Google Mobile Marketing Playbook

If you can, check out the website, www.themobileplaybook.com, from a tablet device

Jason Spero
with Johanna Werther

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION Pg. 3

WIN MOMENTS THAT MATTER

01 How does mobile change our value proposition? Pg. 4
> Serving the mobile customer > The local mobile consumer > The price transparency challenge

WIN MOMENTS THAT MATTER
02 How does mobile impact our digital destinations? Pg. 12
> Mobile-optimized websites > Branded mobile apps

MAKE BETTER DECISIONS
03 Is our organization adapting to mobile? Pg. 17
> Mobile accountability and ownership

GO BIGGER, FASTER
04 How should our marketing adapt to mobile? Pg. 21
> Search strategy > Mobile for brand building > Marketing channels

GO BIGGER, FASTER
05 How can we connect with our tablet audience? Pg. 29
> Tablet Strategy

CONCLUSION Pg. 34

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Pg. 36

themobileplaybook.com 2

INTRODUCTION

Mobile Changes Everything

0
ver the past year at Google, Our goal is to help companies at all
we’ve had the chance to discuss levels of mobile sophistication and
the mobile revolution with experience to adopt the concrete
hundreds of marketers, and mobile strategies that can help you
the same theme consistently win—and we don’t just mean, “win
emerges from these conversations: in mobile.” This space isn’t a sandbox
for the majority of businesses we speak anymore; the mobile revolution is
with, the question is no longer sailing ahead at full steam, and your
“Why should I invest in mobile?” customers are on board. Embracing
—we’ve all read statistics about the mobile can help you win the
tremendous adoption of mobile and moments that matter, make better
tablet devices—but “How should I decisions, and go bigger, faster,
invest in mobile?” but you’ve got to start somewhere.

We created this Mobile Playbook in At Google, we believe that your
order to help you find answers. success in mobile will determine
Every company is different, but similar the future of your business. Let’s
questions emerged from those make 2012 the year you make sure
hundreds of meetings. We’ve distilled that future is a bright one.
them down here into the five crucial
mobile questions that every business
executive should be asking today.
We also suggest strategies you can
employ to answer each of them:
benchmarking the competition,
understanding how your customer is
using mobile through focus groups “5 crucial mobile questions
and surveys, setting aside budget to
learn and iterate, talking to your agency that every business executive should
partners, and securing the internal be asking today”
resources to get the work done and
the conclusions implemented.


Win moments that matter

01. How does mobile
change our value
proposition?


01. How does mobile change our value proposition?

Serving the Mobile Customer

C
onsumers can now use Here are some more examples of brands
smartphones and tablets that have thought deeply about what their
to interact with businesses consumers want from mobile, and then
proceeded to deliver it.
24/7, from anywhere—at
home, at work, on a bus. And
companies that embrace this CHASE
always-on behavior—the taxi service
Uber with mobile pickups, GrubHub A Chase banking app lets customers
deposit checks via a snapshot and send
and SeamlessWeb for food delivery, via email, leaps in mobile functionality
and HotelTonight’s app for last-minute that might eventually let banks
maintain fewer ATMs.
bookings—can disrupt entire industries.

INTUIT
Users of Intuit’s SnapTax can file
their taxes via smartphone.2 Just
snap a pic of your W2, answer a
few simple questions and you’re
done. Talk about offering real value!

Extreme Booking with Hotels.com

Both Hotels.com’s mobile website and
the extreme marketing they utilize to WALGREENS
promote it (their ads feature a video
of a man literally booking a room from Walgreens delivers what their mobile
users want on their mobile site: the
his mobile device while skydiving) both ability to find nearby stores, prescription
refills, mobile shopping and coupons.
demonstrate their firm grasp of their As a result, Walgreens now completes
basic value proposition to business 25% of all prescription refills via mobile,
more than two million people receive
travelers: the ability to book rooms text alerts, and customers can scan
for coupons in-store. 3
quickly and easily.1



ASDA Winning the moments that matter
starts with understanding what your
Grocery delivery is very popular in the U.K. consumers want to do with your
So Walmart U.K. subsidiary ASDA, knowing
that over half their online customers have business in mobile.
smartphones, built a mobile site that lets
customers create and modify orders right
up to the evening before delivery.

How can you zero in
DELTA AIR LINES on the features that
Airlines including Alaska, United and Delta matter most to your
let passengers forgo those crumpled
boarding passes and instead scan their mobile users?
smartphones directly as they board—a
feature that, by streamlining the boarding
process, helps flights stay on time, and
keeps tech-savvy business travelers loyal. LETS START
BY DISCUSSING...
STARBUCKS
The Starbucks app generates customer
loyalty, and drives customer transactions,
by letting more than one million coffee-
drinking smartphone users locate stores,
scan barcodes at the register, reload their
Starbucks Cards and share their locations
and favorite drinks via social networks.

