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The London Games are are in full swing and the television ratings alone stagger the mind, but that’s just a small part of the overall picture. Broadcasters are limited to just one country or region, but digital viewership – and mobile advertising - has no such restrictions. This year, YouTube will live stream the year’s biggest sporting competition throughout the world. And, since so many viewers will watch the London Games on mobile, HTML5 mobile rich media ads are a great way to engage that huge audience.
The Games provide a fantastic opportunity for integrated, branded mobile advertising, and not just for sports advertisers or official sponsors of the Games. HTML5 mobile rich media ads can focus on specific parts of the Games’ audience – like fans of a particular sport – and appeal to them directly. For example, check out the Sports Timeline, a concept we created specifically for the Games:
The mobile ad presents users with a fully interactive timeline that they can easily navigate by touch. It can appear within an app or a mobile site, or it could be a stand-alone microsite. Either way, the mobile ad shows key moments in the history of a sport – like inventions, innovations, major new records, and the year the sport entered the Games. One or more of the points on the timeline ties in directly with the advertiser’s message.
A mobile ad like this presents information that viewers won’t get from the Games themselves. The broadcast of the cycling competition doesn’t talk about the history of cycling; it talks about who’s winning the race. The mobile advertising timeline concept fills in that gap and complements the experience of watching the Games, for experts and new fans alike. It can even reach fans who are actually at the Games in person – something television ads can never do. And, since users specifically choose to look at the timeline for each sport, we know they’re particularly engaged: no need to worry about wasting impressions on fencing fans when you only want to reach cyclists.
The Sports Timeline concept is not limited to sports drink or equipment manufacturers. The mobile ad is an exercise in branding. It aligns a company with a particular concept and with the Games as a whole. i For example, a digital camera maker could mention the role of the “photo finish” in equestrian events to show off its history of innovation. Or an automobile manufacturer could demonstrate its commitment to sustainability by showing how energy-efficient cars with advanced GPS track cyclists along their route. Or the U.S. Marines might align themselves with fencing events, because Marines in uniform still wear swords! And who doesn’t love swords? You get the idea – the Games are a treasure trove of demographic data, regardless of industry.
Don’t be shy of large events with worldwide audiences. Hundreds of millions are excited for the London Games. Mobile advertising provides opportunities to get in front of small slices of a very, very large pie, and it offers a more interactive and engaging experience than traditional television advertising. The timeline ad concept is just one example; it taps into the audience’s excitement and need for new information, and it offers genuine value.
Every few years the world gets together on one stage to compete against each other in sports, but mobile advertisers are competing with each other in the business world every day. While athletes compete in London, smart marketers will take advantage of every opportunity they can get to tie their advertising in with this unique opportunity.
A TechBargains survey showed a high amount of mobile video viewing and social interaction is expected during the games. It revealed that, “Nearly half (44%) of respondents said they would interact with social media often or very often during the Olympics.” As a brand or advertiser, how can you capitalize on what is at the top of everyone’s mind? One way is to conduct mobile polls that build on the concepts of competition and winning.
In an earlier post, 2012 Olympics Mobile Advertising & HTML5 Concepts, I shared some concepts we developed around the games for and with our partners in mobile advertising. One idea featured a polling concept that could run throughout the day around various sporting events. This post will cover the mobile advertising polling concept in more detail. In our original concept the viewer initially sees a mobile advertiser’s ad with a specific event listed under it with the question, “Who do you think will take home the gold?”
While the ad stays up, the viewer sees a flag and country name for each of the participants. Then it goes to full screen with the question again and shows each of the countries so the user can vote. The next screen presents voting results and invites viewers to post their pick to Facebook or Twitter. The mobile advertiser gets a good amount of on-screen time while the user thinks about the event and the advertising sponsor. It’s engaging and effective.
Voting on who will win an event ties into the most common discussions people have on a daily basis. Plus you get bragging rights if you guess correctly. Polls can target specific audiences so not everyone views the same sport. Content and results are animated via HTML5. As an advertiser, you can choose any type of sport to focus the polling or voting around. Just think what fun and consumer engagement various industries could have with other polls tied into a sporting events theme:
- QSR (Quick Service Restaurants): Use HTML5 mobile rich media ads to get consumers thinking about the food choices you offer. They could vote on what they think is the healthiest menu item from your restaurant to eat after a competition. Then offer a discount on the winning food to whoever voted.
- Travel: Show footage of all the London sites and then sponsor a poll about where the ideal games should be held. As visitors vote on specific locations, tie that in with footage of the suggested site and offer great travel deals so they don’t have to wait any longer to see it for themselves.
- Retail/Fashion: A retail store could have fans vote on the best outfit to wear to a sports competition. Participants could receive coupons for their winning ensemble. A sporting goods store might sponsor a poll about which athletic apparel helps you perform at your best when swimming, playing volleyball, or shooting hoops.
Mobile advertising related to large-scale events is all about taking advantage of timely opportunities and thinking about how your brand’s product or service ties into the event. You can have fun, engage users, and increase sales with this type of marketing strategy. Just remember, it’s great to tie in with a major event for branding and awareness, but the point is to get somebody to take an action regarding your product or service.
I’ve been waiting to see innovation beyond simple check-in on Foursquare. MobileMarketingWatch had a post that will definitely enhance opportunities for mobile marketing and advertising. Foursquare has created partner badges. RunKeeper, their first partner trial, tracks fitness without check-in and encourage real-world actions.
This is a great way to unlock mobile marketing and advertising opportunities. There are many possibilities for brands to align with real-world actions.
Another great use of partner badges would be as a tool for consumer contests or sweepstakes. For example, a clothing store could give achievements points, special offers or coupons to the user taking a photo of the cutest “back-to-school” outfit. A health food brand could take advantage of mobile marketing and partner with Foursquare to promote healthy eating. Users could be rewarded with recipes, healthy hints or unique discounts.
This is a brilliant use of game behavior applied to marketing. To learn more about using game mechanics and get ideas for mobile marketing and advertising, I highly recommend reading Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests.
It’s nice to see mobile advertising and marketing apps encouraging real world behavior outside of “get to the store and purchase.” Foursquare’s recent press release stated: “We look forward to the day when looking at your foursquare badges reminds you of all your proudest life accomplishments”.
Mobile Marketer explored the new Rolex advertising campaign appearing in April’s W Magazine that lets consumers get information and deals from the brand, as well as enter for a chance to win $1,000.00. I like how print magazines are trying to integrate into relevant mobile user experiences.
When I think of Rolex, I think luxury, quality and style. But I also think of an older demographic, that sticks to print. So I’m glad to see Rolex taking a step in a fresh and innovative direction. If print becomes more interactive in various ways, it could become even more interesting than a purely digital magazine. (see my previous post about a video player embedded in an issue of Entertainment Weekly) Hopefully, other luxury brands will follow and increase mobilized print ads in consumer publications.
The ad itself relies on pure image recognition. The way it works is that readers can snap a photo of the ad, send the pic to an email address and get more information as well as an entry into the cash sweepstakes.
Moving forward, print publications could offer readers a companion mobile app to make the interactive experience even easier. A magazine app could just require the user view the ads and use image recognition via the users device as opposed to emailing it. This would also allow the magazine to harvest valuable demographic info. Finding out exactly who is reading the ads would be a great pitch to attract new advertisers not previously considered.
Making print ads interactive (regardless of the method) is a good way to inject print magazines with more life and prop up the whole publishing industry.