ABC drives mobile-first motto with new companion app

by Marketing ON 6 March 2013

In a further sign that the ABC is an innovator in the new media broadcaster space, it is set to release its second screen ‘companion app’ on 20 March.

Mobile and tablets appear to be the broadcaster’s principal motivation going forward, feeling the television and radio format is not as strong as it once was.

Initial testing of the app will be on the comedy quiz show Tractor Monkeys in order to “trial it to see if it is the way to go,” says the ABC’s head of online and mobile, Mark Dando.

Led by the ABC’s Innovation unit, the team will also conduct a sequence of trials with third-party groups like Zeebox so they can decide on a fit, and see the real potential of this companion app. As the climate of how Australians interact with content is rapidly shifting, The ABC is at the forefront of change.

The ABC’s flagship apps were also restored to permit users to access “all related corporation content in one place”, with Dando confirming that the ABC was “reorganising [itself] to be mobile and tablet first”.

Further, akin to Fairfax’s The Age website, and the Herald Sun before it, the ABC also relaunched its own homepage after user research placed news as a priority for visitors.

With 70% of current homepage views being news related, Dando is using this data to continue to develop a news-focused site with a “simple, intuitive interface that was easy to use on tablets and on mobile phones”.

Four big trends for 2013: actionable intelligence high on agenda

by Matt James ON 15 February 2013

I landed in Australia from the United Kingdom eight months ago and observing where the local digital marketing industry is heading has been an interesting learning curve. I’ve completed my deep-dives and now with my head back above water, it’s clear there are some key trends that will shape the year ahead.

Turning data into actionable intelligence

Having lots of ‘big data’ from quality sources is indeed important but that’s not actually the hard part. The challenge is understanding what that data actually tells you and turning it into ‘actionable intelligence’. As technology and our expertise in matching and combining data in actionable ways continues to advance, publishers have the ability to:

provide insight for more effective planning
efficiently target the exact right audience
create relevance through context, and
measure and prove impact.

For advertisers, this intelligence enables them to deliver highly targeted and more effective campaigns that innovate and push creative boundaries for their brands.

A tablet world by 2015

We predict that tablets will overtake PCs as the primary device by 2015 tablet adoption in Australia has been extraordinary in a relatively short period of time with Telsyte reporting tablet penetration at 26% in November 2012.

And with the advent of Windows 8 devices, like the Microsoft Surface and HP Envy, the definitions of ‘what’s a tablet versus a laptop’ are blurring, while thanks to the introduction of ‘phablets’, phone/tablet hybrids are emerging.

So what does this all mean? In short, any digital experience or execution should be developed with ‘touch’ in mind. Clickable areas on devices should be no smaller than 44×44 pixels – the average finger tap – and while this may mean designers need to rethink how their advertising is being viewed and engaged with, ultimately this will enhance the consumer’s online experience and make it more likely that they will revisit the content they like time and time again.

Take a look at some of the rich, immersive experiences available on Windows 8 and you’ll see how the entire advertising experience is being re-imagined. We are currently in the midst of a global study into Cross-Screen Engagement and look forward to sharing these results in the coming months.

Mastering the art of ‘screen-weaving’

Consumers are now adept at media multi-tasking. They expect to be able to consume content anytime, anywhere. This opens up huge opportunities for publishers and brands to weave their stories across multiple screens and platforms – something we are calling “screen-weaving”.

Instead of simply duplicating content across devices, the best marketers are complementing and optimising the message depending on the screen and purpose, providing an enhanced and rewarding experience for consumers.

There are some great global examples of how this has been done well. For instance: Top Chef: Last Chance Kitchen. Chefs who have been eliminated on television meet in a version of the main show, shown on an app only, for a chance to compete to get back into the main competition.

We have some great examples of screen-weaving planned for Jump-in this year. Stay tuned.

Change is the only constant in the media industry right now

The media industry is in an era of constant change and aggressive innovation is now a way of life. Companies and their employees need to be open-minded, agile in their thinking and able to switch projects quickly.

Successful businesses and people will embrace this uncertain world and live with evolving strategies and ever-changing priorities. Managing and leading through ambiguity and change is likely to become the defining leadership competency sought after in employees in the next couple of years.

It’s going to be an interesting year ahead – one where I expect those who embrace new technology and challenge traditional marketing formulas will emerge as the winners in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

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McDonald’s TrackMyMacca’s app: GPS + data + augmented reality

by Marketing ON 18 January 2013

Ever wanted to take a virtual journey into where the specific hamburger you are devouring emanates from? Now you can, with a ‘behind the scenes’ app from McDonald’s that transports you to the cattle farm, pickle ranch or waterway from which the ingredients in your burger were sourced.

Developed as a world-first, the aptly titled TrackMyMacca’s app scans the packaging of your burger, fries or other product, and in an impressively-transparent use of the company’s supply-chain data it presents the origins of the ingredients based on the user’s location. Presented through animated augmented reality, the app aims to deliver information about McDonald’s food in a ‘fun and interactive way’.

DDB Australia’s creative director, Nick Pringle, says of the project that involves specially-printed packaging: “When a project involves changing more than 150 million pieces of packaging, you know it’s going to have an impact.”

McDonald’s is clearly attempting to fight back against critics and the perception that the ingredients used to construct their meals are of an average standard and indeterminate origin. It is another attempt from the fast food chain to be seen to be more socially responsible and nutrition-conscious.

