Mondelez International?s Oreo has rolled out a mobile messaging application exclusive to Nokia's Lumia Windows Phone that is designed to connect consumers through constellations.

The Oreo Skies mobile app helps the company put a twist on traditional mobile messaging. Oreo has been building up its mobile efforts lately as part of Mondelez's strategy to beef up its digital portfolio.

?Oreo has teamed up with Nokia to create a celestial app exclusively designed for Lumia smartphones that gives Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 users a chance to connect with others in a never-been-done before way ? through the magic of the stars,? said Edward Kaczmarek, director of innovation and emerging technology at Mondelez International. 

?As part of the Mondelez international mobile strategy, the Oreo skies mobile app allows people to celebrate the kid inside while connecting with others,? he said.

How it works
The app uses augmented reality technology, which lets users write messages and attach them to actual constellations revealed within the app.

The company believes that this initiative will help connect users with each other in a way that has never been done before.

The Oreo Skies app leverages the Nokia Lumia?s motion sensors, date and time parameters to replicate when and where the constellations of the northern hemisphere will be positioned in the sky.

When users tilt their device up and around, the constellations appear and serve as a user interface for messaging to their friends on Facebook.

Consumers can touch a star in a constellation and it opens up like an Oreo cookie to be a message container to one or more friends of Facebook.

When a friend receives the message in the app, they are guided to that new message ? represented by a bright shining star ? by a compass in the upper right corner of the display.

The user can tap on the star to view the message.

Oreo is encouraging consumers to send messages through a form of gamification that it calls ?Own the Moon.?

The user who sends the most messages in a given month gets to post a special message on the moon, which is represented by a giant, open-face Oreo cooking in the sky.

Furthermore, there is a leaderboard that will capture all the activity in the Oreo Skies universe.

For every message that is sent from the app, users get a point on the leaderboard.

While browsing the skies, periodically a shooting star will blast across the screen. If a user spots a shooting star and taps on it, a graphic appears that links to an Oreo promotion, exclusive content and recipe.

?Oreo is sharing this news across the media, and among its social media channels including our more than 31 million fans on Facebook globally,? Mr. Kaczmarek said.

?In addition, Oreo Skies will be featured at this weekend?s Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, which brings together mobile leaders from around the globe,? he said.

Making it live
Through the app users can also search for specific stars and friends are able to retrieve their message by following a compass in the upper-right corner of the display.

In addition to messages from friends, users can uncover messages from the Oreo.

While browsing the skies, app users will periodically see shooting stars cross their screens, which carry special offers, recipes or incentives.

Fans can also access celestial facts and video content direct from famed astrophysicist Dr. Robert Kirshner, Clowes Professor of Science at Harvard University.

There are three different sizes of live tiles ? small, medium and large.

Once the live tile appears, users can tap or hold the icon and expand or collapse it to all three sizes.

From there, users will see an Own the Moon leaderboard that will display the current standings on the large and medium tile size.

Moreover, the tiles will animate and flip around.

As part of the Nokia Lumia exclusivity, there is also a feature that lets consumers lock their device and check out the Oreo Skies-themed lock screen.

The company is listing one constellation along with a relevant fact on the lock screen. The screen refreshes with a constellation and associative fact every 30 minutes.

?American consumers spend more than 23 percent of their daily media consumption on a mobile device,? Mr. Kaczmarek said. ?Yet most marketers dedicate less than one percent of their media spend to mobile. 

?This is a huge gap, and it's driving us at Mondel?z International to think differently about consumer engagement and path to purchase,? he said. ?Oreo Skies is just one example of how we are engaging with consumers in the mobile space.

?We are always looking for innovative ways to connect and engage with consumers, and mobile is high on our list of priorities.?

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York