Top 10 mobile ad campaigns from H1 2013
August 9, 2013
Brands and marketers undoubtedly stepped up their mobile advertising efforts during the first half of 2013 with campaigns tied to solid results that are likely to continue throughout the remaining portion of the year. Additionally, a bigger focus on rich media, tablets, social media and native advertising points to marketers increasingly thinking beyond basic static banner ads.
Here are the top 10 marketing and commerce advertising campaigns from the first half of 2013, in alphabetical order.
Adidas Philippines decided to use rich media to highlight a new product launch earlier this year.
To promote its new Boost shoe, Adidas launched a rich media campaign that let consumers play a mobile game. The game was meant to stimulate the different types of terrain and conditions that the shoe can hold up in.
The athletic shoe brand partnered with iProspect Philippines and InMobi on the campaign with findings pointing towards the effectiveness of rich media in keeping consumers’ attentions.
The rich media mobile game
The average user time engagement with the ad was more than 60 seconds.
Additionally, the campaign generated a 1.27 percent click-through-rate, and the peak daily click-through-rate was 2.02 percent.
The average click-through-rate on iOS devices totaled .97 percent with the Android version bringing in a 1.64 percent click-through-rate.
The campaign generated 1,220,346 impressions with 672,054 coming from iOS devices and 548,292 coming from Android devices.
Moreover, the advertising campaign racked up 15,478 clicks.
McDonald’s showcases Instagram campaign through mobile
McDonald’s is one of the few marketers that consistently relies on mobile advertising to drive product trials and in-store traffic.
The fast food giant took its efforts to the next level in March with a campaign that encouraged consumers to snap pictures of their favorite meals and share them on Instagram as part of a marketing campaign to relaunch its famous Big Macs to a young, social media-heavy audience.
In addition to sharing pictures on Instagram, consumers could also browse through a gallery of photos.
McDonald's bets on Instagram
McDonald’s worked with Kargo and OMD Chicago to execute the campaign, and ads ran within mobile sites of publications including Us Magazine, Spin and Billboard.
A mobile ad campaign such as this one shows the growing role that mobile has played in bolstering the social media presences of brands this year.
National Geographic Channel targets tablet users to drive co-viewing
In February, National Geographic Channel took a unique approach to co-viewing with a mobile advertising campaign that drove tune-ins for a documentary about President Lincoln.
National Geographic Channel worked with Millennial Media and mediahub/Mullen on a tablet-only campaign that leveraged at-home Wi-Fi networks.
The day that the program premiered, creative began running to target at-home tablet users. Once the program began, the creative changed to give consumers a co-viewing experience.
For example, the mobile ad’s video and text dynamically updated as the show aired to reflect different scenes in the program.
The tablet-only creative
By targeting at-home Wi-Fi networks for tablets specifically, the goal behind the campaign was to reach mobile users at home who were most likely to be near a TV and to serve these users additional relevant information via their tablets.
Old Navy spurs mobile shopping through commerce-enabled advertising
Old Navy is one of many brands to try native, rewards-based mobile advertising this year.
In May the brand ran a mobile ad campaign within Session M’s network of mobile applications as an extension of its summer “Camp Old Navy” campaign.
Consumers who interacted with a call-to-action at the bottom of apps could click through to collect mPoints, which are Session M’s digital currencies.
The Old Navy landing page
From there, consumers could watch a sponsored video for 50 mPoints. Consumers then could click-through to shop the season’s top looks from a microsite on Old Navy’s mobile site.
The ad was also set up so that consumers could earn points from sharing content via Facebook and Twitter.
As marketers increasingly look to break out of banner ads that basically squish desktop copy into smaller-sized screens, native advertising has generated a lot of buzz this year as an alternative for marketers, and Old Navy is smart to jump in on the trend.
Pinkberry drives in-store product launch trial via mobile advertising
Frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry launched a location-based ad campaign that served up mobile coupons to lure nearby consumers into stores in April.
The ads ran within the Pandora iPhone app with creative that showed consumers how many miles away they were from a Pinkberry location.
When clicked on, a landing page presented an offer for $1 off of a greek yogurt product. The landing page also included directions and a click-to-call option.
Pinkberry's mobile ad
The coupon was redeemable by showing a screen grab of the ad at the point-of-sale.
As marketers increasingly look to make mobile ads more contextual and relevant to consumers, location and targeted data has been one of the biggest growth areas in the industry this year.