McDonald’s Australia’s chief marketing officer, Mark Lollback, adds: “As a business we’re incredibly proud that over 90% of our food and packaging needs are met right here in Australia. This app is another way for us to share this with our customers, putting them in the driving seat and allowing them to see for themselves where our food comes from and what happens on its way to their plate.”

Any Australian with an iPhone, iPad or iTouch can now use the app. TrackMyMacca’s will work on select menu items in all stores across Australia from 16 January until 30 June 2013.

Forget social media, smartphone apps are the new customer service tool

by Marketing ON 8 January 2013

Customers are increasingly expecting smartphone application customer service options as they remember enquiries during down time, according to a new study.

Research from Nuance Communications found that more than half of Australians prefer to use an app for routine enquiries such as checking an account balance from their bank or confirming a flight schedule, adding the smartphone to social media as another ‘always-on’ customer-service channel that users expect.

Convenience and round-the-clock availability were the two biggest drawcards for using an app for customer service, Jason Stirling, senior vice president and general manager, Nuance Asia Pacific, revealed.

“Australians are no longer asking for innovation in customer care – they expect it,” Stirling says. “The face of customer care has changed and the companies that keep pace will not only improve customer loyalty, but they will also gain a clear competitive advantage over their industry peers.”

Additionally, the use of an app to complete an enquiry often leaves the customer with positive feelings about the brand. Almost 60% of respondents admitted they have positive perceptions of a company that offers a customer service app, while 69% would tell a friend about their positive app experience.

The research also uncovered a growing appetite for mobile applications. The majority of smartphone owners surveyed (70%) download up to 10 apps a month, with the most downloaded customer service apps coming from telecommunications companies, installed by 39% of Australian smartphone owners. Banking apps were used most frequently with nearly 70% of smartphone owners access their banking apps weekly or more often.

Other popular customer services apps include retailer apps, downloaded by 29%, and travel apps downloaded by 17%.

The ‘Nuance Mobile Attitudes’ study was conducted by Roy Morgan during April 2012 among a nationally representative sample of 800 smartphone owners aged 18 years and older.

New digital strategy for Brisbane Festival sees ticket sales soar

by Marketing ON 17 October 2012

Campaign: Brisbane Festival website and app revamp

Client: Brisbane Festival

Agency: Bigfish

Background

Lasting three weeks in September, Brisbane Festival is geographically split with shows spread across the city and suburbs. A mix of music, theatre, dance, circus, comedy, opera and more, the Festival also includes other brands and programs, such as cabaret in The Courier-Mail Spiegeltent, or independent works in Under the Radar.

Brisbane Festival had had the same website since 2009, and while it was re-skinned every year with new Festival colours and amended with the latest events, the back end was virtually unchanged.

Brisbane Festival appointed Brisbane-based digital agency Bigfish to help with its digital strategy, including building a new website and a new app to help increase ticket sales.

ResponsiveDesign

Objectives

Representing a festival can be a tricky business, it is a challenge to create a brand and online presence that incorporates the diversity of an arts festival and successfully brings together hundreds of events, genres and locations. The website needed to efficiently represent the fun and excitement of Brisbane Festival, yet showcase its diversity appropriately.

Brisbane Festival is a mixture of several brands and Bigfish had to think of a way to unite these brands, to help represent what Brisbane Festival stands for.

In the past, people were encouraged to purchase tickets to a show or an artist, but the website did not encourage multiple attendance.

Brisbane Festival also required a new app for 2012 for iPhone and Android. While the 2011 app was only available on iPhone and acted as a mobile site, the new app had to provide users with a new experience, giving them a reason to download it.

Strategy

Rather than taking a standard arts industry approach, Bigfish decided to make Brisbane Festival feel just like Big Day Out or Splendour in the Grass, where people buy tickets for the whole Festival experience sometimes more than the specific artists. The digital agency decided to build the Brisbane Festival website with this concept in mind: it is effectively a poster listing all the acts that are part of this year’s festival that users can share and chat about on social media.

To build this festival poster, Bigfish understood that while big names like Julia Stone or Rufus Wainwright sold tickets on their own, the festival was made of a multitude of lesser-known acts that also deserve their place in the limelight. It was therefore important for them to sell show tickets based on the feeling of the show rather than the name itself.

As for the app, Bigfish did not want it to be a redundant copy of the website, so the company introduced new features such as QR codes and a check in facility to enhance customer experience.

ItineraryShare

Execution

To build the festival feel, Bigfish thought of a way to showcase well-known and lesser-known acts all at once, introducing a lot of imagery and video. Since the names of some artists and shows do not necessarily mean a lot to the audience, Bigfish positioned catchy key words over transparent images to help create excitement about each of the acts.

The agency also embedded easily accessible mini-video segments within the website layout to showcase the performances.

Another big feature was bringing diversity to the home page, allowing users to customise it based on what they enjoyed. Bigfish introduced a way to rearrange the home page by type of show such as comedy, dance, or cabaret in just a click.

To appeal to a wider market, Bigfish also ensured the website was built with a responsive design, detecting the width of the screen display to adapt its layout for a computer, phone or tablet.

Itinerary

Itinerary builder

While most festivals usually offer a planner that lets users add events to their diary, Bigfish went further. To help make the event come together as a whole, the agency created an itinerary builder, for people to share their festival experience on social media.

