ANALYSIS: Arby’s Mobile Marketing Campaign, Emerging Markets » mobilegroove

This week marked the launch of The Mobile Marketing Review podcast series, where the Mobile Mavens (me, Kim Dushinski and Linda Daichendt) openly discuss and critique mobile marketing campaigns from brands and marketers worldwide. The response has been overwhelming — a clear indication that the timing is right for a series that examines campaigns to show how they really stack up.

We kicked off with a hard look at the recent Arby’s campaign to promote its Roastburger sandwich. I also used the opportunity to discuss some insights from the panel on consumer insights I moderated during the recent Mobile Marketing Association’s Forum in London. This post, a complement to the podcast you can listen to over at The Mobile Marketing Review, provides some additional detail about the campaign and a summary (with video) of the panel discussion. (Press release & podcast)

Arby’s data points

By way of background, my role in the podcast was to judge the effectiveness of the cross-media campaign that ran in the U.S. to promote/launch the Arby’s Roastburger sandwich. The campaign kicked off with a high-profile pitch to viewers of Jimmy Kimmel Live (a popular late-night talk show in North America) to text the word ROASTBURGER to the short code 27297. This triggered an exchange that rewarded consumers with a free sandwich with the purchase of any drink. More importantly, is allowed the brand (in a national campaign) to request and receive customer data through an opt-in process that was clearly explained via text message.

Thus, the objective was two-fold. One, place mobile at the center of a cross-media campaign – that included TV, radio, print and outdoor signage – making it crystal clear that consumers can interact with the brand (and receive the sandwich offer) via their mobile phones.  Two, collect customer data through the opt-in process to build a local-focused opt-in database allowing Arby’s to reconnect (and remarket) to customers. (In fact, Arby’s did just this and later tapped the opt-in database to successfully launch and promote its fruit tea drink in a second national campaign.)

So what are the results?

Arby’s created 172 local databases and that allowed Arby’s to handle the SMS response traffic from its TV and mobile promotions. Of consumers who started a text interaction through in-store signage, more than 89 percent opted to join their local database. In the case the TV spots, more than 90 percent opted in to join the database. This is impressive considering there are many marketing campaigns that report much lower response rates. Overall, the campaign gets high marks in my book. (Little wonder that this campaign is also a finalist for an MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) award.)

Kim road tested this campaign and you can read her take here.  As she points out: the Arby’s offer of a free sandwich with a drink is perhaps not as impactful as a free breakfast from Denny’s. However, while Denny’s may have had a bargain offer, it also missed the opportunity to use mobile effectively to kick off a conversation with consumers who lined up outside its restaurants to take advantage of this offer.

Immediately following the Denny’s spot that debuted during the Super Bowl MSG’s Jeff Hasen was struck by the missed opportunities to use mobile. he wrote this opinionated column over at Mobile Marketer to point out how brands could, should and must place mobile at the center of their communication with consumers going forward. It’s a valuable read for brands and marketers as we move closer to the holiday season. (Lots of chances to use mobile to reach the customer and even clinch the in-store sale.)

To drive his point home he quotes from a recent survey commissioned by his company, Hipcricket. It that found that while 37 percent of consumers would be interested in participating in mobile customer loyalty programs, a whopping 83 percent have never had their favorite brand reach out to them via mobile.

Marketing in emerging markets

No doubt that number would have been even higher for regions such as Africa, where the opportunity for brands to connect with people on their mobile phones is more than a huge opportunity. It’s a business imperative. (The mobile is the only screen – period.)

I brought this up during The Mobile Marketing Review debut podcast, and today – thanks to Robert Haslam over at MiLiberty (!) – I can post a video here of the panel I moderated.

Peggy Anne Salz – Mobile Consumer Insights Panel from UnashamedGeek on Vimeo.

A highlight for me was the importance of consumer insights and how companies (including EA and mobile social network Buzzcity) are able to piece together our preferences from a variety of sources including the content we consume and the opt-in questions about ourselves we are more than happy to answer.

This new analytics capability changes the rules, shuffles the value chain and makes space for new companies (such as EA) at the table. It will be exciting to see how the availability of this data impacts marketing approaches and the business ecosystem that develops marketing strategy in the first place.

Of course, a great way to get consumer insights (and customer data) is to ask people for it.

According to Jonathan McKay, Creative Director, Praekelt, people in emerging markets are eager to be addressed by brands on their mobile phones. For the vast majority, this is the first time they have communicated directly with brands.

The good news: addressing people and listening to what they say (via text message marketing, for example) is seen to be a value. And, since advertising has to be a value exchange, kicking off a conversation using mobile is a huge and important first step.

The not so good news: in theory, the lack of a mature mobile infrastructure allows less scrupulous marketers to potentially take advantage of the openness of consumers to connect and so disregard the requirement for opt-in. As Jonathan put it: It’s about “sustainable and sustained engagement” with consumers.

Brands cannot abuse trust and they cannot rely on bribery (coupons, offers, discounts etc) to drive positive results for their campaigns. They must offer something of value and, in emerging markets (and perhaps everywhere) this means addressing people and listening when they want to share their experiences and their opinions about the brand.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 28th, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Featured, Mobile Marketing, Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.