Mobile Promotions and Location-Based Marketing
Cindy Krum explains mobile couponing, digital proximity and location-based marketing, and creating mobile loyalty programs.
One of the best opportunities in mobile marketing is the capability to build brand awareness and goodwill with your target market. Mobile promotions help customers feel appreciated and, thus, feel more loyal to your brand. With the appropriate customer-tracking systems, loyalty programs can be layered in to create an even closer connection between your customers and your brand. This kind of deep connection can help drive sales, but it will also help create brand evangelists who will endorse your brand to all their friends, which is quite powerful. Mobile promotion is also an ingenious way for companies to reach out to their customers and create a mobile presence without creating and maintaining a mobile website.
The most common mobile promotions begin with SMS, MMS, and proximity marketing messages. These can be followed by coupons, discounts, or promotions that are sent directly to the customers' mobile phones. The coupons or discounts can then be redeemed in a variety of ways. After customers have opted in to your mobile communication, loyalty programs can be developed to optimize your customer interaction at the most granular and personal level. This chapter focuses on using SMS, MMS, and location-based marketing to build a list of potential customers who are interested in receiving marketing messages from you. It then details how to drive sales with mobile coupons and promotions, and finally, how to leverage loyalty programs to create a custom communication strategy to reach your most loyal customers.
Introduction to Mobile Promotions
A 2008 study by Jupiter Research estimated that retailers send out nearly three billion mobile coupons per year worldwide. Mobile couponing, or mCoupons, have yet to be widely adopted in the United States, but they have seen much more success in Europe and Asia. In the United States, problems with delivery and redemption are still being worked out. Despite the complications, mobile couponing is a great way to drive foot traffic to brick-and-mortar stores.
The goal of mCoupons is basically the same as that of traditional coupons: They should drive revenue by encouraging higher volume and repeat sales. They can also help increase product awareness and move overstocked inventory to make room for new, more valuable products. Mobile couponing can be much more tailored to the needs of the specific consumer and less costly than traditional print coupons. For the user, they are also nice because mobile coupons don't have to be clipped and carried around to be redeemed.
The most important consideration when you are developing mobile couponing strategy is the ease of use for the consumers. If the process for sign-up, delivery, and redemption of a coupon is too complicated or time consuming, users will not participate. To develop an effective mobile couponing strategy you must understand the three elements of mobile couponing: coupon messaging, coupon targeting, and coupon delivery and redemption.
What Products Are Right for Mobile Couponing?
Before you get started with mobile couponing, you must assess your goals and expectations. Some products and services are more appropriate for mobile promotions than others. Mobile promotions provided by retailers are much more intuitive than promotions provided by manufacturers. This is because when you are working with a specific retailer, you can ensure that they will have the necessary equipment and training to redeem mobile coupons or discounts at their counters. Because coupons offered by manufacturers can be redeemed at any location that sells the product (for instance a 50¢ off coupon for Velveeta Cheese), there is no way of ensuring a problem-free redemption of the coupon.
Some companies have tried to surmount this obstacle, but their efforts have seen varying success. CellFire, Hothand Wireless, and SingleTouch Interactive have three different models whereby participants can interact with a database of manufacturer coupons (online or through a downloadable application), to choose the manufacturer coupons that they would like from their mobile phone. After coupons are selected, the information is sent to their loyalty account, and redemption happens automatically when the user scans his or her loyalty card at the register.
Mobile coupons from retailers are much simpler. Besides knowing that the retailer will be able to redeem the coupon, there is a lower likelihood that your customers will have more than one or two coupons to redeem during any one transaction. This makes the redemption of the coupon a simpler process and, thus, more rewarding for the consumer and the retailer.
Mobile Coupon Messaging
The most effective and easily redeemable mobile coupons are sent via SMS or MMS. Although it is not yet required by law, the Mobile Marketing Association stringently suggests that users must opt-in to this kind of marketing because their carrier may charge them for the receipt of your text or picture message. This charge must be taken into account when you are crafting your messaging, because the offer must provide enough value to justify the charge to their bill. In the case of text messages, the charge can be around 10¢–15¢ but for picture or multimedia messages (MMS), the charge can be as high as 50¢.
