Here are 5 things the world’s best mobile campaigns have in common

If you’re in the increasing minority that thinks mobile is a passing fad, you’re deluded. Don’t believe us? Take a look at some of the numbers. The latest numbers from “Queen of the net” Mary Meeker for instance show that data traffic on mobile is going up 81% year-over-year, mostly thanks to video, where mobile accounts for 22% of consumption. Given that only around 30% of the world’s 5.2-billion mobile users have smartphones, there’s obviously still massive potential for growth in mobile advertising. Add in the fact that global mobile ad spend is projected to grow to over US$33-billion this year and that mobile is pipped to be second only to TV for keeping up with the 2014 FIFA World Cup and you can see that anyone not playing in the mobile ad space is missing out.

As with every platform however, merely having a presence is pointless. You have to have an effective presence and in order to get that, it helps to learn from the best. It’s pretty helpful therefore when people in the know release information about what the best in the business are doing. The latest example of this is a new study from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), which has released a set of insights based on an in-depth analysis of over 450 global mobile campaigns.

The study explored a number of marquis brands and local innovators with highly successful mobile campaigns from around the world, including campaigns from marketers such as Delta, Dunkin’ Brands, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, O2, Samsung, Range Rover, Ray Ban, The Coca-Cola Company, Zyrtec and many more. The analysis examined the innovative mobile creative approaches of successful brands across some of mobile’s unique attributes, uncovering key commonalities and differences and revealing five key benchmarks:

1. The “Brand Activation Remote”

Mobile is the average person’s remote control to activate engagement with your brand. Using mobile as a brand campaign unifier, bringing access, experience and commerce together, is an unbeatable combination to keep consumers constantly connected along the path to purchase. The unique opportunity here is for advertisers to use devices and campaigns to close the loop on prospects and leads, drive conversion, commerce and loyalty and bring brand experiences closest to their consumers.

2. There is no time like the present

It is said that timing is everything — and mobile brings that to life with the ability to engage and motivate consumers in the present moment and on their terms. From real-time shared experiences to native executions, location-based incentives and dynamic ad serving, mobile’s power is that it’s personal — (one or more phones per person, it’s a personal device); pervasive — (it’s with you all day); and proximity (it’s always with you and those in the marketing game can use location as a predictor of human behaviour).

3. Content rules

Across a number of the highly successful mobile campaigns, compelling content was at the heart. Marketers gave consumers unique, shareable and first access content, games, music, stories and collectables. The common thread among all of these was a desired and immersive set of interactions that put the consumer at the center of the brand story. In some cases, the mobile device was actually the unifier across all of a brand’s communication platforms, allowing consumers to move freely across and among a brand’s assets according to their requirements and on their own terms.

4. Enable bespoke consumer experiences

When consumers personally connect to some aspect of the brand and tailor that experience to their needs, preferences and tastes, everybody wins. Clearly, some brands are better able to customize than others, but again, results show that the ability to personalize brand communications with relevancy delivers a more meaningful response and depth of interaction. Brands can invite consumers in, make them feel heard and achieve significant impact when consumers can exert their preferences to create their own unique experience with your brand.

5. A toolkit to get things done!

Brands that can deploy tools on mobile devices that provide utility and save time can win in a big way. The big winners here used tools or calculators (some that learned what consumers liked), tech integrations that provide unique brand interactions or leveraged an ability to transact on the spot. All these enhance the consumer brand experience in a unique and useful way.

“Creativity and innovation are fundamental to brands being successful with mobile. These benchmarks provide marketers and their agencies with a concise framework on how to think more strategically about mobile across the purchase funnel as well as how to leverage uniqueness that only mobile can provide,” said Greg Stuart, MMA CEO. “We hope this will stimulate new ideas and help the industry continue to raise the bar on mobile creativity, effectiveness and further innovation.”