Ahead of our 2019 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards, staged in partnership with our headline partner Dynata, and our partners DAX and TabMo, well be previewing the nominees in each category,giving you a glimpse at the high quality of entries weve seen this year. In today’s preview, we look at the campaigns shortlisted for the Most Effective App Award.
KodakMoments – PixPax
PixPax is an app designed for the Instagram generation. It gives serial smartphone snappers 18 free retro prints, which are 100 per cent recycled, with any order. Photos can be styled up in the app’s photo editor to add filters, borders, captions and emojis. Optional extras include a stylish hanging kit, sticker sets or added prints (24 or 36). The 18 prints are free, users pay only a small delivery fee. The app launched on iOS in November 2018, and on Android in April 2019.
The strategy behind PixPax was to tap into the resurgent appeal of retro photo prints, and create a mobile app that makes these prints more accessible to young people, who don’t always have a lot of spare cash. That’s why the first 18 prints are free. Despite a crowded photo printing marketplace, the company was keen to energise younger people into printing photos, with a different style of prints & different type of offer not previously available. The goal was to generate a wonderful user experience, targeting over 100,000 app installs within the first year.
Marketing activity has included PR, partnerships, influencer campaigns, Facebook and Instagram ads, and Apple Paid Search. In the App Store, it has garnered a 4.8 rating, off the back of over 1,000 user reviews, and achieved 60,000 downloads in six months.
Pilot Flying J & Publicis Sapient: mobile app redesign
Pilot Flying J serves the around 3.5m professional truck drivers in the US, helping them in getting fuelled, fed, rested, and showered in the most efficient way possible. Serving more than 1.6m guests every day, it also providers services for RV’ers and auto drivers.
The truck stop business turned to Publicis Sapient to enhance its one-to-one relationships with guests in every experience and interaction within a redesigned app. Publicis took this on board and looked to drive both guest value and incremental sales for Pilot Flying J in the long term, while keeping an eye on the experience and technical requirements for an initial release.
After months of research and testing, a fully redesigned experience was delivered featuring enhanced on-boarding that paves the way for future personalisation, a fully revamped loyalty system, and a message inbox enabling the company to send direct communications via the app on subjects such as important alerts, offers, and rewards.
The app, which fully launched in April 2019, also includes a dynamic dashboard that adapts to the needs of the driver, and enables drivers to switch between ‘Pro’, ‘RV’, and ‘Auto’ modes depending on the vehicle they are operating.
Since launching, Pilot Flying J has seen a 127 per cent increase in app installs and a 170 per cent increase in unique users compared to last year. Its app store average rating has increased from 2.9 to 4.8 with over 15,000 reviews and users are redeeming more offers, with more than 280,000 free drinks awarded to new users. 
Samsung and HelloWorld – Samsung Elite
Samsung is reliant on channel employees, known as reps, to sell their mobile devices, so finding a way to continuously connect and motivate valuable behaviours with sales reps at large US retail carriers (T-Mobile, Sprint, MetroPCS, Verizon, Target) is critical to driving Samsung sales and consideration.
Feedback and data collected from focus groups and in-field sales reps revealed that the average rep is a millennial male who is best engaged through activities that are mobile-first, challenging, rewarding, and can be completed quickly. With this target and their preferences in mind, Samsung Elite was created. It’s ab app that uses games and activities to educate sales reps on Samsung products.
The app rewards Samsung sales, engagement, and advocacy through a variety of tactics, with points as the currency. The program drives Samsung product and sales knowledge (qualifying, interacting, and closing the sale) in a dynamic manner that delivers information to reps quickly and acts as a two-way communication channel.
Surveys are leveraged to gain rep input that continuously guides the program evolution. Part of that evolution included the transition from a fragmented experience to a single platform that boasts segmented content, allowing for each carrier to create a truly bespoke experience for their reps.
Member engagement is a top program KPI, and keeping Samsung benefits top of mind with busy sales reps in a way that fits their lifestyle is a vital component to influencing their sales activity. Each day, Elite members are given a bite-sized learning activity or content to engage with that, when completed, earns the member rewards points and recognition.
At the time of submitting the entry there were over 100,000 Samsung Elite members, with an average of 400,000 activities completed within the app each month. In stores with consistent Elite usage, Samsung Elite has been attributed to an average increase of 18 per cent in revenue growth.
The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony takes place in London on 14 November. To book your place at this celebration of the best in mobile marketing, click here.
