Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

If you build it, they won't come. Every good mobile marketing campaign includes not only a "mobile presence" (e.g., an app or a mobile site) but just as importantly, a "mobile path" to discover it. For example, this path could be a keyword/short code, a QR code, image recognition, a "send to a friend" option, even a link on a Facebook page.

In this series we’ll be analyzing a mobile campaign by looking at these two key factors: Mobile Presence (i.e. what and where is it?) and Mobile Path (i.e. how do you find it?)

First up is IKEA’s Einrichtungskamera (translated as "Camera Body" or Portable Interior Planner) application. It was launched in Germany and ran from February through August of 2009.

Mobile Presence

Key Insight: People lack imagination, at least when it comes to visualizing furniture in their homes.

Technology: While this is being called "augmented reality," it technically uses a more simple layering functionality. This application is optimized for all handsets and not more feature-heavy smartphones.

As explained in MobiAd:

Using the camera from the consumer’s mobile device, the application lets the user visually place pieces of furniture from IKEA’s new PS collection in their homes.

• In the application are images of as many as eight pieces of furniture. The customer selects the product they are interested in, and then selects “Take a Picture”.
• The user aims the phone’s camera at the area of the room where the furniture might be placed.
• The image of the room appears on the phone screen, along with the superimposed IKEA furniture. The furniture can be scaled larger or smaller to make it fit better in the scene.
• The user can take a picture of the final scene then save it on the phone, or send it via MMS directly from within the application.

(photos via MobiAd)

Mobile Path

According to MobiAd, IKEA made the mobile application discoverable in three ways:

• In-store posters asked consumers to text in and receive a link to the mobile download site via SMS.
• IKEA launched an online microsite (via the IKEA official site) on which consumers could enter their mobile numbers and receive the SMS with the WAP link.
• Bluetooth pillars were installed in certain IKEA stores in Germany, which periodically sent out signals to nearby phones inviting the subscriber to download the application.

IKEA saw an average user response of 5.21 percent via the in-store Bluetooth post, the application was requested by SMS in-store a total of 6,800 times, and the IKEA PS microsite saw a unique user base of 15 percent, according to MobileMarketer.

Takeaway

Mobile augmented reality is getting a lot of hype, but it's still limited to advanced smartphones. This application could achieve scale while still delivering a "Wow" factor AND utility. The three-pronged approach towards discoverability was also certainly key to its success.

Texting in via SMS should be standard to any campaign that hopes to reach the masses. An online presence is also a must-have (though it can be a simple call-out on an existing website). Bluetooth will vary by region, but in Germany it is standard on phones and consumer acceptance has been increasing enormously over the past couple years in Germany (there was a 70% increase from 2008-2009). According to our colleagues at Proximity, general acceptance is high--about 60%.

Of course, the success of any of these paths is always dependent on the attractiveness of the promoted product, the perceived value of the message, the performance of the technology and an eye-catching call-to-action.

[Via MobiAd]