best examples of marketing and engagement using digital technologyjanuary 2013

lorna von Seggern

Marketing Research Manager

john tedStrom

Managing Director, Insight & Strategy

The role of Technology in markeTing

With the explosion of new media channels and technologies, marketers are scrambling to figure out what are the new principles and best practices in engaging today’s consumers.

Technology has changed how consumers interact with brands, so we created this e-book as a frame of reference to help companies navigate this new multichannel, digital world.

Through extensive secondary research and our own experiences, we’ve identified 5 trends on how technology is being applied to marketing in order to build relationships with the multitasking, multichannel consumer:

IncreasIng engagement1/ content In context2/ socIal merchandIsIng and socIal loyalty3/

lIfestyle IntegratIon4/ extreme PersonalIzatIon5/

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Why the marketing landscape is changing: Technology has forever changed

how consumers inTeracT wiTh brands

Digital disruption is all around us. In most developed countries, Internet access is near ubiquitous. As of 2012, there are an estimated 3.2 billion mobile phone owners worldwide. Mobile web use is expected to pass desktop usage in 2014. 29% of U.S. adults now own a tablet or e-reader. A recent survey of U.S. adult smartphone owners by Harris Interactive found that nearly 3/4 of smartphone owners don’t go an hour without checking their phone. Consumers are increasingly likely to research a product in-store on their smartphone before buying it online. The influence of social media, social merchandising and social commerce is exploding. There are now 850 million users on Facebook. And that’s just a scratch on the surface of how digital technology is changing the way consumers interact with brands.

Even industries without any digital products have been forever changed. And companies like GE, Cisco and IBM are betting the Internet will bring digital intelligence to the physical world of industry like never before. Consumers and business decision makers now have a huge range of tools that give them unprecedented access to information, pricing, comparison data and more. Increased access, in turn, has led consumers to demand even more transparency, simplicity, immediate response and relevant personalized content.

Marketers have responded by shifting from one-way company-, brand- or product-focused marketing alone to finding more ways to be customer-centric, personal, relevant, local and timely. Now, companies bring their products to life in context and create experiences that matter for consumers, so they can get what’s in it for them, rather than just hear about it.

it wasn’t a nice thing to have to go digital, we had to do it to survive. – Angela Ahrendts, ceo of burberry

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Brands are using technology in many ways to create experiences, drive engagement and build stronger relationships with their target consumers.

IncreasIng engagement1/ pp. 5-11

content In context2/ pp. 12-15

socIal merchandIsIng and socIal loyalty3/ pp. 16-21

lIfestyle IntegratIon4/ pp. 22-25

extreme PersonalIzatIon5/ pp. 26-29

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our purpose at p&g is to touch and improve lives; everything we do is in that context. with digital technology, it’s now possible to have a one-on-one relationship with every consumer in the world. the more intimate the relationship, the more indispensable it becomes. we want to be the company that creates those indispensable relationships with our brands, and digital technology enables this.

– Robert McDonald, president and ceo of p&g

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Increasing Engagement1/Brands are using a combination of location and technology to break

through the clutter and create new levels of engagement with their most

important customers.

pp. 6-7 pp. 6, 8 pp. 6, 9 pp. 6, 9 pp. 6, 10 pp. 6, 11

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the rIght message at the rIght tIme. Technology enables companies to engage their target

audience anywhere and anytime, providing perfectly timed and clever breakthrough messaging to the

target audience.

orIgInal and User-generated content. Today, more brands are using digital technology to

act like publishers and creators. Compelling digital content about unique experiences – pop culture, art,

people stories – is driving engagement and conversation, not product and company information. Digital

content helps humanize a brand, communicating who they are and what they are about.

storytellIng. Consumers across all age groups crave stories that they can share with friends and

family. Many successful marketers in the digital age are focusing on the people that interact with the brand,

not the brand itself, by creating branded stories that have the added advantage of making people look

good for sharing it.

socIal sharIng. People use social networks to hear another person’s experience (70%) and to learn

about new products and services (60%). Today, consumers are generating and tapping into the opinions

of an exponentially larger universe. For marketers, the race is on to be among the brands being shared.

gamIfIcatIon. Brands are using the principles of gaming combined with other data, such as location,

to create new levels of engagement.

aUgmented realIty and emergIng technology. Augmented reality has proven to create

interactive, engaging experiences with consumers that allows them to more fully experience a brand or product.

Expect to see more forms of engaging experience through newer forms of technology.