Most mobile coupons are sent via text message, which creates a number of constraints for the marketer. You have only 160 characters (or 70 non-Latin characters), including spaces, to convey your message. Coupons should always provide a clear offer and expiration date. Simple offers with quick expiration periods will promote a faster response, but longer expiration periods will provide a better rate of redemption. Ideally, you should also provide a mechanism for recipients to opt out of future coupons and messages from your company.
Mobile Coupon Targeting
One of the first challenges with mobile couponing in the United States is that there is no consensus regarding the best way to encourage potential customers to opt-in to your marketing messages, thereby ensuring that you are marketing to a targeted list of recipients. Many of the options are still too complicated or intrusive, but there is a clear incentive for companies to find the right balance, and that will probably happen soon. In general, companies can use numerous methods to encourage potential customers to opt-in to your mobile communications and mobile coupons, and a combination of all the methods is usually desirable.
· Text message opt-in—The consumer initiates the opt-in process by texting a keyword to a short code after being presented with the option through some other form of marketing.
· Invitation opt-in—If you already have a database of customer phone numbers, it is generally acceptable to send them one message, requesting that they opt-in to your mobile couponing program. This message should include your company name and instructions for responding to the text message to opt-in. If recipients do not explicitly opt-in they should not be sent further marketing messages. If they do opt-in, a follow-up message should be sent with an initial coupon thanking them for signing up. You should also be sure to include information about how they should respond if they want to stop receiving text communications, as well as a link to view your terms and conditions.
· Online opt-ins—With this method of targeting, people interested in your product or services simply sign up to receive your mobile marketing messages and coupons through your website. They submit their phone number, and then messages and coupons can be sent to them directly from your database. This is just like sending coupons by email, except that the coupons are sent to the user's phone via SMS or MMS. The best practice is to send a text message immediately after the online form has been submitted, thanking users for signing up, verifying that you have permission to send coupons, and including other marketing messages via text messages. If users are signing up for both email and text messages, you will need to send an email confirmation, to complete the opt-in for the email program, and a text message confirmation, to complete the opt-in for the text message program.
· Point of sale opt-in—Billboards and displays in stores can be used to encourage users to opt-in to a mobile couponing program. These messages usually have instructions that tell the shopper to text-message a specific word to a short code that is provided on the signage. Alternately, retailers can collect mobile phone numbers through a specialized device at the purchase counter, or a clerk can input them directly into the company's system at the register.
· Phone call opt-in—A quick and frequently overlooked method of building a targeted list of mobile coupon recipients is to integrate the opt-in process with your phone system. When potential customers call in and are put on hold, you can include a message that encourages them to opt-in to your mobile couponing program while they are on hold, simply by pushing a button on their phone. Although this works only if the caller is calling from a cellphone, it is quite easy to implement because the phone system can automatically detect the caller's mobile phone number and store it to a database. The hold message would simply say something like, "Press 1 to get mobile coupons sent directly to your cellphone." Again, the first message sent to the phone number should be a coupon thanking customers for opting in and giving instructions about how to opt out if they want to stop receiving the messages.
· Email opt-in—If you are doing email marketing, you should also include information about your mobile couponing program in each of the emails that you send, encouraging the recipients either to go to the website to opt-in (include a link to the opt-in page) or to opt-in via text message immediately.
· Microblogging opt-in—Microblogging platforms such as Twitter and Pounce are another way to send mobile coupons and promotions to your clients with minimal overhead or complications. Brands can simply create accounts with the microblogging platform of their choice (Twitter is the most popular in the United States). Users can then opt-in to messages from your company by "following" your brand on the platform. Short messages are then broadcast via the platform to all your followers, and they have opted in to your mobile marketing messages via their default agreement with the microblogging platform. Users can opt-in to receiving your messages via the Web or directly to their mobile phones as text messages. After a brand account has been set up, you can build your list of followers by searching for people who are interested in your product or service. When you friend someone on these networks, many follow you in turn. Automated responses can also be set up using programs such as Twitter-Hawk, and they can be tied to the use of specific key phrases or specific actions taken on the platform. It is advisable to include a personal appeal to your messaging instead of simply relying on automated responses or only including marketing messages in your Twitter feed.
