Greg Stuart, Global CEO Mobile Marketing Association
The MMA Announces Results From First-Ever Cross Marketing Effectiveness Research (SMoX) Conducted for Mobile, Based on In-Market Campaigns from Coca-Cola, Walmart, and MasterCard
Study Reveals Optimised Mobile Spend to be in the Double Digits of Total Marketing Mix
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released the findings from its Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness (SMoX) study. Conducted in combination with Marketing Evolution and InsightExpress, the study assessed the economic value of mobile compared to traditional marketing channels by closely examining real, in-market campaigns from Coca-Cola, Walmart, and MasterCard. According to the study, the optimal spend for mobile (based on total campaign spend) is in the double digits—far more than most marketers are currently allocating.
Results from the SMoX research confirm that marketers would significantly increase their overall campaign ROI, without increasing budget, by simply adjusting mobile spend upwards. The study also showed that mobile is a strong driver of campaign performance across the entire purchase funnel. From upper funnel metrics like awareness and image, to purchase intent and actual behavior (foot traffic or sales), the empirical evidence proves that mobile has a fervent contribution to campaign results, justifying a double-digit allocation of the entire media budget (not just digital) to mobile.
As the first comprehensive study of its kind, SMoX is expected to trigger a turning point in the mobile industry in the same way similar research drove Internet advertising in the early 2000’s. Brands that participated in those studies increased their online ad spend by 30x on average, based on the insights. Additionally, the impact to the growth of the industry, measured as a direct result of the research, was 2.2x.
“The market has acknowledged there is a deep chasm between what brands are currently spending on mobile and consumer behaviour, but now there is real, indisputable proof on the value of mobile to a brand’s business goals,” said Greg Stuart, CEO, MMA. “I believe mobile presents the greatest transformation of marketing in our generation. With empirical data, SMoX now demonstrates the competitive opportunity for those marketers who figure out how to leverage the power of mobile effectively and optimise their spending with the most impactful allocations in their marketing mix, finally keeping pace with consumers.”
Key findings include:
The Coca-Cola Company: Gold Peak Tea Campaign
- In Spring 2014, Gold Peak Tea brand was looking to build brand awareness and drive increased sales using a mix of TV, print, online, and mobile to drive messaging.
- After evaluating how effective the campaign was and how each of the various media performed, the study found that mobile drove 25 percent of top-of-mind awareness, 9 percent of “home brewed taste” image conversions, and 6 percent of sales with 5 percent of budget.
Walmart: Back-to-School Campaign
- For its annual Back-to-School campaign in the summer of 2014, Walmart was focused on driving grocery intent to shop among mothers of school-aged children.
- The study found that mobile impacted more consumers per dollar spent than both broadcast and cable TV. Mobile drove 14 percent of change in overall shopping intent, despite accounting for only 7 percent of spend.
MasterCard: Travel Card Campaign
- In Q4 2014, MasterCard launched its Travel campaign to increase association of the card within the travel sector and to drive awareness of its Concierge app.
- The SMoX study investigated the impact of mobile in the above KPIs, quantifying the value of mobile display and video as they relate to the “nester” and “empty nester” target groups. In this case, mobile worked almost twice as hard compared to the campaign average, in terms of the number of people it converted on image per dollar spent.
In conclusion, the study found that reallocating to mobile (8-16 percent of the total marketing mix, on average) would drive incremental impact for each of the campaigns, making existing budgets work harder.
In addition the study revealed the most effective ways for brands to implement various mobile tactics (including video, native, location) in order to leverage mobile to its full potential.
- Mobile video and native all performed significantly better than display.
- Different ad formats had different types of impact.
- Location targeting (retargeting and proximity) significantly improved the performance of display advertising, driving important KPI’s, including actual foot traffic.
The full SMoX report, including deeper insights and additional guidance on how marketers can use this information for their own businesses, will be available for download by attendees of the MMA’s London Forum on June 8th.
Written by:
Greg Stuart,
MMA UK Blog 