MUMBAI: To do a successful mobile ad campaign advertisers and agencies need to remember that technology know-how can increase the focus of a campaign. Brands should also put themselves in the shoes of their consumers and figure out if the message would appeal to consumers or turn them off. The third thing is whether consumers would come back after being exposed to the campaign.

These points were made by Marico India head digital marketing and media Aditya Salve at the IAMAI Mobile Marketing Conference. He noted that one challenge is privacy and intrusion concerns. Regulation will not evolve to a point where there is complete clarity. His company approaches mobile with the view that the medium can build brands.

"Digital is personal media. It is about one to one reach. You can deliver information specific to a user but that same information will not be relevant to all users." He gave the case study example of the Saffola Dil Jawan campaign which revolved around the concept of heart age finder. It gives users the age of one‘s heart and the aim was to double conversions to the brand.

Over the years the company‘s use of mobile has grown. In 2009 and 2010 it was used as a backend. In 2011, it was used along with print. In 2012 creatives were done and the company worked with mobile ad networks. It reinvented the IVR system. The Marico team was always on because the mobile is a medium where you cannot simply launch the campaign and sit back.

In Bihar mobile was used effectively. The challenge is that the state has poor literacy. The aim of the company was to reach consumers directly. The company worked with voice-based solutions. A film star was used. There was a built in reminder call and gratification was also present. Equity and business were kept in mind. The campaign got a reach of 680,000 consumers.

Another case study was given by Samsung head digital marketing mobile business Aman Malhotra and ad2c co-founder, COO Anurag Singh. Malhotra made the point that the mobile phone is no longer an accessory. It is a status symbol and a means of self expression. "The device and the destination that a person is going to will tell companies what they can market. This is what we kept in mind when we used mobile as a medium to market the Galaxy S3."

There are three kinds of media - paid, owned and earned. In mobile, owned media is the most important. An example of earned media is a person using mobile to check a post on Facebook. Samsung‘s focus on mobile advertising is on mobile web. The consumer is predisposed to the mobile category.

Singh said that the aim of mobile marketing is to reach, inform and engage. The aim should be to advertise to people who want to buy the product. "Samsung has had a mobile site for two years. Each product has a presence on the portal. There is no lack of look and feel on the site."

To push Galaxy S3, creatives were created and targetted at iOS, Android, Nokia E Series and N series devices. One of the things was to create a voice activated banner which is not easy to do on the mobile. On clicking, the ad users could browse through features of the Galaxy S3. They also did an innovation that replicated the Draw Something experience. In the creative, users had to guess drawings. Users spend three minutes engaging with it. 30 per cent of users shared the creative on Facebook. Eventually 33 per cent of users who upgraded to the Galaxy S3 phone were Samsung customers, 25 per cent were from iOS, 31 per cent had a Nokia handset.

Another product that was pushed using mobile as a medium was the Omnia W phone. Here cricket was used as a touchpoint as that is one of the passions of the country. The interface used Windows media and a tiled based concept.