The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc. is encouraging shoppers to help the Children’s Miracle Network via mobile giving.

The A&P family of supermarkets, in partnership with Procter & Gamble, Children’s Miracle Network, Zavers, mGive, Blue Chip Agency and Vestcom, is launching the “Text, Give, Save” campaign. The promotion uses text messaging to raise funds to benefit local children’s hospitals and offer mobile coupons to consumers who donate.

“Text, Give and Save is an initiative where philanthropy and technology meet,” said Anita Newton, chief marketing officer at Zavers, Kansas City, MO. “The A&P banner of stores, supported by several partners, is launching this unique philanthropic campaign to benefit the Children’s Miracle Network and provide valuable savings for A&P shoppers—a unique win-win in the world of charitable giving. 

“The Text, Give, Save campaign represents a first-of-its-kind by using technology to enable donations and give something back in a totally paperless, environmentally-friendly way to those making the donations,” she said.

“Since mid-2009, Zavers has provided the technology foundation enabling digital incentives—electronic and mobile couponing—for the A&P family of stores.”

A&P, one of the nation’s first supermarket chains, operates 429 stores in eight states and the District of Columbia under the following trade names: A&P, Waldbaum’s, Pathmark, Best Cellars, The Food Emporium, Super Foodmart, SuperFresh and Food Basics.

Children’s Miracle Network is an organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for 170 children’s hospitals throughout North America.

Text, Give, Save
Customers at A&P, Pathmark, Waldbaum’s, SuperFresh and The Food Emporium stores can text the keyword KIDS to the short code 90999 from their mobile phone to send a $5 donation to the Children’s Miracle Network.

Once the donation is confirmed, participants are rewarded with $10 in coupons, which are automatically loaded onto their club card, for various Procter & Gamble products, including Always, Bounty, Cascade, Charmin, Crest, Gillette, Olay, Pampers, Pantene and Tide.

The idea is that customers can save money while giving back to those in need.

The Text, Give, Save campaign will be offered at all stores within the A&P family of supermarkets in the Northeast, including A&P, Pathmark, Waldbaum’s, SuperFresh and The Food Emporium, through July 22.

The promotion capitalizes on key consumer trends, including text messaging, online giving and coupon usage.

A&P, P&G, Childrens Miracle Network, Zavers and mGive are using a variety of in-store marketing tactics to communicate the Text, Give, Save program.

Tactics include a full-page in A&P’s store sale circulars, in-store shelf tags provided by Vestcom, receipt messaging via Catalina and digital media including Web, email, Facebook and Twitter.

Ms. Newton said that SMS is an optimal channel for donations because it appeals to a new generation of consumers who want a method that is convenient, secure and accessible.

“SMS is convenient, the process takes seconds and users don’t have to wait on the phone, mess with mail or stamps  or be tethered to a computer,” Ms. Newton said. “Also, the mobile donation platform mGive is safe so users don’t have to worry about security or privacy issues.”

Further, nearly 90 percent of consumers have text-capable phones, making it an optimal platform for giving, according to Zavers.

“We have seen tremendous growth in mobile giving recently,” Ms. Newton said. “Consumers have donated millions via SMS to benefit such worthy causes as Hurricane Katrina and most recently the Gulf oil spill.

“A&P’s Text, Give, Save program builds on this interest by going one step further,” she said. “Consumers have a unique opportunity to give money to Children’s Miracle Network.

“In return, using Zavers technology, A&P will provide consumers with a tangible benefit—consumers who have donated receive $10 in valuable P&G digital coupons.”

A&P continues to see good, steady mobile coupon growth, according to Zavers.

“Redemptions for mobile coupons are up to 20 percent and these numbers should only improve as the retailer deploys mobile promotions throughout the year,” Ms. Newton said.

Final take
Dan Butcher, Mobile Commerce Daily