Mobile Coupon Delivery
Mobile coupons can be sent using a variety of technologies. The most common method of mobile coupon delivery is through SMS or MMS based on a list of contracts you already have. Mobile coupons can also be delivered via location-based technology, described in more detail later in the chapter. Regardless of the method of delivery, any mobile couponing delivery should be directed through a database or preference center that identifies potential customers and whether they have opted in to mobile communication. This is also discussed later in this chapter.
Coupon Delivery via Text Messaging (SMS)
In 1991, a Finish company called Radiolinja (now known as Elisa) offered the first mobile data service; the first text message was sent in 1993. Text messaging, otherwise known as Short Message Service (SMS), wasn't used much for marketing in North America until after 2000.
SMS messages can be sent from phone to phone or from computer to phone, or they can be sent from a phone to a "common short code," usually abbreviated to simply "short code." See Figure 6.1 and 6.2. A short code is a five- or six-digit phone number that can be dialed as a destination for a text message. Text messages are then sent to a computer communication system instead of a phone. Short codes can be shared or owned privately by a company.
Figure 6.1 Short codes, such as the one shown here, are becoming more common in mobile marketing.
Figure 6.2 Another example of a short code used in advertising.
If a short code is shared, certain keywords are set up to trigger the parsing activity of the computer system for the short code. The computer communication system that controls the short code is tasked with sending and parsing all the information for the short code. Shared short codes are easy and cheap to get, but can be risky or complicated depending on the types of text responses you expect to get, and how well the computer system is able to parse them.
Dedicated short codes are ideal, especially for big bands, because they allow you to control the branding and capture all the information that is sent to the short code. The disadvantage is that they can be expensive, and the process to acquire them can be time consuming and cumbersome. Common short codes are generally registered or leased, for a period of time, much like a domain name. The body that controls common short codes in the United States is called the CSC Registry and they have a website at www.USShortcodes.com. Once a short code is leased, you must send applications to each of the carriers in the region that your text messaging campaigns targeted, so that your campaign can be reviewed, provisioned and approved by the carrier. Your application must also pass review from the CTIA Monitoring Agent, who evaluates the campaigns adherence to the Consumer Best Practices.
Initially, SMS was used as a way for carriers to communicate with their subscribers. Later, SMS began to take off as a means of person-to-person communication. It offered a significant cost savings over traditional voice calling and allowed recipients to view and respond to the text message at their discretion. In North America, the first cross-carrier SMS marketing campaign was run by Labatt Brewing Company in 2002. Now, in 2009, it is estimated that more than 74% of mobile subscribers are active users of SMS, and more than 90% of the mobile marketing revenue comes from SMS messaging.
Coupon Delivery via Picture Messaging (MMS)
The late 1990s also saw the development of picture messaging, otherwise known as Multimedia Message Service (MMS). MMS is an extension of the SMS messaging standard but uses the WAP coding language to display multimedia content. Picture messages are sent in much the same way as text messages, but they can contain images, timed slideshows, audio, video, and text. The first group to launch an MMS campaign was a carrier out of Europe called Telenor, in 2002.
Picture message marketing has not been widely adopted in North America, partly because mobile carriers charge for both sending and receiving picture messages. The cost is usually 5 to 10 times higher than it would be for a text message, which creates a substantial disincentive for people to remain opted in to that kind of messaging.
The lack of mass adoption of this type of marketing could also be because no sufficient platform can efficiently send bulk MMS messages. Complications caused by discrepancies in the different networks' MMS messaging standards, and different phone-rendering capabilities make deploying a successful picture messaging campaign time-consuming and difficult.
