Benchmark for mobile marketing

The 2011 MMA Global Mobile Marketing Awards - The Smarties - presented last November show where the bar for mobile advertising lies internationally. We present some remarkable examples, starting with the winner: Old Navy. Because it only operates on the American continent, hardly anyone here is familiar with the clothing brand belonging to the largest US clothing retailer, The Gap, which has its own chain of stores. The focus is on discount and is aimed at an audience that is nevertheless fashion-conscious. Because music and fashion go hand in hand, a new campaign with the theme "Old Navy Records" was chosen with its own hit songs. The aim was to appeal to Old Navy's target customer group, women aged between 25 and 35, who are typically also mothers. This may not seem particularly unusual, but it has a twist: music was used to enable the use of Shazam, the music identification service for cell phones and smartphones. This service was launched in London ten years ago to identify music tracks using a database of acoustic fingerprints. So if you hear a popular but unknown song on the radio, you call the Shazam number (that's how the money comes in), let the service listen in briefly and receive the answer by text message. Anyone who identifies an Old Navy song with Shazam can use the corresponding app to buy the fashion items presented in the commercial immediately via cell phone, receive special offers and giveaways as well as styling tips. This works for TV and radio commercials, but also in Old Navy stores, on Facebook and on YouTube.

App for brand management

The American sporting goods supplier Converse used augmented reality for its campaign, which won an award in the brand care category. With "The Sampler App", sports shoes can be tried on virtually. All you have to do is point the camera of your smartphone at your own foot, adjust the shoe size and you can try out different models, i.e. display them. Once a suitable model has been found, a snapshot can be saved and shared with friends on Facebook, for example, to get their opinion. Of course, the shoes can also be purchased via the app.

Creative until the contract is signed

One of the largest banks in Turkey, Garanti Bank, wanted more of its customers to use online banking. Over the years, the bank had acquired 1.6 million online customers, but was unable to increase this figure any further. So the customer database was searched for customers who had an e-mail address but had never used online banking. Using their name, email address and cell phone number, a personalized email was created for each of these customers, which they found in their inbox one fine morning. It contained a link to a video with a news spot in which the last person in the world who does not yet use online banking is reported in all seriousness: And it is the recipient himself - the displayed name leaves no doubt about it. But it gets even better: while the video is running, the customer in question is called on their cell phone so that the news presenter can interview them. If the caller answers, the commercial continues with the question of what they have to say. And then comes the question: "Do you promise to use Garanti online banking to save time and money? Yes or no?" This answer is sent to a voice recognition system, which evaluates it and then sends the customer a suitable e-mail. Result: 21 percent of customers surveyed in this way gave a technically recognizable positive answer and signed up for an online banking contract.

Mobile marketing for promotion

The "Find Red" campaign for M&M (a competitor to the chocolate lentils known as Smarties) received a Smartie in Canada. The five colorful talking candies are looking for their outspoken colleague Red. In anticipation of Google's Streetview images, the advertisers hid a head-sized portrait of Red thirty times in the Greater Toronto Area so that he would be captured by the camera vehicles. Three of them worked and were available on Google Maps. But where? That was the main challenge of the campaign. The latest clues were shared and discussed via social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. And Red checked in at various locations in the city via Foursquare and left clues as to his whereabouts. This also included wild posters with QR codes that could be analyzed by smartphones for further clues. And further clues could be read from the barcodes on the packaging. The main prize for participants in this digital treasure hunt was a red Smart (sic!). But the campaign also won: not only three Lions in Cannes, but also 15.6 million impressions across all media channels in thirty days. The remarkable thing about this campaign, however, is that not a single dollar was invested in conventional media (TV, radio, print, etc.), but it was carried out where the target groups are most frequently on the move: on social media and on the street.

Maddy brings industry overview

How does mobile advertising in Switzerland compare with the showcase examples from abroad? Maddy was created to investigate this question journalistically. On this web platform (www.maddy.ch), creators and professionals who specialize in mobile advertising can register their companies and campaigns. This creates an online overview of the various mobile advertising players and their activities, which is useful for the entire industry. If particularly interesting aspects or individual cases emerge on Maddy, these will be presented in more detail in future articles on the current focus topic of mobile in separate articles. We hope that this crowdsourcing attempt will find broad support and will report on Maddy's progress on the Online News website of Werbewoche.

Christoph J. Walther
 

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