Mobile Marketing Case Study - SUBARU U.S.

TARGET: Subaru aimed to adapt its "The Legend Reborn" campaign for the 2008 redesigned WRX to target existing and new customers -- specifically young men 20 to 35 who are fond of partying into the night, video games and gadgets such as cellphones...


MARKETER:SUBARU AMERICA FOR THE SUBARU WRX

AGENCY:R/GAPROCESS: Preceding the car launch, R/GA developed a site that counted down to its unveiling at the New York Auto Show. A similar site was built for the mobile web. There, visitors could sign up for an SMS alert that would allow them to be among the first to see the car from their mobile devices. After the event Subaru followed up by building a more extensive mobile website, which included video of all TV spots and rally race schedules. AD SUPPORT: The initial phase of the campaign was supported with a multichannel paid ad campaign, including TV and print ads to drive viewers to the mobile and online sites. The marketer also bought more than 5 million mobile media impressions on Sprint. OUTCOME: The mobile site drew 77% of the sweepstakes entries and the mobile campaign drew four times more entrants than the print ad. After the mobile ads ran, entrants to the Maxim sweepstakes quadrupled and mobile alert opt-ins nearly doubled. Visits to the Subaru of America WAP site increased by more than 1,000% after paid-media spots ran. The campaign drew millions of impressions with a click-through rate of 2.7%. Overall, some 30,000 videos, ringtones and wallpapers were downloaded to cellphones, including videos of the campaign's TV spots.

LESSONS LEARNED: "Integration is a key element of mobile," said Webster Lewin, director-mobile marketing at R/GA. However, he said the campaign also proved ads on the mobile web are a powerful tool for drawing traffic to mobile websites. "Mobile media is actually one of the more effective ways to drive people to a mobile site," he said. Other evidence suggests visitors to the mobile site are "more engaged on the mobile web" than they are on the PC web, he said. Surprisingly, even though the target was young men who are predisposed toward sports, banner ads in the sports areas of the mobile web were not as effective as those that appeared "run of site" on the mobile web. Mr. Lewin was pleasantly surprised by the residual lift to the mobile push from the banner campaign. "People benchmarked it and kept going back to it," he said. Subaru added new content to the site with a re-launch in January.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK: The QR code wasn't as effective as the campaign's other elements, in part because so few people have devices equipped to read them. In terms of downloadable content, Mr. Lewin said the contact icon didn't work as well as a simple wallpaper of the car.