Much like a fashion website, users add items to a wish list and the itinerary builder lets users pick the shows they would like to see, creating a specific user page at, for example, BrisbaneFestival.com/JoeBloggs that can easily be shared on Facebook for friends to take inspiration and buy a ticket.

To remove the ultimate barrier, Bigfish also worked with qtix, who built a smart ticketing platform allowing patrons to buy tickets for any number of shows at any number of venues at once. Bigfish integrated this platform onto the website, thus making patrons feel they are buying into Brisbane Festival rather than a single act. This was also an opportunity for the festival to offer customers a discount for multiple purchases.

The thinking behind the CMS

Rather than the designers having to fit their ideas to what is technically possible within the CMS, Bigfish designed the whole website, and then built its own CMS behind it for a perfect fit. The minimal training required for the Brisbane Festival team to be able to use the CMS meant the website was operational as soon as it was delivered.

The app

The Brisbane Festival app is broken down in five functions, which all integrate with social media platforms. A photo tool lets users take photos of themselves and their festival experience and apply a filter that creates a multiple exposure photo in the style of this year’s festival branding. Users can then share the image on the app gallery or via Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Bigfish also integrated a QR code reader in the app to allow users to scan codes positioned in the city to get a sneak peek of what is happening at specific locations during the festival.

Another feature is the festival feed, which works much like a Facebook timeline. Auto-generated, it shows live posts from the Brisbane Festival Facebook and Twitter pages, photos from the gallery, displays Facebook friends’ check ins at festival events and events taking place on the day. It also recommends matching hotels and restaurants to users.

A dynamic map indicates all the festival locations across the city, as well as partner hotels and restaurants. It lets users enter their own location to find out what is nearby, and lets them search the map by date, to see what is happening where on what day. Push notifications will also notify users located near a venue when a certain performance might start.

The check in function gives users the opportunity to directly check in to Brisbane Festival venues and events and share it on Facebook and Twitter to connect with their friends.

The app also provides direct links to the Brisbane Festival mobile site for details on all the events and how to buy tickets, videos and access to the online itinerary builder at the touch of a finger.

Results

Implemented in three months and delivered ahead of schedule, the Brisbane Festival website has helped deliver higher than expected ticket sales for the 2012 season.

Website:

visits increased by nearly 50% to more than 583,000 visits, and unique visitors increased by 42%,
each visit lasted close to three minutes, with page views increasing to more than a million and a half,
the app broke all records, with more than 11,000 downloads, a 40% increase on last year, and
Facebook likes increased 170% and Twitter followers by 64%.

Ticket sales:

the website’s overhaul resulted in a 75% increase in ticket pre-sales when the program launched and nearly 15% more tickets were sold overall compared to last year,
a number of performances sold out a mere two weeks after the website launched, way ahead of last year’s figures,
overall, more than 90 individual performances sold out, with ticket sales exceeding $1.25 million (compared to just over a million last year), and
more than 30,000 itineraries have been created via the itinerary builder, with 2666 tickets purchased as part of the multi-tix offer.

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IAB Awards 2012 winner – Fanta Playzone

by Marketing ON 12 September 2012

Winner: Mobile Platform or App

Campaign: Fanta Playzone

Client: Coca-Cola

Agency: Ikon Communications, with Webling, Ogilvy and Naked Communications

Background

Fanta had experienced a decline in the number of teens purchasing the product as its marketing activities had not directly engaged them in recent years. Teens are constantly on the lookout for new and different things to talk about within their social circle and their choice of brand tells their peers a lot about them. A brand that isn’t perceived to do cool things is consequently not top of mind and a decline in the number of teens purchasing their product had occurred. Instead new, innovative and ‘faddy’ drinks had encroached on its market share and Fanta was perceived to have lost relevance and a connection with its target demographic.

Objectives

The brand needed to reconnect with its teenage audience, positioning Fanta as cool, exciting and a brand to be revered among their peer groups. All communication needed to be fun, participatory and interactive, and ultimately drive purchase of Fanta among its core demographic while creating a word of mouth buzz that would elevate both the credibility and desirability of the brand.

Strategy

Ikon Communications’ approach began with the concept that it needed to build relevance for Fanta by creating ‘play’ in teenagers’ lives. Ikon felt that lives began to become that little bit more serious during the teenage years with the introduction of exams, homework and other pressures. It, therefore, sought to give teens something to take them away from the ‘boring and serious’ moments in their day-to-day world and give them the tools for a fun, playful and participatory experience.

Mobile phones are the most ubiquitous channel for teens, with smartphone penetration in this target group increasing month on month. It was therefore the natural channel to use to engage the target audience. The average age for ownership of a first phone is 13 (Mobile Youth Survey 2011) with smartphones accounting for 46% of all phones in Australia and 57% of all new phones sold (Australia’s Smartphone Index 2011). Further, Apple has made the smartphone the must-have accessory for every image-conscious teen, where they are seen as a digital version of who they are, from the apps they have to the games they play. The universal access to a mobile screen and the rise of mobile gaming was therefore a perfect platform for Fanta to deliver a resonant and playful experience to bring back its lapsed teenage audience to its brand.

Execution

A mobile gaming-based campaign with custom-built games (iPhone and Android) was developed to engage teenagers, with integrated Facebook and outdoor activity, inviting them to play when they were at their most receptive: during their commute or when just hanging around with friends. Three custom-built games were developed using both touch screen and tilt centres, fully leveraging the smartphone’s user interface. The games featured different members of the Fanta ‘crew’ and weekly prizes and a real time leader board were built-in to drive repeat participation. User’s interactions were synced to Facebook, where scores were published on their wall, which helped spread the word about Fanta PlayZone within their network, and provided social amplification of each engagement to help with peer-to-peer word of mouth buzz.

