Award winning mobile advertising campaigns

With plethora of mobile brands available in the market, capturing the attention of consumers (nearly 125 million subscribers in Pakistan) is a challenge for the advertisers. Advertising agencies come up with many ideas to sell their brand, however few stand out to be winning campaigns.

Marketing Gurus across MMA Global Awards, Cannes Lions, Webbies , EMMAs and Meffys share their opinions on what makes the campaign get the gold.

1. Be different: Do your homework. Study the campaigns that win accolades – and customers – many have excellent and inspiring case studies.It doesn’t need to involve bleeding-edge technology – it just needs to engage with the consumer in a new or different way.

2. Don’t be too sexy: Technology for technology’s sake – or even mobile for mobile’s sake – doesn’t impress anyone. The judges have seen it all before, and often consumers don’t get it.
Avoid sexy for the sake of sexy. When it comes to new media channels, many marketers fixate on being the first to come up with the most innovative way to use a new technology. Instead they should focus using new technology to solve an existing marketing problem or to meet a campaign’s business objectives.

3. Keep it simple: Can a consumer – or a judge – reference your campaign in a single word, phrase or sentence, so people will know what they are talking about? Then you’ve got a winner.Many judges find simplicity of concept very appealing. Above-the-line agencies tend to describe campaigns with one word – this is great practice for a creative team. If you can’t get the message in a single word or phrase, think again.

4. Plan for mobile from the start: Mobile is fantastic, but it should be treated like any other media channel. Judges want to see evidence that mobile was an integral part of the campaign from day one.
From the very start, mobile needs to be part of the marketing strategy and tactics planning and a line item in the marketing campaign budget. Mobile should be integrated into the overall marketing campaign with the planning for any other media channels (TV, print, Web, out-of-home etc.) Do not bolt it on at the last minute, when all the other media/marketing is set and ready to go – that’s a recipe for failure.

5. Don’t exclude customers: With mobile, like all other media, it is important to aim for maximum reach. If this was TV, the judges would consider why your TV ad only works on one brand of TV. If this was Web, the judges would consider why you are only targeting the customers of one ISP. And remember, competition judges will be looking closely at the numbers.

6. Get engaged: Mobile is a two-way medium. Great campaigns will be as much about the consumer requesting information or answering a call to action, as much as the brand pushing information towards the consumer. At the very best, this builds a sustained interaction.While it is relatively simple to display content on someone’s phone, via a mobile Web page, banner ad or a text message, the really impressive campaigns go beyond just "showing" stuff to the consumer.

7. Make the most of mobile: Mobile offers an abundance of opportunities to marketers – many of them are unique to mobile. It also comes with plenty of challenges, such as the price of data, privacy, slow downloads, small screens and handset incompatibility. Judges will consider how campaigns balance the pros and cons of mobile.

8. Evidence of success and return on investment
All judges look for evidence that the campaign had realistic objectives that were achieved or exceeded. The best campaigns are those that offer interactivity along with something of real value, with documented results showing that real people were impacted by the campaign.

9. Presentation: A big part of winning accolades is how your case study is presented. If you want to win customers as well as awards, these should also be available for public consumption (it’s amazing how many agencies have little to share publicly).

What is your opinion or tip for an award-winning campaign? Send us a line on secretariat@pas.org.pk