 30,000 mobile apps through Millennial Media’s platform. Consumers have the option to instantly redeem their coupon at checkout or save it for later use.

“Marketers are shifting local market advertising spend into mobile and are driving real world value in a way not possible with more traditional channels,” said Marcus Startzel, GM, North America at Millennial Media. “Mobile provides brands new levels of immediacy and relevancy, and with advanced audience targeting, marketers can be sure they are reaching the right consumers at the right place and time.”

The recently published Millennial Media’s Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (SMART) report for 2012 found that more advertisers, along with key global trends and campaign goals for brands and agencies, are leveraging mobile to connect with local markets for their new products and services.

Coke Wants to Find Right Place

Coke was an early adopter of location-based mobile promotions, most recently teaming with HMSHost to run Foursquare campaign at HMSHost’s shopping malls, travel plazas, and airports. Foursquare users who do shopping at these points will be eligible to win a year’s supply of Diet Coke.

In another effort, Coke along with Buick and Capital One recently sponsored the NCAA basketball tourney’s official iPhone and iPad apps. During each game, the sponsors provided all of March Madness online this year for only $3.99. The soft drink maker also teamed with Spotify for the latest series of branded apps.