To raise awareness of the app and drive downloads, online display, Facebook, mobile and out-of-home media invited teens to ‘play’ with Fanta. Outdoor media was used in a highly innovative way to deepen engagement and maximise participation. Players could boost their scores by using the app to interact with outdoor media billboards that were situated in the places that teens hang out and seek entertainment in.

Using location-based information within the app, users were able to locate these outdoor panels and using their smartphone cameras could ‘catch the crew’. When caught on camera, the crew member magically jumped out of the billboard and into the user’s phone via augmented reality to provide a ‘power-up’ in their gaming experience. In addition, users had the opportunity to rule their local Fanta ‘zone’ by gaining the highest score in real-world locations with the use of GPS software to score bonus points and earn local kudos.

Results

Fanta PlayZone was a truly integrated mobile campaign that engaged its target audience by delivering an experience true to Fanta and adding more fun and playfulness to the world of a teenager.

Over 36,000 people downloaded the app, which resulted in over 102,000 visits. To put this into context, at 2.6 minutes per visit, with an average of six visits per user, each user was spending an average of 11 minutes playing and engaging with the brand.

The judges felt the social connectivity, with all mobile interaction feeding into Facebook, encouraged healthy competitiveness and helped extend the engagement the audience had with Fanta. This was proven, with 65% of visitors to the app returning to play.

Most importantly, the campaign had the desired impact on the bottom line with sales of Fanta increasing by 12.3% year on year.

The campaign’s innovation in linking outdoor media with mobile gaming via augmented reality was a world first for Fanta and an element of the creative execution that most impressed the judges. They noted that this smart use of advanced technology maximised the value and impact of the media spend and ensured “all touch points drove interaction and participation” with the campaign.

The ‘slick user-experience’ was also highlighted as a key driver in the campaign’s ability to drive relevance, re-engage lapsed Fanta fans and ultimately encourage a purchase. The bespoke games with their imaginative characters encouraging teens to be ‘more fun, less serious’ and by linking the creative to all other media, consistency and extension of brand messaging was guaranteed.

In summarising the campaign, the panel asserted that it was a clever case study in how mobile is now being used as a tool to both brand build and drive a response. It reveals how a core mobile campaign can be augmented by sophisticated interaction with other media and a great example of an initiative with no static brand messaging thanks to intelligent cross-platform integration.

IAB Awards 2012 winner – Pedigree Adoption Drive

by Marketing ON 21 August 2012

Winner: Brand Loyalty & Retention

Campaign: Pedigree Adoption Drive

Client: Mars Petcare

Agency: Whybin\TBWA\Tequila

Background

In keeping with Pedigree’s stated belief that every dog deserves a loving home, it partnered with a not-for-profit organisation PetRescue to try and improve the plight of the 100,000 dogs in shelters across Australia that are euthanised each year because they are unable to find new owners.

The Pedigree Adoption Drive initiative needed a fresh campaign to raise awareness for the plight of these dogs and to try and change the misperception that shelter dogs are damaged in some way. It also needed to address the reality that fewer and fewer people are visiting dog shelters year on year due to geographic and time constraints.

Objectives

The client’s brief was simple. It wanted to reach the widest possible audience in order to first raise awareness of the fact that over 100,000 dogs a year were euthanised, and second to change people’s perceptions of the nature and character of shelter dogs and ultimately to drive and increase the number of adoptions taking place across Australia.

Strategy

The key stumbling block to increasing the number of shelter dog adoptions was the fact that the volume of people visiting shelters was in decline. The agency therefore needed to find a way to bring people face to face with the dogs to see for themselves that they were healthy and to create an immediate bond to encourage adoption.

The first step was to create a unique canine search engine that centralised every single dog in Australia’s 716 shelters into one single database. This provided the technology to help make searching for a dog as simple, accessible and much fun as possible.

A series of online and offline activities were designed to facilitate the matching of dogs and potential owners with a mobile app (for iOS and Android) and Facebook application called Dog-A-Like at its core. The app brought shelter dogs face-to-face with potential owners to enable people to find their perfect match from the newly created PetRescue database.

This was supported by experiential and video activity to help create an emotional bond with the target audience to maximise the chances for adoption.

Execution

The campaign was launched with an experiential ‘Underdog Day’ at Bondi Beach in Sydney where yellow branded dog leads were tied to 1.5 kilometres of the beachfront each with the profile of an available adoptee dog. Through a unique online code attached to the profile, people could enter the code into the PetRescue search engine to find out more and adopt. The widespread publicity created from this event drove the target audience to the online activity at the centre of the campaign. The Dog-A-Like mobile app and Facebook app used facial recognition software to create an instantaneous emotional connection between potential owner and dog. Playing with the popular notion that dogs often look like their owners, it was designed to match the features of people with those of every single available shelter dog in Australia until a perfect match was found. Users were then given the option to adopt a pet when otherwise it would be put down.

The app was loaded with clever touches, such as the built-in ‘whistle’ feature that takes the user straight to the Dog-A-Like’s adoption page when they whistle into the phone, and a ‘shake’ functionality that allowed users to either make a donation or give their perfect match a bowl of Pedigree dog food.

