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Advertising has changed drastically since the days of Don Draper and in-office cocktails during creative meetings. Now, print and TV are old-school mediums, and forward-looking brands are turning to mobile to reach a new kind of audience.
By 2015, there will be an estimated 2 billion smartphone users. So, whether your brand uses mobile ads to drive traffic to your website, promote a new product or service, or to acquire new app users, your prospective audience is vast and active.
Mobile ads open up a world of technical, targeting and tactical options previously impossible in traditional ads. This form of app advertising is now one of the most popular among marketers, which has lead to increased creativity in the way ads work to engage your audience.
In this post, we take a look at five of the best mobile ad campaigns which actually work in capturing attention, capitalizing on creativity, and driving awareness.
1. PBS KIDS – The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That!
When PBS wanted to run a campaign promoting Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday, they employed game-like mobile apps as part of an integrated marketing strategy to drive website traffic and to encourage viewers to tune-in to an upcoming TV special.
Instead of running an ad showcasing the date and time of the special, PBS took a mobile-specific approach by creating a quick, easy-to-complete & kid-friendly game within their interactive ad. In the game, the user was able to “pop” balloons using their touch screen, and after had the option to play again or click to access a sneak preview of the TV special on their website. The results screen also contained a real-time countdown to the airing to create a sense of urgency with the audience.
PBS targeted Moms – those who would be interested in showing their kids the special, or those whose children might use their phone or tablet to play the short game.
Ad success equation: By pairing intelligent targeting (to Moms) with native functionality (the touch screen), a whimsical touch (the interactive game) and a sense of timeliness (the running countdown) PBS created a campaign that increased mobile engagement and contributed to tune-ins.
2. John Lewis – Monty’s Christmas Penguin
Monty the penguin has us feeling all the feels this holiday season. The story of Monty’s quest to find love is not only a brilliant and emotional Christmas tale meant to exemplify the spirit of the season, but also a genius move from UK retailer John Lewis (who always seems to hit a home run with customers). From a movie-quality commercial to a dedicated mobile app (and the power of social media), Monty’s mark has already been felt far and wide.
But John Lewis and Monty aren’t stopping at virality and calling it a day. The brand has put into place mobile ads for the Monty’s Christmas mobile app in effort to gain new users and to strategically beat out the competition.
John Lewis and its competitors Marks & Spencer and Debenhams are famous for carefully choosing the songs used in their holiday adverts, typically employing famous musicians or bands to cover past hits in new ways. Because of this, many mobile users will open up Shazam on their phone to identify a particular song or version they enjoyed.
John Lewis (who has since stated this was simply a coincidence and not an implicit strategy) targeted Shazam users who were looking up tracks from its competitors’ adverts and had a mobile ad for the Monty’s Christmas app appear on the screen. Regardless of the intention, it is a successful mobile tactic that has helped with the Monty app marketing.
Ad success equation: Starting with heart (Monty the penguin) as the foundation for any great viral campaign, John Lewis paired strategic targeting (seekers of its competitors’ music) and a mobile-first strategy (app usage to find this music) to keep users falling in love and interacting with Monty’s story in a dedicated app.
3. Bradesco – Fake Ad
This next example is from 2012, but it still rings true as one of the best mobile ads we’ve seen. Bradesco, a car insurance provider in Brazil, created an iPad app to demonstrate the value of their services – without looking like your run-of-the-mill insurance ad.
The ad was run only in iPad magazines, and was designed to appear as an ordinary car ad. However, once the user swiped to access the next page of the magazine, the car in the ad went with it, crashing against the side of the screen. After, a screen appeared with the tagline: “Unexpected events happen without warning. Make a Bradesco car insurance plan.” Simple. Straight-forward. Impactful.
The ad won a Cannes Mobile Lion award as one of the best mobile advertisements in the world. It’s also a fantastic example of creating a hyper-specific ad in order to make a big statement. On a phone or outside of a tablet magazine, the ad might not have had such force. But because it was designed to fit in the publication as a basic car ad, the end result is that much more provoking. That gravitas, paired with the honest nature of the tagline, is what makes this ad great.
Ad success equation: Bradesco started with a simple, but elegant, idea (the ease with which crashes happen) in the hands of the user (literally) and ensured that by placing it perfectly in the right format (a regular car ad) and context (in a tablet app magazine) it made a mark.
4. Taco Bell – Happier Hour
Sound slightly uninspired? It shouldn’t. Because while creativity makes for awesome ads, so does giving your customers an easy way to get what they want.
Last year, the fast food giant ran a mobile ad campaign promoting their new “Happier Hour” nation-wide. The visual advertised a $1 drink specialty that was available from 2-5pm. It also included a variety of ways to keep a user on track with actually participating in the offer. In the ad, you could choose to have Taco Bell remind you at the start of Happier Hour (by adding it to your calendar app), to remind you when you were physically nearby a Taco Bell, or share the information with a friend by sending them a funny gif.
This ad may seem simple on the surface, but it elevates a number of new ways for a user to activate it or stay on top of the offer. It’s accessible, and that makes it great.
Ad success equation: Knowing that the fast-food audience will respond to deals (Happier Hour drinks) and creating functionality around ease-of-redemption (activating reminders around time or location) plus cool bonuses like inviting a friend via a gif, Taco Bell launched an unassuming but effective ad campaign.
5. Showtime – Homeland
Confession: I have never seen Homeland. I have heard the rave reviews and cries from friends when I admit this fact. But while I’ve long been convinced that it’s worth a watch, I’ve never actually taken the time to watch it. Until I came across one of the mobile ads Showtime has launched to promote the show.
The banner ad is ordinary enough; it displays the show title, time and network, and prompts you to “zoom.” This call-to-action (CTA) is what caught my eye – zoom on what? It’s a banner ad? Shouldn’t the CTA be asking me to click to watch a preview or take me to the website?
In fact when you do zoom, the ad opens to display across the table screen and showcases a mosaic of images that makes up a portrait of the lead characters. Zooming in further opens those images and reveals that they are actually short videos you can play that highlight different aspects of the show’s plot.
Not only is it visually striking, the ad also betrays expectations by featuring a mosaic constructed of surprise videos. The idea of a banner ad that opens to reveal a video isn’t groundbreaking, but the actual experience of accessing the videos is pretty thrilling, and thus it turns the standard on its head. It’s also timely – appearing on the publication the day it airs, and targeting The New York Times readers (who are more likely to be interested in a foreign relations drama).
Ad success equation: Transforming a banner ad with an intriguing CTA (“tap to zoom”) which defies expectations by delivering an intricate collage of images (to feature a main character) that then are all revealed to be bite-sized videos (catching you up on the plot of the show and luring you in to watch more) is a smart way to create a new twist on mobile ads without incorporating too many bells and whistles.
What Makes a Great Mobile Ad Campaign?
The answer to this changes depending on what kind of marketer you’re talking to. But when it comes to mobile, it’s clear that creativity and technical ingenuity are key. And just like with mobile apps, you need to make your ad engaging and useful to the end user.
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