Finding Mobile Success
By Dan Flanegan, President, Soapbox <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mobile

As someone who has been in the mobile marketing space for the past four years and has launched and managed multiple campaigns I am continuously asked "What do you consider a successful campaign?".  In most cases the individual or company posing the question is looking for some hard number, a response rate, a number of sent messages or registered users.  These can all be important metrics, however, success presents itself in the least expected and most interesting of ways.

While working with a high profile client in the hospitality sector this year we experienced one of these success stories that will impact our future mobile campaigns and how we continue to define success.  In short, our goal was to generate response across multiple ad placements in major magazines around the country with a mobile text (sms) based call to action.  The overall results of the campaign were successful but not spectacular.  However, the devil turned out to be in the details.

What was most interesting is where we saw a majority of those responses.  Since we had tagged each magazine with a unique mobile "keyword" call to action, we could track back each response to the exact magazine that had generated it. Looking at that data, we noticed in real-time that across all the placements in the campaign an overwhelming response was coming from in-flight magazines.  Yup, those in flight only publications that tout the best vacation destinations, restaurant reviews, the latest gadgets and a guide to in-flight entertainment seemed to be the right fit for a mobile phone based call to action.

Why?  A number of possibilities ranging from having a captive audience, the ability to author a response while in the air and send it after landing, the tech savvy nature of the airline commuter,  and most importantly a means of response that was immediate and did not require using one's voice, avoiding the cold stare from a flight attendant.

In the end, the client learned something about the effectiveness of mobile and their print ad spend, and we learned that reading and responding to ads while trapped in a crammed 737 might be a perfect fit for the mobile phone as an always on, always connected means of interaction.

Do I consider that a success?  You bet I do!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />