Ibersol, which operates quick-service restaurant franchises such as Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King and Pans & Co., has launched its first mobile loyalty initiatives to enhance its customer relationship marketing strategy.

Ibersol tapped Cardmobili to develop a mobile application for consumers to use as a loyalty card. The mobile loyalty card program for Pans & Co. was first launched across Spain and Portugal to test the effectiveness of the program.

“As a first project, Ibersol decided to run some campaigns for the Pans brands that would leverage Cardmobili’s mobile loyalty platform,” said Helena Leite, CEO of Cardmobili, Porto, Portugal.

To support the new mobile loyalty program, Pans ran an online banner ad campaign promoting specific deals and the application.

For example, Pans ran banners promoting a free dessert with the purchase of any meal to drive consumers in-store.

Here is a banner ad promoting the Pans mobile loyalty initiative:

Pans also used traditional in-store signage to let consumers know about the application and its benefits. The company is using the application to push promotions out to customers and drive them in-store for repeat visits.

So far, this is Ibersol’s first mobile initiative and now, due to the success of the Pans mobile loyalty program, it is considering doing similar programs with its other brands.

The company is considering ways to create offers and deals tailored to specific demographic segments. It is currently collecting customer trend data that will help it run these types of programs on the Cardmobili platform.

The restaurant operator is looking to integrate discounts and mobile marketing programs across the portfolio of Ibersol brands.

“Pans’ customer demographic skewed a little younger than some of Ibersol’s other brands and it was a perfect pilot for the solution that is focused on mobile phones, since younger people are more connected to their mobile phone,” Ms. Leite said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Commerce Daily