Red Bull is targeting its core demographic of college-aged consumers with an initiative that aims to increase brand awareness through an interactive mobile game.

The Red Bull mobile game is part of a campaign that also includes a Web component to let users play a game that incorporates the brand?s products. Advertisements that promote the game are running inside the Spotify iPhone application.

?As we all know, college-aged consumers are all about their mobile phones,? said Cezar Kolodziej, CEO/president of Iris Mobile, Chicago.

?Mobile is the only device they interact with 24/7 ? not email or television,? he said. ?Leveraging this very personal engagement is a wise way to spend marketing budgets.?

Mr. Kolodziej is not affiliated with Red Bull. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Red Bull did not respond to press inquiries.

Mobile energizer
The Red Bull ads contain a 15-second audio clip and landing page. They run as breaks between songs in Spotify?s ad-supported radio feature.

The campaign?s tagline is ?Nobody ever wishes they?d slept more during college.?

The landing page also promotes Red Bull?s products as being available on Amazon.

When users tap on the landing page, they are directed to the site http://backtoschool.redbullusa.com, which is optimized for mobile devices.

From there, consumers are encouraged to play a game where they scroll through college-themed scenes and try to find cans of Red Bull. In order to move through the game?s four levels, consumers must find a hidden can of Red Bull in different areas of a college campus including a gym, library and dorm room.

Once consumers have found all of the cans, they are prompted to either play the game again or share the link on Facebook.

Red Bull?s target demographic is young consumers, making a mobile game a great way to interact with users. Similarly, partnering with Spotify on the campaign is most likely a smart move for the company since it is an app that the company?s core users interact with regularly.

Social maven
Earlier this year, Red Bull ran its first Spotify mobile campaign to promote a summer-themed social media contest.

The ads connected to a mobile site where users could upload a photo that represented their favorite summer activity by connecting to their Facebook account. Once a photo was submitted, users received an email with a coupon that could be printed at either a Duane Reade or Walgreens location to receive a free four pack of Red Bull (see story).

Additionally, the brand ran a mobile-optimized campaign last year to drive registrations of the Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship Event. The mobile component brought in ten percent of all event registrations (see story).

In addition to mobile, Red Bull also has a strong social media presence, which comes across in the company?s mobile campaigns as well.

In this case, letting consumers share the link on Facebook lets consumers spread the word about the campaign, resulting in more impressions and interactions.

Social media access on mobile devices continues to grow and marketers are increasingly tying the two marketing channels together to better reach consumers.

?Context and timing are two major factors making mobile the most attractive channel in advertising space all together,? Mr. Kolodziej said.

?This is why mobile becomes such a powerful tool for marketers and advertisers,? he said. ?There is no other advertising channel today that can take advantage of the right context at the right time better than mobile.?

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