ACTION ITEM: DEFINE YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION BY
DETERMINING WHAT YOUR CONSUMER WANTS TO
DO WITH YOUR BUSINESS IN MOBILE. BENCHMARK
AGAINST OTHERS IN YOUR INDUSTRY FOR IDEAS.



The Local Mobile Customer
Your future customers are literally around the corner,
and mobile can get them in your door.

M
obile site builder Digby reports that across all the mobile sites they have
built, mobile customers use store locators 63 times for every one mobile
commerce order (making these locators a valuable addition to almost any
mobile-enabled website).

Our own data suggests that roughly a third of all web searches have local intent. 5



HERE ARE BUSINESSES THAT ARE DOING A GOOD JOB EMBRACING LOCAL CONSUMERS
by offering features and functionality tailored specifically to potential customers nearby:

THE SPECIALTY’S
CAFE & BAKERY ZIPCAR
The Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery mobile site Zipcar knows proximity matters. So their
lets you skip the lunch rush by placing your app doesn’t just guide customers through
order from anywhere and picking it up the reservation process; it also locates
from the nearest store. Chipotle, Subway their car on the lot by honking the horn
and others offer similar services. and unlocking the doors; the speediest
way we can think of to connect consumers
with this particular type of inventory.

PRICELINE NEGOTIATOR VOLKSWAGEN
The Priceline Negotiator app lets you VW encourages local dealerships to go
quickly find and book a hotel room. How mobile by providing a template that lets
successful is it? Here’s some data: 58% of individual locations easily create mobile
users of this app booked their room within sites that enable customers to search
20 miles; a staggering 35% booked within inventory, review financing options and
one mile. And 82% booked rooms less directly contact local dealers.
than a day before their arrival, suggesting
that app users had already reached their
destination and were relying on mobile for
real-time decision-making.6



The Price
Transparency Challenge

S
martphones haven’t just Apps like Amazon’s Price Check let
transformed how people shoppers take product snapshots or
find your business; they’re scan barcodes to generate comparative
also changing what they do price lists from multiple retailers.
inside your four walls-what IDC Retail Insights summed it up
Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke calls nicely in a recent Wall Street Journal
the “new era of price transparency.” article: “The four walls of the store
have become porous.” And this trend
Almost half of all consumers use
will only increase as the information
smartphones for in-store product
advantage shifts ever further in the
research and browsing7, and according direction of the buyer. Over the 2011
to InsightExpress, 53% of men and 38% holiday season, for instance, Amazon
of women say they use smartphones promoted Price Check by offering $5
in-store to check prices at other stores8. off any purchase made by scanning
Retailers have no choice but to react to a product in-store and then buying it
this highly disruptive “showrooming,”9 from Amazon via mobile.
which turns physical locations into
showrooms for products destined to be
purchased online or via mobile.

45% 39%
of all consumers use of walk-outs, when shoppers
smartphones for in-store leave without making a
product research & browsing purchase, were influenced
by smartphone usage

53% 12%
of men use smartphones checked other
in-store to check prices at online retailers
other stores

38% 8%
of women use smartphones checked availability
in-store to check prices at at other stores10
other stores



So what can your business do about this transparency?
We’ve seen retailers choose one of the three strategies:

1 IMPROVE THE
IN-STORE EXPERIENCE 3 EMBRACE MOBILE USAGE
WITHIN YOUR STORE

The merchants most vulnerable to A ten-country study by management
price transparency are often sellers of consulting firm Accenture found that
the kind of branded, big-ticket items 73% of mobile-powered shoppers
like electronics and appliances that preferred phones to retail clerks for
spark the most comparative research. basic assistance.11 How can you use
What can stores like these offer that an mobile to influence customers’ in-
online experience can’t? Expert service store digital experience? Sears takes
from salespeople? Same-day pickup? advantage of malls’ limited mobile
(That’s how Walmart encourages in- reception by offering free Wi-Fi to drive
store sales.) shoppers into their stores, where they
can use smartphones to compare prices
on Sears.com, place orders and pick

2 CREATE AND STOCK UNIQUE
PRODUCT OR BUNDLES
them up in-store. The company is also
rolling out iPads and iPod Touch devices
in almost 450 stores, and clerks can use
One way retailers can beat the apples- them to help customers find product
to-apples price-comparison game is by info, check inventory and place online
stocking products that manufacturers have orders.12 Nissan, meanwhile, emblazons
modified exclusively for them. Another is vehicle price stickers with QR codes,
bundling products with unique accessories. “silent salespeople” that let shoppers
Target is now actively working with within the lot find key information like
its suppliers to combat showrooming by features, options, video overviews,
selling unique products that make apples- image galleries, incentive offers, dealer
to-apples comparisons moot. inventories and actual quotes.