The emotional connection between the dogs and the target audience was also deepened by the creation of an eight-part online documentary, Underdogs, which followed the affecting stories of how five shelter dogs found a new adoptive home. This served to address the perception that shelter dogs were damaged in some way by taking the audience on their journey from being homeless to finding a loving home.

Results

Dog-A-Like became the number one app in the Australian iTunes store for two weeks – and, over a few months of the campaign, more than 3500 dogs were adopted. It became Australia’s most successful rehoming campaign with more than 26 million media impressions. The campaign reached 5.8 million Facebook users and the 200,000 bowls of dog food pledged via Facebook ‘Likes’ ran out in the first month. As a result, it made Facebook’s Top 50 Apps worldwide in 2012.

Impressively, the Underdogs documentary garnered such an unprecedented online audience that it inspired a national TV series with a second series due to air in 2013. That an element of the creative content of the campaign has taken on a life of its own is an impressive feat and one of the holy grails of a successful marketing campaign. As one judge noted, “The agency clearly tapped into a resonant creative execution, which more than fulfilled the client’s brief to change perceptions.”

Most importantly, a 36 percent increase in the number of dogs re-homed has been achieved since the program was launched, amounting to 2200 dogs each month: Pedigree’s most successful rehoming initiative to date. A key driver of this was the way in which the agency developed an innovative and effective mechanism to bring the shelter dogs to the target audience.

The judges also highlighted the imaginative use of technology to create the unique shelter dog database and facial recognition app noting that the “effective use of back-end technology to create a fun, accessible and entertaining application that built brand affection and loyalty was world-class”.

Watch the first two instalments of the online series below, and visit the campaign’s YouTube channel for more.

IAB Awards 2012 winner – Heineken ‘Kick for Your Country’

by Marketing ON 8 August 2012

Category: Cross Platform Integration

Campaign: Kick for Your Country

Client: Heineken

Agency: Zenith Optimedia, with Holler Sydney

Heineken its a winner

Background

Heineken is a globally recognised brand that has a long association with international rugby, having been a sponsor of the Rugby World Cup since 1995. The brand already enjoyed the fourth-highest level of spontaneous awareness of any beer brand in Australia, but the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand presented an excellent opportunity for it to engage Australian consumers and drive real local returns from the global sponsorship.

The challenge was how best to leverage the sponsorship and ensure Heineken’s voice cut through the World Cup clutter of the other 17 sponsors, many of which had significantly larger spends. It also had to take into account a declining Australian beer market and the number of brands competing to attract the attention of the male 18-to-34 target demographic.

Objectives

The agency was tasked with developing a unique and immersive brand experience to excite and engage its male 18- to 34-year-old audience, ensuring that Heineken’s voice was heard among the other Rugby World Cup sponsorship programs. It also needed to deliver a 27% uplift in sales and build momentum in the lead-up to Christmas.

Strategy

Naturally, as a global sponsor, Heineken was already investing in a TV spot. However, this would not be enough to ensure that the brand engaged and excited the savvy and switched on target audience. A value-adding experience was required that tapped into their interests and passions to lift the Heineken brand above its fellow sponsors.

Research indicated that members of the target were highly likely to own a smartphone and were also highly competitive in nature, readily jumping at any opportunity to outdo their mates. These insights, along with their love of rugby, led to the creation of the ‘Kick for Your Country’ app, which was at the centre of the campaign. This was supported and augmented by the innovative merging of TV and mobile screens in order to maximise budget and deepen the relationship with the audience.

Fox Sports, with its unique in-house stats team and live, in-match broadcast capability, was identified as a vehicle to introduce a new way of trans-media match viewing that would make sure Heineken was a talked about brand during the televised tournament.

Execution

The key platforms – mobile, digital and TV – worked seamlessly to cross promote and raise awareness. The primary function of the media spend was to inform consumers about the ‘Kick for Your Country’ app that was developed. The entire digital budget was spent on driving consumers to download the app and TV activations were negotiated as added value to the broadcast sponsorship.

A critical part of the campaign was the partnership with Fox Sports. Research showed that Heineken drinkers in the target demographic were highly likely to view Fox Sports, which made it an essential property to target. A number of in-program features were employed to attract visitors to engage, and presenters showcased and discussed the app, while ads and editorial on foxsports.com.au drove users to view the app demo video, click to download it and find venues to watch matches.

App Other sport, news, gaming and entertainment sites, and apps were also targeted in line with the target’s media consumption patterns, with search a key part of the mix. The packaging of the product itself was also utilised with QR (quick response) codes on the bottles and packages linking to the mobile site and encouraging consumers to download the app. Heineken’s Facebook page promoted the app throughout the tournament. The app itself was built around the premise that Heineken and rugby fans alike have all dreamed of kicking a winning goal for their country. This unique app allowed fans to be part of the on-field action and kick real penalty goals and conversions, live, as they happened during the games.This meant that anyone with access to a smartphone could take the same kick, from the same spot, in the same conditions as the players.

The app was simple to use, but highly complex to develop with over 4000 data points, including exact field position of the ball, wind speed and ground conditions etc needing to be processed so users could simultaneously kick on their mobile at the same time as the ball was being kicked on the field. The end result was a never-before-seen integration of live TV and real-time mobile play.