To promote its CT 200 Hybrid model on Earth Day in April, Lexus created a 3D projection onto the Roosevelt Hotel. The image featured the CT 200 driving around the hotel’s walls. Combined with lighting and music, the outdoor initiative went viral on YouTube, generating over 1 million comments from consumers on Facebook, YouTube and blogs.

Lexus

In Heathrow Airport’s first class executive lounges, executives logging onto the Wi-Fi were greeted with a 25-second commercial about Samsung’s Galaxy Tab just weeks before the holidays. Samsung sold 600,000 units in one month across 30 markets due to putting their message in front of their target audience at the right time.

samsung’s gaLaxy tab

the rIght message at the rIght tIme

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orIgInal content

Red Bull sponsored a live video feed of a skydiver jumping out of a spaceship to communicate its brand message and differentiate its energy drink from the rest of the industry. The jump from a space capsule at the edge of space by Felix Baumgartner was carried live by television outlets around the world, and more than 8 million people saw the live video on YouTube (the largest audience ever for a live streaming event of this kind). The daredevil stunt successfully demonstrated the power Red Bull’s energy drink delivers: “Red Bull gives you wings.”

reD buLL

User-generated content

Levi’s launched a new jean called Curve ID for women, which allows women to match their measurements to a particular ID in order to get a great fit. Instead of advertising their new Curve ID product through banner ads and TV commercials, Levi’s demonstrated the unique benefits in an authentic manner through video and social influencers. Social influencers received a pair of jeans and a letter asking them to create a video if they liked the jeans. The influencers created amazing videos that drove 95% of traffic to the Levi’s Facebook page. The banner ads drove less than 5%.

Levi’s successfully entertained their audiences while educating and informing them at the same time, bypassing the traditional advertising noise to engage them.

LevI’s curve ID x LIz stanLey

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storytellIng

FIAT became Chrysler’s fastest growing brand among young adults after it launched a live series of videos titled “Alternative Routes: The FIAT Storytelling Series.” The videos aligned with the brand’s “Life is Best when Driven” umbrella, featuring live storytelling events from real people. The 8- to 10-minute videos on FIAT’s Facebook page were viewed 440,000 times. In addition, stories were featured on CBS.com, which generated an additional 29 million impressions. The videos and content on CBS.com drove nearly 7,000 people to interact on FIAT-USA.com.

FIat

To generate awareness around its “happiness” positioning, Coca-Cola launched the Happy Places photo app and a photo-sharing social network along with a mobile app that encourages people to share their happy moments. Users can view and comment on other’s pictures and follow hashtags like #music, #joy and #girlfriends to keep up to date with new uploads that fit with these “moments.” Coke’s photo initiative successfully attracted and engaged new audiences while associating its brand to its core positioning.

coca-coLa

socIal sharIng

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Denny’s restaurant reinvigorated their brand with the launch of its “50 State Challenge” mobile app and promotion. In this gamified app, guests can locate nearest restaurants, see exclusive menu items and check in to receive “state souvenir challenge badges” along with different prizes. Customers can also recruit friends through the app to check in with their friends as a “team check in” for a bigger prize. The ultimate prize, for checking in to a Denny’s in all 50 states, is free Grand Slams for life.

Denny’s

gamIfIcatIon

the check-in capability is a way to drive traffic directly to the restaurant. thanks to apps like foursquare, people are now familiar with that kind of check-in behavior. it gets guests into our restaurant, which is the ultimate goal for us.

– John Dillon, vice president of brand marketing and product development, denny’s

aUgmented realIty

Volvo created an augmented reality experience to promote its new S60 model. Users could drive a virtual car by scanning a YouTube video. Fans drove a car around a track by tilting their smartphone to the left or right. Volvo said the results were “outstanding,” with a 9.6% interaction rate, 192,319 clicks on the masthead ad and a traffic increase of 293% to volvocars.com.

voLvo

maybeLLIne

Maybelline incorporated augmented reality into its New York Color Show Nail Lacquer print ad campaign to allow readers to virtually try on 40 different colors of nail polish by taking a picture of their hand.

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12Content in Context2/Many brands are using technology to engage customers in

new ways by delivering relevant content in the right context

to connect with consumers where they are.

The Home Depot launched the Style Guide iPad app to drive project consideration and inspiration among home enthusiasts. The app can service as direction points for someone when taking on a project.

How-to articles feature large images that can be clicked on for additional information. Other interactive features include the ability to switch an image from daylight to night to see how lighting affects a specific room and swipe functionality.

