Tag: smartphone advertising

Mobile ads aren’t impressing women

Recent research is showing that overall, female smartphone users are indifferent to advertising.

According to the results of a lengthy study that has been observing the responses that women are having to mobile ads, it has been determined that it is actually quite challenging to be able to consistently connect with female consumers.

The IAB, itself, has now released a statement that has said that this is actually a very difficult goal to achieve.

The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) is usually a strong proponent of virtually every kind of digital and mobile ads in their various technologies and formats, but it has stated that “it’s a challenge to find consistent mobile advertising success stories, when it comes to the women that they recently asked after a study that has been running for over half a year. It partnered with the Real Women Talking Community from the MXM (Meredith Xcelerated Marketing) agency near the end of 2013, in order to be able to better understand the responses that women have to smartphone advertising.

There were approximately 100 women who were asked about the responses that they had to mobile ads.

Mobile ads - Women are unimpressedThese women were asked their opinions about various types of advertising and were asked to provide a screenshot of the actual mobile advertisement that they were seeing. What was found was that a number of the smartphone ads were either not functioning properly or they were simply not connecting with the women who saw them.

Many of the women who participated in this research essentially stated that the only thing that they liked about banner ads that were displayed on their mobile devices was that it was easy to either ignore them or to simply get rid of them. One women pointed out one of the true struggles that are associated with the typical type of interruptive ads on smartphones and the way in which they differ from the PC banner experience. She said that “When I’m on my phone, I’m needing to do something quickly and [ads] can get in the way,” meaning that they are not only being ignored, but they’re being actively disliked.

Similarly, another woman pointed out that mobile ads are a technical failure on small device screens because they take up too much space and at the wrong times. She will then blame the advertiser for the inconvenience and builds a negative impression of that brand or product.

Mobile marketing real time pilot launched by Hudson’s Bay

The iconic Canadian department store retailer is testing out a new way to reach its customers via smartphone.

Hudson’s Bay Company is now testing out a new mobile marketing program that is designed to give shoppers who are in the retail store locations to be able to receive messages in real time in order to enhance their overall shopping experience.

The retailer has announced that it is working with Swirl in implementing the technology for this program.

The company will be using geolocation technology at its five largest By and Lord & Taylor store locations in the United States and Canada in order to use this new mobile marketing program. This location based advertising technique will send consumers smartphone alerts when they walk into the participating stores. The use of this tech is a tremendous leap forward for Hudson’s Bay, which has had a noticeably lacking strategy in terms of general e-commerce.

Swirl uses beacons for its mobile marketing technology, to transmit popup messages via smartphones.

The beacons communicate with the smartphones by way of Bluetooth, detecting that the phone has entered into a certain location and then sending out the appropriate location based marketing message or alert.Mobile Marketing - The Bay retail store

For instance, a customer in the store who was close to the display for purses may receive a message to inform them about the Michael Kors products that have just been added to the shelves. At the brand’s flagship store in Toronto, Canada, the entire home wares floor has been completely remodeled and shoppers entering the building are encouraged to check it out.

Beacons may also be able to identify people who have never entered the store, offering them a complementary cup of coffee to enhance their overall experience and encourage them to return for another visit.

According to the executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Hudson’s Bay Company, who spoke about this geolocation technology based mobile marketing pilot, “The amount of mobile usage that our customers are engaging in has grown dramatically.” He also added that “As a retailer, if you’re not thinking about the impacts of mobile on your retail marketing, you’re really missing the boat. We saw this trend, we’ve watched the data, and we’ve been looking for ways that we can enhance the store experience through mobile.”