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MARKETING SOCIETY AWARDS for EXCELLENCE 2012: Mobile marketing

WINNER Hotels.com (Agency: Fetch Media)

MARKETING SOCIETY AWARDS for EXCELLENCE 2012: Mobile marketing

Hotels.com, the online hotel booking service, gave its mobile presence a rocket boost through a global marketing campaign developed with its agency, Fetch Media.

The brand was looking to establish a strong mobile presence, hit growth targets and boost market share. Its main aim was to increase global traffic through mobile, acquire new customers by increasing visibility and launch products throughout the year targeting global markets.

A global marketing campaign was launched across 42 markets on the Android and iPhone Operating System platforms. Fetch advised on the design of an easy-to-use app to help customers find and book a hotel room quickly. Hotels.com built the app in-house.

Fetch also helped the brand create relevant app store content and search optimisation to increase the number of downloads after the launch. To keep the app at the top of the app store travel rankings, Fetch targeted bursts of advertising across key times of the day and days of the week.

Tracking mechanisms were in place for the marketing team to collect data in smartphone app usage for the purposes of customer relationship management.

Hotels.com's app reached number one in the travel category of iTunes in 29 countries and was in the top 10 in all 42 countries. It managed to boost the amount of traffic through the mobile channel by a significant amount by December 2011.

As the judges commented: 'This was the clear winner in this category. It was UK-initiated but with phenomenal global results. The campaign had standout and clear objectives, all of which were met in the end.'

HIGHLY COMMENDED

ASOS

ASOS Savvy Sunday was the online clothes retailer's flagship campaign for the Christmas period. Each Sunday, ASOS ran a timed sale for different types of clothing, for instance, 50% off shoes for 24 hours.

As mobile is a key medium for ASOS, delivering up to one fifth of overall visits to the site, the retailer ensured the Savvy Sunday campaign was also suitable for mobile customer, with the times of day people shop from their mobiles, the way they browse and the handsets they use all taken into account in the way the promotion was run.

This integrated approach helped build the highest ever period for mobile traffic to the site and delivered the biggest day's sales via mobile for the online retailer.

'They started off with a mobile strategy rather than thinking: "We need an app",' one judge remarked.

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