Every day between now and the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony on 17 November, we will be previewing the finalists in one of the 30 categories. Today, we turn our gaze to the Most Effective Sales Promotion Campaign category.

John Lewis and M&C Saatchi Mobile – John Lewis Christmas
M&C Saatchi Mobile has been working with John Lewis as its specialist mobile agency since 2012, and over that period, the company has increasingly invested in mobile as a platform for retail consumption. To accompany its iconic Christmas campaign, John Lewis sought to drive sales in-app and on mobile web, as well as use location-based messaging to drive in-store footfall.

The retailer hoped to use mobile to amplify above-the-line (ATL) activity and link it directly with in-store activity, delivering an excellent 360 customer experience. It selected SMS as the most effective format for targeting users and driving them instore, as well as alerting them to John Lewis final delivery date to ensure maximum orders and customer satisfaction.

Silent geo-fences were set up around stores in 12 areas to track footfall, and the audience was not pre-defined, to gain a better understanding of who was impacted and aid future campaigns. The campaign was split into several bursts, aimed at driving in-store footfall, reminding customers about final orders and driving customers to the mobile site.

Over 700,000 messages were delivered through the campaign, driving an overall nine per cent uplift in footfall for test audiences above control rates, and a 30 per cent boost on the single best day of the campaign.

The campaign raised awareness of John Lewis next day delivery options, and increased likelihood of purchase for both Christmas presents and overall retail shopping. It also provided John Lewis with valuable data for future campaigns, and reiterated the strength of mobile in connecting the digital and physical worlds.

Amstel, Tesco, One Stop, Mediavest, IRI and Blis – Amstel: Tesco & One Stop
Amstel took an innovative approach to promoting its lager brand, following its launch into the off-trade retailer space. By leveraging mobile geo-technology, Amstel was able to accurately identify its premium 25-44 male audience via their real world behaviour, and then reach them at the optimum point to drive footfall and sales to Tesco, its key retail partner.

At the same time, it was also important for Amstel to prove the efficacy and accountability of mobile where it mattered most, off-trade sales. Amstel collaborated with Blis for its mobile profiling and targeting capabilities, and IRI for its store-level sales insight to create a new performance success metric for the brand, and set a new sales performance benchmark for the category.

The campaign saw great results with a 19.7 per cent increase in sales of the featured Amstel products and an impressive ROI. These results were not only confined to the core Amstel products on offer, but also to all Amstel branded products (27.8 per cent sales uplift), and the beer category as a whole (3.5 per cent sales uplift) for the duration of the campaign period. Amstel also outperformed its competitors both during the campaign and in the weeks beyond.

Schwartz, RUN, Mediavest and McCormick – Schwartz Herbs & Spices
Schwartz was looking to drive a substantial uptick in consideration and purchase intent for its range of herbs and spices, and planned a precise audience first approach that used strategic data to define the right customer audience and eliminate waste.

RUN worked with the brand to produce location data for consumers who regularly visited major supermarkets that stocked Schwartz herbs, using this data along with demographics to inform the brands targeting strategy.

Working with Mediavest and BBC Good Food, Scwhartz developed inspirational content that would encourage consumers to use its locally-sourced products in their meals, targeting its custom segment with promotion. This audience was then retargeted with a mobile coupon upon visiting supermarkets, to ensure maximum impact.

The campaign resulted in a 52 per cent increase in consideration and 389 per cent boost in purchase intent, which translated into a 25 per cent increase in sales year-on-year. The precise targeting meant the cost of driving consumers to the BBC content hub was almost halved from previous campaigns, and the mobile couponing element also saw a fantastic click-to-download rate.

Textlocal – Textlocal SMS Ticketing
UK car dealership franchise Lookers utilised the rich content of Textlocal SMS tickets to drive customers into four of their branches. Messages were sent to 80,000 customers in the North West, containing special offers on two Vauxhall models, and embedded links to find out more.

The tickets could be redeemed through Textlocals app, enabling Lookers to track purchases back to the original messages. As a result of the campaign, 76 cars were sold, off the back of an SMS spend of just £1,800, which Textlocal works out to be an ROI of well over 4,000 per cent.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and Weve – The Great British Dog Survey
2016 marked the first ever Great British Dog Survey by the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. The campaign was intended to be a fun and engaging way to drive awareness, and centred on a mobile-optimised survey platform, as 90 per cent of completions came from mobile and tablet.

Working with Weve gave the campaign access to rich data which it could use to target the perfect audience, using browsing habits and location targeting to keep CPA costs as low as possible. The campaign ran in two phases, first targeting pet owners with an A/B tested SMS message, then with creative containing a call-to-action for the mobile responsive site.

The campaign outperformed expectations on all its targets, delivering substantially more completed surveys than predicted and a click-through rate significantly higher than industry benchmarks. As the campaign progressed, the charity upweighted Weves budget, based on the fantastic results.

Our Award winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in London on 17 November. To book a seat or table, head for the Awards website or call John Owen on 07769 674824.