As with email, concerns arise about unwanted SMS and MMS marketing, otherwise known as spam. This is more prolific in countries where carriers are allowed to sell the phone numbers of their subscribers to third-party advertisers. Many mobile carriers in the United States and Europe now police their own networks, to prevent SMS and MMS SPAM from reaching their subscribers. In December 2005, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) outlined Consumer Best Practices Guidelines, which included instructions for SMS marketers. This document is updated twice a year, and is considered the best set of guidelines available in the United States. Be sure to review these guidelines before launching any SMS or MMS marketing campaign. You can find the guidelines here: http://mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf
Mobile spam is covered in more depth in Chapter 13, "Mobile Marketing Privacy, Spam, and Viruses."
Location-Based Couponing
Mobile coupons can also be delivered directly to your device when you respond to a location-based prompt that is part of a Bluetooth or WiFi broadcast, or is embedded in a billboard or display as a QR code or infrared beam. LBS is discussed later in this chapter.
Mobile Coupon Redemption
Mobile coupon redemption is another aspect of mobile couponing for which there has yet to be a consensus. The two basic methods of mobile coupon redemption are through the use of alphanumeric redemption codes and barcode scanners.
· Alphanumeric codes—Redemption codes can be used for both manufacturer and retailer coupons. In this scenario, a redemption code is sent to potential customers via SMS. The message should include information about the coupon and when it expires. When the recipient goes to redeem the coupon, he simply gives the code to the clerk at the register. If your company has an online presence, the recipient should also be able to redeem the coupon when shopping online. The difficulty with this method of redemption is mostly seen if manufacturers have not worked directly with their retailers to ensure consumers' ability to redeem the coupon at their registers.
· Barcode scanners—In Asia, many retailers are equipped with scanners that can read barcodes, known as QR codes, directly from a mobile handset. These are not prevalent in the United States, but that may change as mobile marketing becomes a more powerful force in the industry (see Figure 6.3). In this scenario, coupons are sent as a text message, with a link to the mobile coupon and barcode that can be scanned at the register. Alternately, coupons can be sent as an MMS message that includes the barcode directly in the message.
Figure 6.3 QR codes are more common outside the United States, but that could change soon. Photos courtesy of Maly LOLek, Darko, Ajenbo and Brdall, via Wikimedia Creative Commons License 3.0, a freely licensed media repository and Share Alike 2.0, also a Wikipedia freely licensed media repository.
If you are a retailer and you can ensure that all your retail locations have the equipment required to scan barcodes off phones, then this can be a good strategy. However, if you are a manufacturer, ensuring quick redemption of these coupons becomes more difficult. Mobile marketers who are launching campaigns in a region where mobile barcode scanners are not ubiquitous should include an alphanumeric code with the barcode message, to ensure that recipients will be able to redeem the coupon.
In either redemption scenario, you can choose to send the same message to everyone or you can choose to segment your message to learn more about your customers. In some cases, you might want to run an A/B test to see what offers recipients find more compelling. To do that, you write two different promotional messages that are each linked to different redemption codes. When coupons are redeemed, you can quickly and easily see which marketing message was more compelling and then use that information to guide future marketing messages.
If you have a loyalty program in place, you can also use information from your loyalty program to send the same message to different types of customers. The catch is that messages sent to different customer types contain different redemption codes. This allows you to track the individual segment's response to the same marketing message. If you segment your customers based on their average annual spending, gender, or zip code, and give each group a different redemption code, you can learn which groups are more responsive to your marketing message.
You can also segment messages to determine which method of delivery is most effective for your customer base by sending one group an alphanumeric promotion code and the other a link to a mobile Web coupon or a scannable bar code.
Digital Proximity and Location-Based Marketing
Obviously, one of the most valuable aspects of mobile marketing is that the phone is with its owner all the time. Many brick-and-mortar stores may have had a hard time using the traditional Internet to drive foot traffic, but location-based marketing turns the tables and gives them an incredible opportunity to get people into stores (evaluated in the industry as cost per pair of feet, or CPPoF). Mobile promotions reach potential customers when they are most likely to make a purchase. Location-based services (LBS, sometimes also called near LBS, or NLBS) are digital systems that broadcast digital messages to enabled devices within a specific radius or proximity. According to Robert McCourtney, from Metamend, the following advantages can be seen from location and proximity marketing (paraphrased here):
A captured target—The consumer is already in or near your place of business. A customer is much more likely to come through your door if a competitor's store is a 20-minute drive away but your store happens to be right around the corner from where they are standing (and you have what they are looking for).
