The location-based ads are running inside the Pandora iPhone application. Pinkberry has been ramping up its mobile efforts lately with payments and a loyalty app.

“For the current campaign, we want to connect with new Pinkberry customers and gain trial of our new Pinkberry Greek yogurt,” said Laura Jakobsen, senior vice president of marketing and design at Pinkberry, Los Angeles.

“With location-based ads, we can capture the attention of the right audience within a mile of our store,” she said.

“Immediately afterwards, we can provide the ability to call or map in one touch. The communication is timely, it is relevant and it is useful.”

In-store trial
Copy for the Pinkberry mobile banner reads, “$1 off greek yogurt. Get coupon.”

The ads also show consumers how many miles away they are from a Pinkberry location.

When consumers tap on the mobile ad, a landing page is brought up with four tabs that run across the top of the page – home, map, details and call.

Under the maps tab, consumers can view the address and directions to the nearest Pinkberry store.

Additional information about the product is under the details tab, and consumers can choose to call the local store via the ad.

Tying a coupon to a location-based ad is a great way for Pinkberry to drive in-store trial of a new product.

Additionally, by giving consumers a click-to-call option and a map help consumers find the store directly from the ad unit.

Mobile past
Last year, Pinkberry partnered with Google to let consumers pay for products via Google Wallet technology (see story).

Then later in 2012 Pinkberry rolled out its own smartphone application that serves as a hub for the brand’s loyalty program. Consumers can also pay for items via the app (see story).

This year, Pinkberry’s mobile initiatives center around four priorities, per Ms. Jakobson.

In addition to location-based ads, Pinkberry’s other three big focuses are mobile search, promoting its app as a part of its loyalty program and using mobile to gather real-time feedback from consumers.

“Pinkberry’s commitment to the mobile space has everything to do with relevancy,” Ms. Jakobsen said.

“Customers are developing expectations and habits on how they consume media and how they want to interact with brands,” she said.

“Mobile is simply more in demand – therefore, we will continue to innovate developing mobile interactions that meet consumer expectations for utility, speed and convenience.”

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