Everything featured in the articles in the app is commerce-enabled, linking to a custom Home Depot website where all products are available for purchase. The app is currently the top downloaded app in its category.

the home Depot

American Express provided content with enhanced and exclusive benefits by allowing cardholders to shop for products during the e-commerce-enabled television show New Girl.

amerIcan express

IKEA moved away from featuring static pictures of products to lifestyle imagery by grouping products together in relevant settings. IKEA’s new holiday interactive catalog, titled “Celebrate Brilliantly,” features interactive photos of IKEA’s products and fun ideas for the home. Users can flip the switch on the bottom of the page to see what an everyday room would look like decorated for the holidays and can watch videos from the catalog pages, recommend to Facebook and pin items on Pinterest, all in one click.

IKea

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audiences are increasingly engaging in second screen viewing. the mobile device allows us to integrate marketing messaging related to specific tv content in a way that would otherwise not be possible.

– Lou Paskalis, vice president of global media, content development

and mobile marketing at american express, new york

Waze is a free community-based traffic and navigation app now with over 30MM members that puts the user in context with valuable trip and navigation content. Members share real-time traffic, accident and road information and provide edits and even corrections to maps.

Waze

BMW’s “A Window into the Near Future” used out-of-home digital signage, digital projection and motion detection technology to transform passing cars into future all-electric BMW i3 and plug-in hybrid BMW i8 concept vehicles.

Across from Bryant Park in New York City, consumers drove by a large window that reflected a BMW concept car instead of their own and calculated how much money would be saved and how many tons of CO2 emissions could be reduced annually if each transformed car was all-electric. BMW used the window to demonstrate their vision of the future.

BMW’s out-of-home advertisement built excitement for the brand, going viral on the Internet, with positive comments on blogs and websites along with many shared links to the branded viral video on YouTube.

bmW

Toys “R” Us launched a series of online videos that star kids as “news anchors” of a toy news network aimed at informing parents on the hottest toys for the holiday season.

To continue the discussion, Toys “R” Us started the #HotToys hashtag on Twitter for parents to talk amongst themselves as well as with brand representatives. Digital content, including some of the TV spots, lives on Facebook and YouTube. Toys “R” Us has 3.1 million likes and 35.4 million video views on Facebook.

toys “r” us

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Social Merchandising and Social Loyalty3/Social media continues to evolve through social marketing, social

merchandising and social commerce. Social loyalty is emerging as

an opportunity to leverage all three.

pp. 17-18 pp. 19-20 pp. 21

Social merchandising is driving companies to showcase their products in a visual, meaningful way that easily transfers to Pinterest, Instagram and others. The new e-commerce reflects a more personalized experience, focusing on consumers’ unique passions and interests. And social commerce encourages shoppers to discover new products, not just buy them.

Bentley Motors creates a two-way dialogue with their customers on Pinterest and other social media channels. Showcasing merchandise in a relevant manner on Pinterest allows customers to discover, share, comment and purchase items quickly and easily.

bentLey motors

Marc Jacobs revamped its website with more improved visuals, mobile commerce features and social sharing options to boost sales. The website now has larger product images, social integration, mobile optimization and PayPal integration. To personalize the experience, they added the “MyMJ account,” which syncs with the user’s Facebook page and includes order history, customized collection picks, news and events from Marc Jacobs and an integrated Marc Jacobs Twitter feed.

marc jacobs

socIal merchandIsIng

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social merchandising is driving product visibility based on “likes.” companies such as theFInD and gLImpse allow users to discover products based on the number of likes they receive. there are 170mm product pages that have like buttons but only 6.2mm have 1+ likes.

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Brands and retailers are testing the waters by adding a social layer to established programs while building upon proven principles of loyalty and customer relationship management. Social loyalty programs provide brands with an unprecedented amount of customer data and new levels of engagement.

Express Next loyalty program drove deeper customer engagement and sales through social media engagement. Those who are engaged with the brand tend to buy more and have a longer relationship with the company. Customers earn points for opting-in to receive SMS text alerts from the retailer, re-tweeting an Express tweet, following Express on Twitter and for reviewing an item on Express.com.

express

Caesars Entertainment’s Total Rewards program acquired new members and drove deeper customer engagement by allowing members to earn additional rewards points by sharing content and check-in activities through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare.

To illustrate the value of the rewards program, Caesars launched the “Escape to Total Rewards” sweepstakes, where members had chances to win 90,000 prizes by playing an online game at TotalRewards.com/Escape. To play, members must obtain special key codes from Caesar’s locations on Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter. When the player enters the key code, they can play one instant-win game.