Increased impulse buying—Real-time delivery of advertising can prompt benefits of immediate response—for example, "Come in within the next 30 minutes and receive 20% off your meal."
Development of one-to-one relationship marketing—Consumer purchasing history can be examined, thereby enhancing future marketing messages.
Direct marketing spending effectiveness—True targeting of promotional materials, meaning materials are delivered electronically and on demand, as required. There's no hard copy waste or excess printing inventory.
Psychological nurturing—The consumer feels like a somebody, building brand recognition and loyalty.
Increased return on investment (ROI)—Repeat or additional consumer purchases during a visit. Time-based incentives or promotions can be sent to increase the total value of the sale.
Proximity and Location-Based Marketing Technology
For retailers, marketers, and independent advertisers, proximity and location-based marketing efforts generally leverage one of five technologies described in detail in upcoming sections of this chapter—Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), and ultra-wide band signals (UWB).
NOTE
Location-based marketing can also be done in coordination with carriers. Mobile phone carriers can determine where their subscribers are based on GPS data from the phone, or based on the triangulation of radio signals sent to and from the phone. In this model, advertisers work directly with the carrier to determine what locations they want to target with location-based messages. The carrier then works with the advertiser to determine pricing, the duration of the campaign, and what the message will say. These types of campaigns generally use text or picture messaging, because the carrier has the ability to send their subscribers text messages, without the cost of the text message appearing on their subscribers' bills, which is very important to the subscribers.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth technology uses radio bands to transmit signals to Bluetooth-enabled devices, including mobile phones, handheld computers, and laptops. With this technology, a small server can be placed in any location and set to send out coupons, barcodes, applications, vCards, vCal, video, MP3, MP4, and text messages (also known as BlueCasting). It generally works in a circular 100m radius, but like all signals, it can be hindered by thick concrete walls or other obstacles. Bluetooth marketing is generally used to simultaneously target shoppers in a retail location, as well as passersby outside the retail location (see Figure 6.4).
Small Bluetooth beacons can be placed just about anywhere—signs, posters, or kiosks, for example—and can broadcast coupons, barcodes, and more.
Bluetooth broadcasting systems can also be set up in posters or worn by promoters, to encourage passersby to enable their Bluetooth devices and download promotional information about a product or event. Some brands are even placing Bluetooth broadcasting systems in bars and clubs, and even at the beach or at music festivals to engage the local audience with mobile media and promotions. When the server is set up, it can be programmed either to broadcast the same message throughout the day or to broadcast different messages at different times of day.
All Bluetooth devices have specific numbers associated with them that never change. When a Bluetooth-enabled handset enters the range of the server, the server captures that number and information about the handset. It then queries a database to ascertain what, if any, communications have been sent to that device previously. The server then sends back content that has been optimized for that particular handset or particular user. Specific protocols and dependencies can be programmed into the system to determine what communication should be sent, and different messages can automatically be sent based on those dependencies.
The European chapter of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has set a list of Bluetooth marketing guidelines for the United States and Europe. These focus mostly on the opt-in process and how to ensure user privacy. The full set of guidelines is available here: http://bloo2.bluetooth-zone.info/files/Proximity-Marketing-Guidelines-V1.0_082808.pdf.
WiFi
WiFi technology basically broadcasts and receives a short-range radio signal to provide Internet access for Web-and WiFi-enabled devices. Companies can use WiFi marketing in a couple different ways to create brand awareness.
You can broadcast a signal to send a message to potential customers in a particular radius, as described earlier with Bluetooth marketing. You can also take a more passive approach and send marketing messages over the WiFi signal while your potential customers access the Internet on their mobile phones or laptops. The simplest of these methods involves including marketing messages in the name of your WiFi network so that when potential customers select your network from the list of available networks, they see your marketing message. This is especially valuable if you suspect that customers are coming to your establishment to take advantage of the WiFi but are not purchasing items or driving any revenue for your company.