Outside of matches, users were able to practise their skills and climb the leader-board in the ‘Training Challenge’. To appeal to the competitive nature of the target market, users could also play against their friends on Facebook. In addition to the gaming modes, the Heineken Rugby Clubhouse application also kept users up-to-date with tournament information and used GPS (global positioning system) mapping to find the nearest official Heineken Clubhouse venue for the best Rugby World Cup viewing experience.

Results

The campaign outperformed its metric goals and more than delivered on the client brief. What was particularly impressive about the campaign was its success in lifting Heineken out of the scrum of its fellow sponsors. It went from merely being a Rugby World Cup sponsor to being a genuine part of the experience. As one judge noted it was “immersive, engaging and smart” and widely acknowledged to have exceeded business objectives and actively engaged consumers throughout the period of the tournament.

Heineken tripled its average monthly searches in Australia during the core month of the World Cup. The live ‘Kick for Your Country’ game clearly resonated with its target as over 51,000 people downloaded the app during the month of the tournament.

Consumers not only downloaded the app, but, having done so, actively engaged with it throughout the World Cup. More than 2.2 million live kicks were taken, with over seven million training kicks recorded. As one of the judges remarked, “It brilliantly tapped into the target market’s passion for the game itself, their competitive nature and a desire to be part of the action.”

Users agreed, with the app receiving four out of five stars and being the second-ranked free sports app during the tournament. The tactical media buy contributed significantly to the number of downloads with clear spikes recorded when key elements of media were in market, prompting one of the panel to note, “Their bold move at placing 100% of the digital budget behind creating awareness and driving apps paid off.”

Critically, the campaign delivered tangible results to the bottom line. It eclipsed its target of a 27% sales uplift to achieve an impressive 35% growth in sales. It also gained traction with its existing Heineken brand adorers as the number of buyers increased throughout the period of the World Cup, increasing their volume consumption by 20%.

Promo material

Meat and Livestock Aus’s app steaks claim to a Webby Award

by Marketing ON 13 June 2012

Campaign: Beef Essentials iPhone app

Client: Meat and Livestock Australia

Agency: Reactive

Background

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) is a producer-owned company, working in partnership with industry and government to achieve a profitable and sustainable red meat and livestock industry in Australia.

MLA identified a gap in beef cooking knowledge with its younger audience and it wanted to bridge this using technology the audience uses at their fingertips. This tech-savvy generation were spending too much time on their iPhones, and not enough on the barbecue.

BeefEsentials_01Home

Objectives

In order to sell more beef, MLA wanted to help consumers cook better beef, every time. It approached Reactive, an award-winning digital agency, to develop a simple and easy to use iPhone app to cooking beef. Reactive’s solution was the Beef Essentials iPhone app, a guide that would contain well-tested information for proven beef cooking expertise in the kitchen.

With the objective of launching the app before the start of summer in Australia, MLA wanted to capture the barbecue aficionados who would be dusting off their Webers for barbecue season.

It’s hard to cook the perfect steak at home, especially when people have different preferences. Beef Essentials needed to break down the difficult experience of grilling and simplify it for the average consumer, and have user-friendly functionality, putting all the best resources of cooking beef into one on-the-go device. It needed to allow users to refer to it while at the butchers, in the supermarket, at the barbecue, in the backyard or even just in the kitchen.

BeefEsentials_02Beef

Strategy

The app featured a practical guide to selecting the right cuts of beef, the ability to choose from a range of cooking methods and advice on how best to cook with them.

This solution provided a useful tool for young beef lovers, something they can keep on their phone and use throughout the summer months. It is a classic ‘branded utility’ – although in the case of MLA the brand is simply beef. (It’s probably the best ever branded beef utility.)

For the media and PR strategy, Reactive and MLA targeted iPhone app review sites, food websites and blogs. These markets allowed us to reach our target audience of young iPhone users, as well as foodies looking to perfect their beef cooking skills. Although there was no media budget allocated for PR, Reactive and MLA accomplished the objectives of reaching their target audience through their preferred publications.

When designing any content related to food, it’s imperative that the imagery and style is of the highest quality. Nothing turns off an appetite faster than bad food imagery. To appease the foodies, the app focused on large, finely crafted visuals and minimised copy whenever possible.

BeefEsentials_04Cook

Execution

Extensive testing with stakeholders and staff, family and friends was undertaken to ensure a wide range of consumers could use the app effectively.

The app includes:

high-quality photography of cuts of meat,
step-by-step processes and delicious meals to ensure following the instructions is as easy as possible,
an approachable user interface that’s simple and icon-driven,
textured and tactile design to encourage touch navigation, and
a drawing of a cow that shows where the different beef cuts are found.

The Beef Essentials app starts by asking users to pinpoint their cut of meat on a cow diagram, offering the option to learn more about the cut if they wish.

The app helps them choose a cooking method for the selected cut, whether it be barbecue, pan fry (gas and electric), grill, slow cook, roast or stir fry. For the perfect grilled steak, the app asks users how thick the cut is, with an interactive ruler displayed, and provides instructions on when to rest and turn the beef. A fun cooking timer is then set with an alarm to precisely count down cooking time.

The app also features a queue system, handy for cooking several cuts of meat at the same time, and ensures that everyone gets a perfectly cooked piece of beef according to their preferred doneness.

The app has been designed for maximum ease of use, knowing that it will be used as a reference when shopping for meat, as well as when preparing it at barbecues and in the kitchen. All functions are easily manageable, with clear icons and visual cues for navigation.