The program enhancements have resonated with travelers and other entertainment seekers, as Caesars Entertainment witnessed a 20% increase in Total Rewards members, more than 23 million “Escape to Total Rewards” online game plays, 101% increase in @Total_Rewards on Twitter and 93% increase in Total Rewards Facebook fans.

caesars entertaInment’s totaL reWarDs program

socIal loyalty

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there is a lot of marketing power behind a passionate customer who takes to social media to tell all of her friends about the big reward she just earned and the sexy dress she’s going to purchase with those rewards. next thing you know, all of her friends want to sign up and earn rewards too.

– Jim Wright, express senior vice president of marketing

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TGI Friday’s successfully re-energized the brand by developing a mobile app that focuses on convenience and makes the customers’ interactions with the restaurant a lot easier. With the mobile app, consumers can sign up for the restaurant’s loyalty program, check their rewards balance, place a restaurant order, keep track of their tab and pay their bill, and share experiences with others through social media.

tgI FrIDay’s

FedEx launched the “Ship to Friends” app that allows Facebook users to prepare and pay for a FedEx shipment without ever leaving Facebook. In addition, the app allows users to post directly to their friend’s Facebook timeline, alerting them that they are sending them a package.

FeDex

Nordstrom created a personalized mobile shopping experience with its new shoppable iPad app. The goal of the app is to give consumers a “simple, fast and intuitive way to browse and buy merchandise on the iPad,” according to Nord-strom. The three main functions of the app are the virtual dressing room, person-alized home page and social sharing. Users can search for products, shop and try products on virtually.

norDstrom

socIal and mobIle aPPs

Lifestyle Integration 4/Brands are using technology to bring their brand promise to life

by functionally integrating it into customers’ daily lives. They

have found that traditional advertising is not enough and they

must “be” the brand that they promise. In the digital world today,

consumers increasingly want brands to demonstrate their value

through action, not just words. And as a result, technology is

changing how people interact with the brands, content and how

they get things done in their daily lives.

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To add value and create strong brand advocates, Vail Resorts launched the Epic Mix digital ecosystem, which incorporates gamification elements and RFID codes. Through a website and mobile app, season pass holders at Vail’s six resorts track vertical feet skied, earn pins for activity, compete with friends on a leaderboard, post photos and share activity through social channels. In 2012, they added a new mobile app, Epic Racing, which allows skiers to compare their racing times with American Ski Racer Lindsey Vonn and win digital medals based on their achievements. The app allows users to share their results with friends on Facebook and Twitter. For the passionate skier, Epic Mix has become the connective tissue and a huge differentiator for Vail Resorts.

vaIL resorts

In what may be the best example of functional lifestyle integration, Nike launched the Nike+ FuelBand, a device that athletes wear to track all daily activity and help them reach their goals. As a result, Nike has transformed the category and has become the brand it promises – for the athlete in all of us. Users can set targets and share their measurements with others. Once a goal is reached, a motivational character, “Fuelie,” appears and applauds the user for their efforts. Now with 7 million users, Nike plans to extend the idea and build Nike+ Basketball (specific for basketball players) and create additional training apps.

nIKe

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the role of the brand, and of advertising, has changed from being one of inspiration to one of inspiration and enablement. the consumer feels entitled to attention – saying ‘just do it’ isn’t enough; they want the know-how.

– Stefan Olander, vice president of digital sport, nike

Gap wanted to tie their brand to something tangible that establishes an emotional connection with their audiences during the holiday gift-giving season. Gap allowed customers to send their own Facebook photos as real, printed postcards to their Facebook friends free of charge. And wouldn’t it be great if some of those postcards showed customers enjoying Gap clothing and accessories? Through the end of December, Gap gave away 1 million free postcards as part of their sentimental holiday initiative.

gap

ASICS America, a partner of the 2012 Honda LA Marathon, expanded its “Support Your Marathoner” program to the West Coast. It allows friends and family to send pictures, texts and video messages of support to the marathon runner of their choice on race day.

Motivational messages are delivered directly to an individual runner when they run past one of two giant video screens placed in various locations on the race course.

Social media delivered additional moments of inspiration to runners. The program links the website (www.supportyourmarathoner.com) to the runner’s personal Facebook page, allowing them to share requests for support with their entire online network. Every time a message of support is uploaded, the runner’s entire Facebook community is alerted and encouraged to upload more messages. The Support Your Marathoner website also gives runners their own personalized support gallery of messages, pictures and videos for after the race.

asIcs amerIca

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Extreme Personalization5/Some brands are putting technology to work to ensure that each marketing

message targets the right audience and each experience is precisely relevant.

