How the Food Network channel, FoodNetwork.com and Sprint/Nextel used an integrated marketing campaign to reach mobile moms.

The Food Network channel, FoodNetwork.com and Sprint/Nextel are embarking on a second phase of an integrated marketing campaign targeting mobile moms to encourage them to increase their use of "data" products, attendees learned during a breakout session this week at the iMedia Summit in Amelia Island, Fla.

Last holiday season, Sprint/Nextel and Scripps Networks, which operates the Food Network, put together a program tethering TV, online and mobile components to deliver holiday recipes to busy moms, which included the delivery of shopping lists of those recipes via Sprint mobile phone service.

Phone companies are increasingly looking to drive greater use of "data" applications such as text messaging, information services and interactive applications such as polling. Besides educating and encouraging moms to use Sprint data services, the telco also had as a goal to generate increased sales of data-enabled handsets to this demographic.

Stephanie Wilroy, group manager of interactive marketing for Sprint/Nextel, said the telco's doctrine of "mile-deep" integrated marketing using offline, online and mobile data usage has proven effective most especially in its sports channel efforts including programs with the NFL, NASCAR and the NHL. But the company felt that moms, especially, were an untapped demo who relied heavily on cell phones, but as yet had not adopted the use of their phones for data services that could help them in their busy lives.
 
"We needed a program that would give them a compelling reason to use these types of services," Wilroy said, while also creating an easy-to-learn application that could introduce them to using phones for things other than simple voice applications.

During the fall and winter holiday period of 2005, Sprint/Nextel teamed up with FoodNetwork.com to create a service whereby the site offered some 1,000 holiday recipes online with a mobile application. The landing page for the program offered links to recipe categories and also introduced visitors to the Sprint program. Visitors could peruse the recipes and, if they saw one they wanted to use, (and they were Sprint customers), they could then also input their cell phone numbers to request to have a shopping list of the ingredients for the recipe sent in text form to their phones for use as they traveled up and down the aisles of their local market. They could also add items to that list.

Allison Kennedy, director of New York interactive sales for Scripps Networks, noted that FoodNetwork.com created a strong Sprint phone icon that was used on the landing page and all recipe pages directing users to the service. The landing page also explained to the uninitiated, how to use the service and the benefits of it. The website also ran ads promoting the program and linking to the landing page. Meanwhile, Scripp's Food Network created 20-second promotional TV spots for the program promoting the online and mobile components. The spots ran 20 times over the course of the holiday period, generating about 12 million impressions, tripling page views on the program site during the periods when the spots aired.

The results of the campaign saw more than 103,000 visitors to the holiday website, more than 12,000 of which downloaded shopping lists of recipes to their phones. Sprint received some 6.6 million total integrated impressions from the campaign.

"We're still in the training mode" with the targeted demographic, noted Kennedy, who noted that this was the first time a Scripps Networks property had combined  TV, online and wireless into an integrated campaign for a marketer client. She added that other Scripps properties such as HGTV were developing similar programs as well.

Wilroy agreed, saying, "This is really the basis for the first step in training moms toward greater use of data services."

The partners have now expanded the pilot to expand on the opportunities for seasonal promotions, Kennedy said, noting that they have learned it's important to rotate recipes every three months to keep the initiative fresh for users. Thus, going forward, busy moms will be able to find "everyday entertaining" recipes to download during the April through June period; July through September will see a "tailgating" theme; November is all about Thanksgiving, and December will include the "12 Days of Cookies."

While Scripps developed its own TV spots for the initial program, this year Sprint is committing to an expanded TV media buy in support of the service.

"We feel that the wireless platform can truly be a key component in delivering on integrated marketing campaigns," said Wilroy.

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