In Pinkberry’s case, consumers are more inclined to interact with the banner ad since it ties together an offer with a specific location.
Quiznos sees 20pc boost in coupon redemption via location-based mobile ad campaign
Similar to Pinkberry, Quiznos also banked on location this year to make a mobile advertising more effective.
Quiznos worked with Sense Networks on a campaign in Portland, OR that targeted consumers who had been at the sandwich chain’s competitors, including Subway and Jimmy John’s within the past 30 days and were within a three-mile radius of a Quiznos location.
In total, Quiznos’ campaign delivered 3.7 million new impressions and saw a 20 percent boost in coupon redemptions compared to similar nationwide campaigns.
Quiznos’ success with this mobile advertising campaign is likely to be shared by other brands through the remainder of 2013 for marketers that harness the power of location-based advertising.
Showtime propels same-day tune-ins via New York Times iPad ad
Earlier this year, Showtime Network launched a takeover ad in the New York Times iPad app to promote the “Ray Donovan” show.
Showtime ran full-page interstitial ads and expandable banners within the New York Times app, and the newspaper publisher claims that it was the first time that a campaign played video within every banner and interstitial ad within its iPad app.
The in-app Showtime experience
What is interesting about the campaign is that it featured a two-and-a-half minute trailer, which is fairly long for a mobile video effort and points to consumers willing to watch longer pieces of video content nowadays.
While the trailer played, consumers could tap on the screen to learn more about the show and its main character.
The ads were developed by Medialets with the media buy handled by OMD.
Target leverages Facebook to bolster downloads for new mobile deals app
Target has invested in mobile advertising for quite some time and is one of the brands that is taking advantage of Facebook’s mobile app install units.
To get the word out about its new mobile deal Cartwheel app, the big box retailer planted sponsored posts within consumers’ mobile Facebook feeds.
The call-to-action showed consumers if any of their friends already used the app, and a click-through pulled in Apple’s App Store where consumers could instantly download it to their device.
Target's sponsored post in Facebook
Through the Cartwheel app, consumers can sign-up for customized deals for products and show a bar code in-store to redeem them.
The more that consumers use the app, the more benefits they unlock.
Yesterday Target announced that Cartwheel has amassed one million users since launching three months ago.
Facebook is proving to be an effective way for brands to get in front of consumers who are likely accessing the site from smartphones and tablets.
In fact, Facebook claims that mobile made up 41 percent of overall ad revenue for the second-quarter of 2013 and could be on track to hit a tipping point as long as the ads are not seen as invasive for consumers (see story).
Taco Bell flaunts Happier Hour campaign through interactive iAd push
Not many brands these days fully take advantage of the interactive opportunities that Apple’s iAd presents, especially with its hefty price tag.
However, Taco Bell proved that it has a grasp on how the ad units can leverage the built-in capabilities of mobile devices if executed correctly.
Taco Bell ran an iAd campaign in April to push awareness of its “Happier Hour” promotion, which offers discounts on drinks in the afternoon.
The ad unit included several tabs to remind consumers about the promotion.
Taco Bell's iAd
For example, a location-based tab could be clicked on to remind consumers of the discounted drinks when they were nearby to a store. The ad also let consumers save a reminder to their device’s calendar or share the promotion to friends and family via an animated GIF email.
Similar to other quick-service restaurants, Taco Bell has turned to mobile advertising many times in the past to drive in-store traffic, but this campaign stands out in particular this year because it leverages a mobile device’s built-in features to actually get a consumer into a restaurant.
Unilever’s Wish-Bone campaign increases brand awareness 122pc
Unilever’s Wish-Bone wanted to try a new type of mobile advertising this year that spurs engagement by asking consumers to type in keywords associated with a brand to unlock content.
Wish-Bone was one of the first brands to work with Solve Media on a campaign to promote its line of Italian salad dressings.
The Wish-Bone ad
Full-page ads and creative played up three key words that Wish-Bone wanted consumers to associate with its product: zesty, tangy and tasty.
The media buy consisted primarily of in-app units and ran within mobile properties of Meredith Corp., Bauer and Sonza.
According to comScore, the Wish-Bone campaign lifted brand awareness by 122 percent and increased purchase intent by 87 percent.
Wish-Bone’s campaign further cements the theme of native advertising and testing new types of ad formats to see what sticks with consumers.
