NEW YORK – A panel at Mobile Marketing Day, hosted by Mobile Marketer and the DMA, featured mobile marketing case studies from brands such as Macy’s, Domino’s and Unilever’s Dove Hair Care.

The panel featured top executives from mobile marketing companies Hipcricket, Ping Mobile and Impact Mobile and was moderated by Mobile Marketer’s Mickey Alam Khan. The three panelists were in agreement that SMS has the greatest reach of any mobile channel because almost all mobile phones can send and receive text messages.

“A brand just getting into mobile should take a phased approach,” said Eric Harber, president and chief operating officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA. “The best thing is to get started, learn from that and expand upon it.
“Make sure it fits into the context of the rest of your marketing goals.

“Macy’s mobile marketing campaign objectives were to increase mobile subscriptions, encourage consumers to visit their retail stores and their Web site and increase sales, as well as overall Macy’s brand reinforcement,” he said.

Macy’s had already finalized an Oprah Magazine print ad when the brand came to Hipcricket and decided to add a mobile component at the last minute.

“One Great Fit For All” was the retailer’s first mobile promotion in traditional media, offering consumers the chance to win trip for two to New York and a $1,000 shopping spree with Clinton Kelly.

Unfortunately, the call-to-action was in tiny print and said “text to 62297 (MACYS).” Vanity short code? Check. Keyword? Not so much.

“That’s an example of how not to do it,” Mr. Harber said.

Fortunately, Macy’s rebounded quickly with Hipcricket’s help and has launched successful mobile initiatives.

The retailer has expanded customer communications from online and email to mobile.

Macy’s provides various ways to opt in to receive its mobile alerts: SMS calls-to-action on traditional media—with both a keyword and short code—co-op marketing and registration on Macys.com.

An example of co-op marketing is a promotion Macy’s ran in conjunction with Anne Klein featuring two half-page ads with a mobile call-to-action in the March 2009 issue of Elle Magazine.

Providing an incentive to participate is key. Readers who texted in were entered to win a Caribbean vacation.

The Macys.com Web site has a mobile component encouraging registration to receive Macy’s text alerts and discounts.

The online call-to-action reads: “Sign up for Macy’s text messages to start receiving text offers and info on sales & events!”

Macy’s mobile database has doubled year-over-year and continues to grow. The retailer has experienced a very low opt out rate.

“Traditional media-supported mobile campaigns drive a very high conversion rate for opt-ins, especially those that offer special treatment such as discounts,” Mr. Harber said. “Macy’s has used traditional media extensively and has seen high double-digit opt-ins for its mobile initiatives.

“Also, leveraging Macys.com traffic yields significant registrations,” he said. “Brands can use the CRM component of mobile to create a longitudinal relationship over time and drive people to retail, both in store and online, and reinforce the total brand.

“Brands should integrate mobile into their overall marketing mix, and by taking a multichannel approach, we’ve achieved exciting results for these guys.”

Domino’s
Domino’s, the second largest pizza chain in the United States, tapped Ping Mobile to power a mobile campaign.

The brand’s goals were to increase awareness about the new Legends Pizza, drive foot traffic to store locations and increase sales, as well as build a targeted mobile database.

“We’re not only focused on mobile, but many times mobile is the answer to brands’ problems and the best way achieve their goals,” said Shira Simmonds, cofounder/president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

“Mobile is the best tool to drive foot traffic to the POS through location-based services, SMS or a WAP site when consumers are out-and-about searching and opted-in to receive this information,” she said.

Ping joined forces with cable ad sales to promote a coupon for Domino’s via TV that ran on multiple TV networks.

Consumers were prompted to text in to receive a mobile coupon for a free oven-baked sandwich when they purchased a Domino’s Legends Pizza.

Consumers were also given the option to double opt-into the Domino’s mobile database to receive additional offers and promotions from Domino’s.

The campaign generated hundreds of responses in the first few days of running the TV spots.
Over 60 percent of consumers redeemed their mobile coupons at select Domino’s locations.

The campaign received 69 percent double opt-in rate which created a custom and targeted mobile database for Domino’s.

Dove Hair Care
Unilever’s Dove Hair Care marketing goal was to build brand awareness about their hair care

The brand wanted to target their main demographic of working moms.

Dove Hair Care wanted to build a mobile database for customer re-marketing.

Dove chose to place ads in doctors’ offices across the Northeast. The call-to-action was “Text DOVEHAIR to 74642 for a chance to win a year’s supply of Dove Hair Care.”

Forty screens in doctors’ offices across the country were chosen via Health Media Network.

The Dove ads were played four times per hour per screen. The 60-second Dove Hair Care spots were played 460,800 times per month.

The ads received 5,626,000 impressions targeted towards consumers 18 and older.

More than 1 percent of the audience responded via SMS to the spot.

The Dove Hair Care campaign generated a double opt-in rate of 47 percent, enabling the client to build a targeted database for re-marketing efforts.

“Once a consumer double-opts-in, a brand has re-marketing capabilities,” Ms. Simmonds said. “A major advantage of mobile is that it provides a way to keep that relationship going with consumers and continue to engage them.”

Another panelist agreed that re-marketing is a key part of the equation.

“I don’t like to say ‘campaign,’ because that implies a start date and an end date, and mobile is all about building an ongoing relationship with consumers,” Gary Schwartz, president/CEO of Impact Mobile, Toronto. “Brands should take a crawl-walk-run approach—it’s all about activation, conversion and retention.

“Brands need to tie the consumer’s mobile number to the product,” he said.