Pros and Cons of Mobile Marketing
Case Study: Mantic Point’s Bristol International Airport Campaign:
In 2006, the newly refurbished Bristol International Airport saw over 7 million passengers, a 50% increase in the Tax and Duty Free store size and, with that, a broader selection of products for travellers.
To increase consumer awareness of the extension and improved Tax and Duty Free store, Mantic Point (mobile solutions provider for the travel sector) and easyJet, Bristol airport's largest airline, teamed up to present consumers with easyJetText.
What is easyJetText? A customised version of Mantic Point’s StreamThru service, easyJetText is an opt-in information service which sends reminders, flight status updates and special offers at the Tax and Duty Free store via SMS to the subscribers on the day of their flight. Travellers were given the option to subscribe to the service when booking their ticket and checking in their luggage.
In a move to promote subscriptions and ultimately increase sales, the airport offered new easyJetText users an added £5 discount for any sale of £35 or over. A text was sent via SMS to new subscribers who could then redeem the discount by showing the cashier the text message. The cashier noted the transaction and passenger's flight number for later verification and campaign tracking.
By measuring the redeemed discounts against the flight routes, Mantic Point and Bristol International Airport were able to identify the routes, text messaging times and days which resulted in more revenue at the airport checkouts.
“Mobile has proved an excellent way of reaching passengers on their departure day”, said Simon Preece, Head of Retail & Concessions at Bristol International Airport.
The clincher? With a little tweaking, Mantic Point was able to maximise the airport’s return on investment on the somewhat straightforward campaign. The average passenger who redeemed the voucher spent more than 50% at the Tax and Duty Free store in comparison to other travellers.
Further discussion:
- Discuss the limitations of mobile connectivity and how they compare to traditional access?
- What is the best time of the day/week/month to contact your audience?
- What is the easiest medium for your audience to respond (SMS, Twitter, etc.)?
- How does your audience use their mobile devices for payment?
- How can tracking your Mobile Marketing messages help your campaign?
References
Ahonen, T (2 May 2008) Communities Dominate Brands: Deeper insights into the 7th Mass Media channel, mobile is to the internet, what TV is to radio
http://www.communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2008/05/deeper-insights.html (accessed on 15/12/2008)
http://www.communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2008/12/trillion-with-a.html(accessed on 15/12/2008)
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
Press release [October 2008] Comscore.com: SMS Advertising for Non-Mobile Products Grows As Mobile Is Integrated into Marketing Budgets for Consumer Goods and Services http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2008/10/SMS_Advertising_Grows
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
Mantic Point [June 2008] Bristol International Airport Case Study
[Accessed May 12, 2009]
Press release [September, 2008] bizcommunity.com: AAA uses SMS campaign to recruit students
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
Press release [October 2008] Marketingweb: AAA school gives away bursaries & iPods
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
MarketingCharts.com [February 2009] Mobile Local Search Ad Revenues to Reach $1.3B by 2013
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
Bigmouthmedia [March 2009] Mobile Internet use and ad spend booming
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
Android Developers [April 2009] Download Android 1.5 SDK, Release 1
[Accessed May 11, 2009]
What’s Up Next?
Mobile 101: Chapter 3
Successful Mobile Marketing relies heavily on the connectivity and functionality of your audience’s handsets. Know what you’re up against and how to go about approaching Mobile Marketing for audiences sporting the 3 three levels of mobile devices.
Other Articles in the Mobile Marketing 101 series:
- What is Mobile Marketing?
- Pros and Cons of Mobile Marketing
- Mobile Handsets: Basic, Feature and Smartphones
- Mobile Technologies: SMS, MMS, USSD and Bluetooth /Wireless /Infrared
- Mobile Technologies: Popular Mobile Operating Systems and Applications
- Mobile Websites (Mobisites), Mobile Web Standards and Mobile SEM
- Reaching a Mobile Audience
- Mobile Social Networking and Gaming
- The Mobile Wallet
- iPhones and Smartphones
- Planning a Mobile Marketing Strategy
- Mobile Integration