CoffeeCompany, a Holland-based chain of coffee shops, used WiFi router names such as OrderAnotherCoffeeAlready, BuyAnotherCupYouCheapskate, BuyaLargeLatteGetBrownieForFree, or TodaysSpecialEspresso1.60Euro. Although they have not yet reported any statistics, they believe that it was a good way to ensure that patrons understood that the WiFi was really not free, and they were expected to buy something.
Another way to use WiFi for your marketing efforts is to create a sponsored WiFi system in which people who login are presented with an advertisement that they must watch before they are given full access to the Internet. The WiFi network operator can also set time limits on the use of the WiFi so that people who use the Internet are prompted to watch another advertisement after they have been online for a certain amount of time. This type of marketing is commonly used in airports and business parks, which have a captive audience of people who want to access the Web.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
RFID technology allows items to be "tagged" to or tracked using radio waves. The tags are very small and require no batteries, so they are frequently used for product tracking and asset management. RFID chips can also be used to store and send information from static displays or posters to phones that are capable of reading an RFID signal. For marketing purposes, RFID is usually used with devices that send a radio frequency to the chip, activating it so that it may pass a message, much like in a Bluetooth transmission. The message can be a URL, phone number, email address or a promotion code.
Near Field Communication (NFC)
Near field communication relies on high-frequency messages to be sent and received from two enabled devices, each sending its own signal. Near field–enabled devices can be used like smart cards that are waved over a reader, but in a marketing scenario, the mobile device is waved over a poster or other off-line marketing material. This type of smart card technology is already widely used in cards that allow people to access locked buildings or garages, in many public transportation systems, and as a form of payment at some stores.
The main way mobile marketers are using this technology is by embedding chips into billboards and displays (see Figure 6.5). The range of NFC is much shorter than Bluetooth, reaching only about an inch and a half, so the person receiving the marketing message must swipe their phone over the sending technology to receive the message. NFC is already being used widely in Japan, where users can pay for goods by swiping their phones over a receiver at a register. Many anticipate that this technology will be widely used for mobile ticketing, mobile payment, personal identification and even used to turn a mobile phone into a building or garage access key.
An RFID tag used at Walmart. Image under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.
Ultra-Wide Band (UWB)
Ultra-wide band communication uses a large portion of the radio spectrum to transmit broadband communication at a short range, requiring very little radio energy. Ultra-wide band transmissions can share a variety of different narrow band radio signals without interfering with those transmissions. Its uses are very similar to those of Bluetooth technology, but it is less widely adopted.
InfraRed (IR)
Infrared is one of the oldest and most limited forms of broadcasting mobile messages. It was tested in the early 1990s but has limited range, reaching only about a foot from the broadcasting beacon. Some laptops and phones are equipped with infrared technology, but it has not been universally adopted by handset manufacturers. These limitations make infrared less desirable than other more universally accepted technologies available.
Creating Mobile Loyalty Programs
Whenever a potential customer interacts with your company via cellphone, you can track those interactions. To do a really great job with mobile promotion, it is vital to create a robust back-end preference center that can be tied to a loyalty program.
Mobile couponing can help you gain a lot of insight about your customers' preferences, and those preferences should drive future messaging. You can track which promotions are most effective at driving purchases from each of your customers, but you can also track what kind of phone they are using, what method of delivery they prefer, where they are redeeming the coupons, and how long they waited before redeeming the coupon.
With a robust preference center and loyalty program, you can ascertain which coupons drove sales for that customer and which ones did not. Then you can begin to replace coupons that have never driven sales from that customer with coupons that he or she has historically redeemed. If a customer always redeems her coupons at one particular store, you can send her notifications when that store is having a sale. If she always shops when a particular sale is going on, you can send her reminders that "the sale is going on now and will end soon," encouraging her to make it into the store more quickly.
The information in your preference center should be used to send messages that are customized to the recipients' redemption and purchase history. When your mobile couponing strategy is tied to specific users, the users' purchase history can be backtracked. This kind of personalization will help you really understand your customers' needs and provide a higher level of service, which will improve the lifetime value of your customer base.