BeefEsentials_05Favourites

Results

MLA and Reactive won a Webby Award in 2012 for Beef Essentials in the ‘Best Lifestyle Mobile Apps’ category. The Webby Awards are the leading international honour for the world’s best websites and digital projects and have been hailed as “the internet’s highest honour” by The New York Times.

The Beef Essentials iPhone app was launched in October 2011 and has received over 6852 downloads. The app has a four out of five-star rating in the iTunes App Store.

Film yourself on NYE to star in Tourism Australia campaign [UPDATED]

by Marketing ON 2 January 2012

Updated 2 January 2012 to include resulting video

Tourism Australia and the City of Sydney will release a short film made from user-generated video of New Year’s Eve experiences as part of a campaign to promote Sydney as a prime destination for tourists to visit in the new year.

The film, to be titled ‘Project:12′, will be created overnight and released on Tourism Australia’s YouTube channel and Facebook and Twitter pages in the early hours of New Year’s Day before many other parts of the world reach their own 2012 countdown.

The digital campaign is facilitated via the City of Sydney’s NYE iPhone app which allows users to upload 12-second clips of their new year celebrations.

Executive general manager of marketing for Tourism Australia, Nick Baker, tells Marketing the user generated content approach lends itself well to the tourism space and also to the nature of Australians.

“The level of interaction and interest from Australians in the Nothing Like Australia campaign was great with over 41,000 photos uploaded,” Bakers says.

“Australians love talking about the country so it [user generated content] is a natural sweet spot for us.”

On managing the quality and amount of content received Baker says the team ensures their pre work is done which for this campaign included mapping out the key themes that they’re looking for and preparing a story line.

The app only allows people to upload footage in 12 second blocks, which we feel is enough to get a nugget of their new year’s story,” Baker says.

The campaign aims to capture the shared experience and emotion of welcoming in the new year with friends and family against the backdrop of Sydney’s fireworks display.

Tourism Australia is giving away a BridgeClimb gift certificate for the best video clip submitted.

The initiative is part of a Tourism Australia and City of Sydney joint venture to show the world why there’s nothing like celebrating New Year’s Eve in Sydney, Australia.

UPDATE 2 January 2012:

And here’s the resulting video:

If you can’t see the video above, please refresh this page.

Homepage image courtesy of Hai Linh Truong, via Flickr

Wasted budget on apps… my $50,000 white elephant

by Joe Barber ON 31 December 2011

This article first appeared in the June 2011 issue of Marketing magazine.

How quickly things move in the mobile world. As a 20-year veteran of the IT industry, I was often astonished at the pace of the web. It was bewildering to see the growth and uptake of web-based start-ups, while other seemingly useful companies simply crashed and burned. Incredibly, however, the mobile market is making the web pace seem like a slow walk in the park. Unfortunately, the pace and change has caught many people out and led to an expensive lesson when it comes to apps development.

All within the space of just a few years, you have the massive domination of the iPhone and then the onslaught of Android taking over the sales leader board. Then came the Windows Phone deal with Nokia, which hasn’t impacted as yet, but stay tuned. It’s a lightening pace of change, but luckily most can just sit back and be passively entertained observers.

As a side note, Apple has tried before to create a closed proprietary private ecosystem (desktop computers), which many considered back in the 90s would succeed and dominate. I believe, however, its failure now looms as an interesting unlearned lesson, as Apple has tried again with the iPhone/Pad/Pod and iTunes/iStore private, closed ecosystem. For a while, it looked like it had things stitched up, until Android came along and spoilt the party. So will it be nil for two for Apple?

In the last three months, I have met a number of organisations that embarked upon an iPhone apps path and are now facing a budget catastrophe, especially those who haven’t been able to stem the flow of cash to a less than strategic project. It was naively believed that the iPhone dominated the ‘connected’ consumer and that it was only getting stronger. ‘We must have an iPhone app’, touted many a marketing director. But, with recent figures showing that the Android now has a greater installed base and is outselling at a high rate, the question begs asking: what to do with the wasted investment in an iPhone app?

Before I get attacked, there is still definitely a market for iPhone applications. Especially entertainment, utilities and productivity tools, where you have the ability to create an engaging game or brand infested experience that also translates to the iPad. The iPhone and iPad can deliver some amazing experiences, but, remember, you are in reality targeting around 25 percent of the ‘connected’ marketplace. But to build an app as an extension to your website to get closer to your audience is a poor decision – a decision that six months ago most wouldn’t have even been questioned. But now you have a $20,000, $30,000 or even $60,000 white elephant that needs to be maintained, while also looking at how you can address the Android, Windows and BlackBerry markets.

When I refer to a ‘connected’ consumer or the ‘connected’ market, it’s more a reference to the segment of the public that have the inclination, desire, will or ability to go online. It’s not only smartphone users, but any mobile user that is comfortable and willing to go online with their mobile. At the end of the day, it’s a segment of these users that you are trying to attract and hence the stats and intel must have relevance. The 30 percent of the market still with a clam shell style phone and a postage stamp sized mono screen isn’t likely to try and surf the web in any meaningful way.

By the time this comes to print, I’ll probably be blogging how wrong I was and how the market has changed again and noting the fact that some European company has acquired Symbian and turned it into an Android killer able to emulate iPhone apps, while at the same time Apple is acquiring Microsoft in a bid to join forces against the new evil in Google. That’s all just pure speculation, of course! But don’t blink, things will change that fast.