Facial recognition technology is one example at the extreme end of the personalization

spectrum. Understandably controversial, it helps brands hyper-target their messages

based on demographics. It has a cool factor but any conversation about it quickly

goes to the potential for abuse. Nonetheless, it is a new technology to keep an eye on.

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forrester predicts that by 2014 consumers will receive an average of 9,000 email marketing messages annually. companies are looking to extreme personalization to break through the clutter.

AT&T said its program, called AT&T Alerts, will use “geo-location technology” to offer customers “discounts, rewards and offers via text message when they are near participating retailers and brands,” including Gap, Staples and Zales.

at&t

Sony Ericsson engaged customers with personalized messages based on their physical location to demonstrate the photo capabilities of their new SE K550i phone. The campaign was built around a competition to win a world trip for the entrant and four of their friends to participate in extreme sports, including Bungee jumping out of a helicopter over the fjords of Norway and sand boarding in the deserts of Dubai. Users sign up for the four-stage challenge and continue over four weeks. Each week’s entrants needed to upload five photos of their preparations.

Using a sophisticated re-targeting process, they created personally relevant ads for each entrant based on their status within the competition. The ads remembered the stage the individuals were in and user data was combined from tags on the various stages of the microsite with multiple possible ad interactions. Users were re-targeted across the MSN network using personalized content such as the user’s submitted photo in the ad.

sony erIcsson

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being tested by some retailers and consumer packaged goods manufacturers, facial recognition allows billboards, vending machines and digital kiosks to detect a person’s attributes, such as age, gender and race, and deliver customized content as a result.

Adidas is working with Intel to develop digital walls with facial recognition for a limited number of stores in the U.S. and Britain.

aDIDas

Kraft is testing face-scanning kiosks in select supermarkets. When a shopper stands in front of the kiosk, a camera equipped with Anonymous Video Analytics software zooms in on his or her face to determine the shopper’s age and gender. The kiosk then suggests Kraft products it thinks the shopper will enjoy, from kid-friendly Oscar Mayer hot dogs to Tombstone Pizza.

KraFt

fUtUre trends

In this “what’s in it for me” and “what’s around me” hyper-connected world, brands will continue to leverage technology to understand customers’ needs and connect with them by putting their products and services in context, always driving toward more meaningful experiences, deeper engagement and one-to-one relationships. Although we can’t guarantee what the future will bring, we do know that brands will focus on these emerging trends.

When looking at how to leverage technology to achieve your own marketing objectives, whether its building customer loyalty, generating awareness and/or driving deeper customer engagement, first look at your target audience and their needs, media and digital habits and how your products and services fit into their lifestyle. It’s all about engaging them seamlessly in their personal digital world, not disruption by pushing messages at them.

By 2014, nearly half of the U.S. smartphone population will be mobile social network users, shopping through social media. E-commerce will ultimately stand for “everywhere commerce.” The purchase funnel is no longer linear, and marketers can influence a purchase decision at any moment. Therefore, digital will have a deeper influence in the purchase process as companies continue to discover which technologies are effective in influencing specific behaviors.

As consumers’ attention is divided across multiple screens, integrating imagery, video, sound and multisensory experiences will become even more important as brands look to break through the clutter. However, relevancy, context and personalization will remain the key challenge over the next few years. A major priority for marketers will be collecting and making sense of data from multiple channels and turning that data into actionable insight in order to communicate with their audience in a more personalized, relevant manner.

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we create extraordinary experiences that matter. hawkeye is an Integrated.digital.agency. We create extraordinary experiences for clients and their customers using insight, analytics and innovation to develop ideas that drive brand affinity and business success. Through social, mobile, digital, event and direct channels, we help clients inspire action to accelerate brand growth.

We don’t talk at people. We engage them with breakthrough experiences in the right channel at the right time with the right

message in the right context. We help you figure out who your consumers are, what they value, where they look for it and how they prefer it to be offered. Using integrated digital capabilities and creative solutions that drive results, we inspire your customers to act by clicking, tapping, emailing, texting, calling, participating in an event, joining the conversation, making a purchase through dig-ital channels or going to a brick-and-mortar store. And, we measure everything to give you the results you need.

For additional insights or help with your integrated digital strategy and to find new ways to engage your audiences, email us or give us a call.

About hawkeye

john tedStrom

jtedstrom@hawkeyeww.com

Managing Director, Insight & Strategy

970-376-0269

WeS WrIght

wwright@hawkeyeww.com

Managing Director, Interactive

214-659-5611www.facebook.com/hawkeyeagencywww.twitter.com/hawkeyewwwww.youtube.com/user/hawkeyeww