Case Studies
The following six case studies show how major brands have used mobile promotion and location based marketing to reach their target audience.
PSC "S‰" Political Initiative in Catalan, Spain
This was an ingenious and simple use of mobile marketing to bolster a political campaign within a region in Spain. The regional social-democratic party in Catalan, called the PSC, was forwarding an initiative that would give their government more autonomy from Spain. Before the referendum was voted on, the PSC hosted four political rallies where, among other things, they hosted a Bluetooth booth where party members could download videos, images, and ringtones to their mobile phones to help the cause. They could then share these downloads with others, creating a viral effect for the campaign. Whether because of the political beliefs of the voters or the mobile marketing, the initiative for more autonomy passed with 73.9% of the votes.
Whistler Ski Resort
In 2006, Whistler Ski Resort placed Bluetooth- and infrared-enabled posters throughout the London Tube to encourage London commuters to enter a sweepstakes to win a free ski trip to Whistler (see Figure 6.6). The posters did a great job of explaining how to take advantage of the offer using a Bluetooth- or IR-enabled mobile phone. After commuters opted in to receive messaging from the poster, they were sent an animated GIF telling them whether they had won the trip and encouraging them to visit the website. Although the program had some usability problems and probably was an immediate letdown for many participants, Whistler was an early adopter of location-based mobile marketing and did a good job getting visitors' attention and explaining how the technology should be used.
Figure 6.6 Bluetooth-enabled posters in the London Tube for Whistler Ski Resort in Canada.
Corona Beer
A company called HyperTag worked with Corona to help adjust the perception of the brand in Spain, to show that it was still "hip." Corona deployed a team of promoters to bars and clubs around the country, equipped with wearable Bluetooth transmitters that could send bar patrons cool, free branded images. They also were able to send reminders about the 5 p.m. happy hour ("It's Corona time!"). The effort helped shift the brand image, and the calendar reminder helped keep the brand top-of-mind when people were likely to be most receptive to the message.
CNN
In 2007, when CNN wanted to raise awareness for their mobile website, they created Bluetooth- and infrared-enabled posters to be distributed throughout the London City Airport and also the Barcelona 3GSM mobile phone trade fair. When passersby interacted with the poster, they were sent an SMS message that included a link to the mobile site. If passersby preferred, they were able to send a text message to a short code instead of using their Bluetooth technology to get the link sent to their phone. The effort was considered a success, driving much-needed international traffic to the mobile website and positioning CNN as a tech-savvy and mobiley engaged news service. This effort is also a good example of how companies should leverage multiple technologies and methods of digital communication to have the most effective reach with their marketing message.
Nike
In 2009, Nike used an MMS 2D bar-coding campaign to drive awareness for their sponsorship of the "Dew Tour," whose primary sponsor was the Mountain Dew soft drink. The target audience was extreme sports enthusiasts between the ages of 13 and 18, and Nike wanted to make attendees feel more connected with the athletes. To achieve that goal, event attendees were encouraged to take pictures of 2D barcodes and send them as an MMS to a short code that would respond by sending back videos and information about the athlete featured in the billboard or poster that hosted the 2D code. All the content was automatically optimized for the handset that had sent the MMS, which made it a very good user experience.
This strategy was similar to a QR coding strategy, but QR code readers are not common features of American mobile phones; instead, they processed the codes after they were sent in as an MMS. This method prevented attendees from having to download a QR code reader before interacting with the media. The campaign was so successful that Nike is looking at integrating similar initiatives into all aspects of the marketing mix in 2010.
Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines is the largest foreign airline in Japan. They wanted to reach out to their Japanese demographic to show them that they were tech-savvy and understood the Japanese culture, so they created a QR code campaign to collect email addresses of their passengers. Billboards with QR codes were positioned throughout urban Tokyo. The campaign did a lot to create the brand association that Northwest was looking for and also generated a lot of positive PR and buzz about the campaign. The mobile website visits were 35% above the target for the initiative, and the campaign was extended as a result.
POST by Bijay Thapa.
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