It's no secret that mobile marketing has experienced greater success up to this point overseas than here in the United States. RegiSoft is a mobile industry pioneer that was present for the launch of mobile marketing in Europe and the Pacific Rim when the concept originated in 1999. Its U.S. subsidiary, Pop Solutions, is bringing the company's knowledge and technologies to the States. We talked with Pop Solutions' Executive VP Joe Gorelick to learn more about what's happening in mobile, and what it takes to implement a successful mobile campaign.
Joseph G. Gorelick is executive vice president of Pop Solutions.
Dawn Anfuso: A Forrester report that came out recently indicated that among emerging platforms, mobile is the most promising, but that marketers are taking a wait-and-see attitude, wanting others to experiment first. From your perspective, what is the status of mobile marketing in North America?
Joe Gorelick: We would tend to agree with Forrester. While still somewhat nascent, the trend is moving forward with ad agencies and carriers showing increased interest and acceptance. Major brands have begun embracing mobile marketing spurred on by usage statistics. In the United States, 70.2 million mobile users sent a text message according to M:Metrics. Ovum reports that mobile advertising is projected to grow from an estimated $46 million this year to $1.3 billion in 2010. While we speak of text messages, as evidenced around the world, this is just the beginning as richer content marketing messages will be coming our way with MMS and video.
Anfuso: What needs to happen for mobile marketing to be successful?
Gorelick: The message must be something that the individual opts-in for, and it must be personalized to be most effective. For example, if I opt-in for mobile coupons and messages from a pharmacy chain, I want targeted information for the products I use rather than for the pharmacy's entire circular with non-relevant product information. Moreover, people in advertising and media need to know what mobile marketing is and what it is not. Mobile is an adjunct to traditional marketing and advertising channels -- such as print, internet or digital signage in public locations -- and will not always be successful as a stand-alone.
Anfuso: Can you provide some examples of successful mobile marketing campaigns?
Gorelick: In Luleå, Sweden, 2,500 consumers received a mobile discount coupon for a McDonald's hamburger and 25 percent of the targeted users redeemed the offer. The participating McDonald's broke its sales turnover records during this test period and jumped to the top of the McDonald's league table in Sweden.
The Levi's "Gold Rush" campaign aired a TV spot during the Super Bowl offering viewers a chance to win a pair of diamond-encrusted jeans valued at $150,000. Participants responded with text messages to enter the promotion, and were then led to the Levi's website to follow clues to help them "find" the jeans. On the day the ad ran, 230,000 text messages were received; 20 percent of that number visited the website, 9 percent visited a Levi's store and 8 percent purchased a Levi's product as a result.
Another example is Heineken's "Champions League" campaign. As one of the official sponsors of the International Champions League, Heineken distributed scratch cards to bar patrons with a code to be sent via text message to participate in a raffle to win a variety of prizes. By texting a response, the consumer could browse offline the Champions League's agenda, upcoming games and events. The last two months the redemption rate of the agenda was 68 percent of the participants, which met the company's branding goal.
The Lincoln Mercury division of Ford desired to target the urban market to increase sales in that segment. The automotive company decided to go with a mobile segment to its overall marketing campaign. The company recognized that the African American community represents the highest penetration of mobile phones at 74 percent in the United States. Lincoln partnered with the rock group New Edition for a series of concert tours where Lincoln offered its new Zephyr model as a prize.
By using mobile, a two-way interaction took place between the brands and their customer base. Many mobile contacts were made with an average of eight messages per mobile device. Ford, via this mobile component and its Lincoln Lounge site, was able to put the "brand in the palm of their hand" with downloadable New Edition co-branded wallpapers. New Edition learned, too, which of its songs were most popular via downloadable ringtones, and the band was able to harvest fan-preferred content information that may be used in the band's next CD release.
The data captured during these processes provides direct, tangible insight into what the consumer desires. This data can then be harvested over multiple programs so as to provide the right message to the right people at the right time.
Next: Customer reaction and how to employ a successful mobile campaign.
