The UK mobile ad spend continues to grow, and as more brand and businesses turn to mobile marketing, the quality and success of mobile campaigns is reaching stratospheric proportions. The biggest brands are willing to spend, spend, spend when it comes to mobile advertising, so halfway through 2018 there are already some stand-out examples of highly successful mobile campaigns.
Successful Mobile Campaign # 1 – Regal Theatres: Avengers Augmented Reality Activation
The Regal Theatre Chain, in partnership with the first issue of print publication Moviebill, developed an incredibly successful augmented reality app for mobile. Users could active an Avengers-themed augmented reality experience on the magazine’s pages by using the Regal Theatre phone app, and 1 million copies of the magazine were distributed to Regal theatres in April. The US-based chain has over 7,300 screens in 564 theatres across the US, and around 9 million theatre-goers across the country have the Regal Theatre phone app installed. In just two days, the Moviebill AR experience racked up 2 million scans. And after the opening weekend of the Avengers film, the Regal app had tripled its average weekend download total, and was a top trending app in the Apple Store.
This is a particularly inspired use of mobile technology for one simple reason: there’s not a lot to do while sitting waiting for a movie to start. People are likely to be using their phones right before the start because they’ll be switching them off for the film, so this is the perfect time to capture attention with a fun augmented reality experience.
Successful Mobile Campaign # 2 – Target: Augmented Reality Beauty Studio
Purchasing makeup—especially online—can be difficult, because it’s difficult to know what products will look like if you’ve never worn them before. Some forward-thinking makeup brands are looking at using mobile technology to solve this problem, and now US discount chain Target are doing the same. In conjunction with the PerfectCorp YouCam Makeup augmented reality app, Target shoppers and website users can now try on makeup before they buy it. The tech is currently only in a few physical store locations, but users can already try the feature out at Target.com—and you don’t need to be in the US to use the site. Users from anywhere in the world, including the UK, can use the new feature.
The beauty of this feature is in the fact that people who use AR for this kind of purpose are 1.6 times more likely to make a purchase afterwards. And people who make purchases spend on average 2.7 times more than people who don’t use AR. All brands who use the YouCam platform have higher sales than those that don’t—all hinging on the fact that the ability to try before you buy is a huge benefit when purchasing beauty products. It’s wise of Target to start offering such a service simply because so far it’s mainly brands that are doing so. Potentially, Target can offer the service for a range of brands, and reap the rewards.
Successful Mobile Campaign # 3 – Tindr: Matched with Manchester City
In April came the news that dating app Tindr had signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with Manchester City, the soccer team currently leading the English Premier League. Partnering with both the men’s and women’s leagues, Tindr celebrated the new partnership by flying a blimp in the club colours, over Manchester the same week. Tindr plans to develop a number of ways to engage with fans, including games, AR experiences, and stadium events.
Tindr and soccer is a surprisingly good match: the world-wide love of the game meshes well with Tindr’s wide availability, in more than 200 countries and 40 languages, and the partnership is well-aimed at young adults who are mobile-savvy and share a love of the game and their teams. What makes this one different is that while most brands are pre-mobile era shifting into a new market, Tindr is a mobile-first brand shifting into a pre-mobile market. Given how crowded mobile markets are becoming, this could be an exceptionally clever move on Tindr’s part.
Successful Mobile Campaign # 4 – BBC The Civilisations AR Experience
AR has a wide range of potential applications, as exemplified by the BBC’s launch of an augmented reality app to accompany its Civilisations series. Civilisations explores British culture and history in a 9-part series that aired on BBC2 in March. The app was developed by the BBC in partnership with Nexus Studios, and features a number of museum exhibits and artistic works, including an Egyptian mummy, and Rodin’s The Kiss. Users can view the exhibits as they are now, using their mobile devices to examine them closely. They can also use the app to view the exhibits as they would have looked when first created—removing fading and other artefacts of time to reveal their original appearance.
The BBC’s development of an AR app demonstrates the huge value this tech can have for media companies and broadcasters, with the ability to enrich the viewing experience with digital overlays. In the past, the BBC has developed virtual reality experiences such as 360 degree video clips, but by developing AR specifically to enhance the Civilisations programme, demonstrates how effective the tech can be in conjunction with existing forms of media.