Mobile marketing firm Yodelmobile has launched an app discovery campaign for the Kobo eReader. The campaign uses banners and HTML5 advertising to drive downloads of the Kobo app from smartphone, Tablet and web users. It will run across the web and mobile device platforms as part of Kobo’s strategy to become one of the largest eReader providers globally.
Yodelmobile is managing all aspects of the promotion of the app, which runs alongside its existing promotional campaign for the Kobo eReader. Once the app has been downloaded, users can use it to buy eBooks and download over a million titles for free, which they can read on their Kobo eReader or any device on which they have downloaded the app.
“The key to this campaign is the complexity of the tracking,” says Ijah Miller, Kobo campaign planner at Yodelmobile. “Because it’s fully integrated, it gives visibility into the app’s usage – who’s downloading it, who’s reading what, who’s buying books and what kind of books they are buying. This means that we can retarget advertising according to whether they are heavy or light readers, what they are reading, or what device they are reading on. The advertising they receive is relevant to them and their areas of interest.”
Yodelmobile will be monitoring Kobo’s app store positioning, and using data from the campaign to gain visibility into the number of apps downloaded, from which sites users were driven to the store and the demographics of who has downloaded it. The integrated tracking also gives full visibility on app usage – such as whether users are heavy readers, medium or light and when they have purchased a book. The messaging can be changed to target readers with specific promotions or genres. 
“The Kobo apps allow you to read Kobo books on multiple mobile devices, and you’re also able to continue reading on the web and the Kobo eReader,” says Kobo head of digital, John Gareau. “We want to bring the best mobile e-reading service to as many people as possible. Connectivity is key – picking up your book on whatever device you happen to be on at the time in order to carry on reading. Working with Yodelmobile was a crucial element to this strategy. We need to ensure that not only are people aware of the app, but are also then subsequently being targeted with appropriate and relevant messaging to highlight new titles and make them aware of promotions.”
Yodelmobile was appointed by Kobo to launch its eReader to the UK market in November 2011. In the UK, the Kobo eReader is sold through retailers including WH Smith, Asda, Tesco, Play, Dixons and Argos, and online.