When investing $50,000 in developing an iPhone app, don’t you think it prudent to step back and consider a broader approach that can address more than just 25 percent of the audience and is able to be maintained relatively easily across three or four platforms? That’s pretty much what the analysts are now touting: ‘apps for games, productivity tools and utilities with web apps for business’ (web apps being the phrase used to refer to mobile specific websites that run and feel like apps). Interestingly, it’s the same analysts that five months ago were saying ‘everyone needs to have an iPhone app – don’t be left out’. Thanks guys!

But web apps have just as much challenge in reality. While the costs of ownership and development are significantly lower, creating a cross-device, cross-browser experience needs proper platforms and tools to help deliver, especially with some supporting JavaScript, others with HTML 5, some with GPS and, of course, no one friendly with Flash. Email me if you want some guidance that’s beyond the scope of this article.

So, let’s look at the device market and see who’s doing what. And, remember, if you are trying to embark on a mobile experience either on a device app or a web app, by all means use this data, but appreciate that it’s changing tomorrow. Understand your consumer and where they fit. For example, a technical audience may in fact have a far greater Android penetration than an audience from the advertising industry, where the Mac rules and the iPhone dominates almost without exception. If you’re targeting university students, then the great deals on Android for the budget conscious student have seen Android take an estimated 50 percent market share amongst students.

Leading the handset operating system (OS) race is now Google/Android with 33 percent (remember this is of the connected consumer, not overall). It’s the ‘OS’ race because Android now runs on many brands of devices. Next in line is the Blackberry at 28 percent. Surprisingly, that hasn’t varied much in the last six months. This tends to indicate that the corporate BlackBerry market is still strong. At 25 percent, Apple has in fact reduced or stayed the same, depending upon whose stats you read and, finally, there’s Microsoft at 7.7 percent and Palm at sub three percent.

Clearly the market is set to change even more drastically in the coming year. Devices are becoming more powerful and embedded hardware like NFC (near field communication) and GPS (global positioning system) will see new brands emerge and old designs fade away. Remember when everyone had to have a flip phone (clam shell style)? That’s now considered archaic and ridiculous. Remember when non Nokia owners watched in envy as people played Snake on their phone? It’s actually not that long ago. Embedded projectors, scanners, barcode readers and infrared projected virtual keyboards will all have their moment in the sun and then be buried by the next big innovation.

Microsoft is rumoured to be working to integrate NFC into its Windows Phone 7 operating system. Along with Google, Apple and Nokia, Microsoft may be the next to test the technology. Microsoft holds over 14 patents surrounding NFC. With commerce and contactless payments predicted as a major ‘game changer’ in the coming years, surely Microsoft’s domination and control should or could see the NokiaSoft smartphone alliance launch rapidly to number one. Nokia has already committed the company to the NFC technology protocol and promised to make NFC a standard feature on all its Symbian smartphones this year.

So, planning an SMS campaign? That’s cool; nothing here affects that. Looking at stepping up to MMS and really getting into the multimedia experience? Then again, that’s all fine. With the exception of some non-standard behaviour on the iPhone, MMS is pretty much ubiquitous now. But if you’re planning an app, web app or some other device-based experience, then your job is going to be a tough one. Between starting and ending your planning, everything could have changed. The key insight here is to understand your target and where they fit in respect of likely handsets. If indeterminate, then stay reasonably generic and friendly across all makes, models and platforms. The last thing you want is another $50,000 iPhone app ‘white elephant’ and have to explain how you’ve run out of budget to address the other 75 percent of your customers or prospects.

Gaming apps dominate iTunes in 2011, mobile branding opportunities grow

by Marketing ON 9 December 2011

iTunes has named photo sharing app Instagram as iPhone App of the Year in its annual list of the most downloaded apps, music, TV shows, movies and podcasts released today.

The app awards, judged by iTunes’ editorial team, were dominated by photo and video apps, with 8mm Vintage Camera and Luminance taking out the runner up awards for iPhone, and Snapseed taking out the top spot for iPad.

Gaming apps dominated the most downloaded paid apps on both iPhone and iPad. The title of Game of the Year was awarded to Tiny Wings on iPhone and Australian developer Firemint’s Real Racing 2HD on iPad.

Top 10 free apps

Social networking and communication apps were the most downloaded of the free apps on iPhone, while for iPad the most downloaded was a mixed bag of media, games, shopping and utilities.

Top 10 paid apps

Gaming apps dominated the top ten downloaded paid apps for both iPhone and iPad, with Angry Birds and its spinoffs occupying several places on both lists.

According to data from research company TNS’ Mobile Life study, gaming apps are the most frequently used apps, while video/picture apps are the least frequently used of the main categories.

Commercial director at TNS, Jonathan Sinton, says that a branded presence in apps can address three core marketing goals: creating brand awareness, boosting engagement or loyalty, or changing the way the market behaves.

“The issue with apps is cutting through the clutter,” Sinton says. “To do so an app needs to add benefit to the consumer’s life, either through utility or entertainment.”

An example of an app that has added utility and has the ability to change the way the market behaves is the Commonwealth Bank’s Property Guide app which uses augmented reality to help home buyers find properties.

“There are lots of different ways brands can get involved with gaming also,” Sinton says.

“At the base level brands can insert advertising into a game, such as the Gillette billboard ads often seen within FIFA games.

“At the higher level, custom white label games such as Angry Birds Rio can be developed,” he says, referring to the version of the popular Angry Birds game series integrating promotion for the 3D animated film, Rio.