The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) recently announced the finalists for its Fifth Annual Global Mobile Marketing Awards. The impressive list of campaigns from across the globe included 17 entries from the Asia Pacific region, showcasing the market's potential as a hotbed for innovation in mobile marketing.
The shortlisted campaigns from the region come from MMA member companies such as Procter & Gamble Philippines, 2ergo India, Tribal DDB India, The Hyperfactory, Affle, Publicis Groupe's Phonevalley, AURA Interactive, Phoneytunes.com, Pepsico International-Philippines, Group M --Maxus, TELiBrahma Convergent Communications and Madhouse.
Here we take a look at one of the campaigns in the running for the MMA Display Award. Phonevalley, a leading mobile marketing agency, created a comprehensive mobile campaign around the F1 race for the sport-lifestyle brand Puma. The campaign was centered around a global mobile website featuring Puma's 'F Wan' operation (Wan in Chinese means 'play'). The site introduced the Puma brand and culture in an original and fun way. The campaign capitalised on adver-gaming opportunities and offered mobile users the chance to play an F1 battle car racing game that could be downloaded on the Puma mobile site.
To increase the buzz, Phonevalley built a gaming bonus system where players who submitted their scores by SMS or forwarded the game to friends would earn additional points. Every week, the top three players were awarded with Puma F1 shoes, bags and hats.
Speaking of the campaign being chosen as a finalist for the MMA Awards, Phonevalley CEO and Publicis Groupe's head of mobile Alexandre Mars said: "We are honoured our mobile campaign for Puma in China was recognized by the MMA jury members! Being a finalist is a fantastic achievement for the worldwide mobile strategy we have been building for Puma over the last two years, and the Chinese market is undoubtedly a fantastic opportunity for global brands to successfully engage their consumers."
Brand objectives
Puma has 10-year history in motorsports and a long list of sports marketing assets in the world of Formula One racing.
- Keep Puma fans engaged anytime
- Build Puma as China's No.1 motorsports lifestyle brand
- Recruit Puma fans and educate them about the Puma culture
- Target fashionable urban youth between 18 and 35 years old
- Increase brand awareness in China
Campaign period
- September to October 2008
Partner
Strategy
- Create a comprehensive mobile campaign around a major sports event in China: the F1 race in Shanghai
- Launch a global mobile website to feature Puma's 'F Wan' operation and introduce the Puma brand and culture
- Capitalize on adver-gaming opportunities and offer users the chance to play a Puma F1 battle car racing game that can be downloaded on the Puma mobile site
- Increase the buzz through a gaming bonus system
- Drive consumers to stores: a store locator function helps identify the closest Puma retailer
- Increase ROI with mobile couponing : as soon as players downloaded the mobile game, they were sent a Puma MMS coupon to redeem a mobile phone toy accessory in any of the 350 Puma stores in China
- Additional content: in-store promotions details; free and valuable gifts (set of Puma F1 toys theme to personalize users' mobile screens and wallpapers)
Massive mobile media plan
- Display on the top three Chinese mobile portals: QQ, 3g.cn and Kong.net
- SMS short-codes integrated in all Puma OOH and print ads
- WAP push
- SMS mobile search: mobile users who search for any sport related information are sent an SMS which includes a direct link to the Puma mobile site
- MMS couponing
Results
- 195,000 unique visitors on the WAP site
- 185,000 new qualified contacts for Puma's database
- 150,000 downloads (game, themes, wallpapers)
- 70,000 coupons
- 65 percent CTR on Puma's database WAP push
- 85 million page impressions
Rohit Dadwal is managing director, Asia Pacific, for the Mobile Marketing Association.