ACTION ITEM: CHOOSE THE STRATEGY THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO ADJUST TO
THE WORLD OF PRICE TRANSPARENCY.



The good news is that as the consumer
gets new tools to help their shopping path,
you get new tools in your marketing path
to win these critical moments.

You can reach connected consumers with
contextual ads right when they’re searching for
products from within your and your competitor’s
stores. Imagine a shopper searching for a flat
screen TV from within a major retailer’s store.
If you happen to sell flat-screen TVs too, a search
ad gives you a chance to win this consumer’s
business just as he’s close to purchase, even if your
differentiated value prop is as simple as putting
“We remove your old TV!” in the text of your ad.

Now that you’ve determined your value
proposition for your mobile consumer,
IT’S KEY TO ALLOW THEM TO ENGAGE
WITH YOU VIA A MOBILE-OPTIMIZED SITE.



02. How does mobile
impact our digital
destinations?


02. How does mobile impact digital destinations?

Mobile-optimized Websites

D
o you have a mobile-optimized TICKETSNOW
website? If you don’t, this should Mobile Sites
be your top priority for engaging
mobile customers. 57% of users
say they won’t recommend TicketsNow’s mobile-optimized site doubled the company’s
mobile sales and increased ticket sale conversions by 50%.
a business with a poorly-designed These dramatic before-and-after numbers are actually
common when brands first launch their mobile-optimized
mobile site, and 40% have turned to site.14
a competitor’s site after a bad mobile
experience.13 Your mobile site will differ
from your desktop site not just because
of the size of the device, but because
the mobile context reveals a different
mindset for your consumers. Visitors to
your mobile site may be at a different
point of the purchase funnel. How does
your site appear to mobile users? Are
you making it easy for them to connect
with you or putting obstacles between
them and what they seek?

57%
OF USERS SAY THEY WON’T RECOMMEND A BEFORE AFTER
BUSINESS WITH A POORLY-DESIGNED MOBILE SITE

40%
HAVE TURNED TO A COMPETITOR’S SITE AFTER
ACTION ITEM: YOUR #1 PRIORITY
A BAD MOBILE EXPERIENCE. IS TO BUILD A MOBILE WEBSITE



Optimize, Optimize, Optimize

Never stop optimizing your site based on
what you learn from user interactions; GOOGLE TIP:
even great mobile sites usually have plenty WWW.HOWTOGOMO.COM
of room for improvement. Six years ago,
At this Google site you can test your site’s
1-800-Flowers.com become one of the
mobile appearance, learn the 10 best mobile
first e-tailers to dive into mobile, with design practices, and generate a custom report
an optimized website and apps across with recommendations for improvement along
multiple mobile platforms. Their test-and- with a vendor list to help you get started.
iterate model has since evolved into a
sophisticated mobile strategy that includes
analyzing mobile site traffic, benchmarking Successful businesses are now adopting
against other e-tailers, and, just last fall, this simple but revolutionary idea:
working with mobile vendor Moovweb design for mobile first. Rather than
to launch an enhanced smartphone- pegging mobile as the “third screen,”
optimized site whose key features include ESPN thinks of it as the “first screen.”15
“Find a Gift Fast,” which connects shoppers Travel site Kayak.com redesigned their
with local flower arrangements, deep desktop website to mirror their mobile
linking functionality to ensure that searches experience16 and early results show
land on the mobile site, and an enhanced higher conversion rates and shorter
calendar to help users figure out shipping completion times for a design focused
and other costs. What was the impact? on speed and ease-of-use.
Increased conversions, and time spent on-
site up 25% from the original mobile site. Finally, make sure that when consumers
type your URL into their mobile
browser, your website recognizes they
are on a mobile phone and redirects
them to your mobile site. For example,
when consumers enter http://saks.
com into their mobile browser, Saks
automatically redirects them to
http://m.saks.com to provide a mobile
OPTIMIZED MORE OPTIMIZED optimized shopping experience.



Branded Mobile Apps

N
ow that you’ve built your
mobile site, your next step HERE ARE THREE KEY POINTS TO
is to start using apps to REMEMBER ABOUT BRANDED APPS
enrich your relationships
with your users. A full 91%
of companies featured in Interbrand’s
2011 Best Global Brands have a
1 OFFER USERS ENTERTAINMENT,
UTILITY OR BOTH
If your app doesn’t deliver compelling value of one
presence in at least one of the major
kind or another, its shelf life will be short. So be
app stores — a figure that’s up 51% clear about why you’re building it. Do you want to
from 18 months ago.17 Let’s be clear, bring a new type of functionality to your users?
though: having an app is not the same Nurture loyalty and ongoing relationships? Or do
you just want to be discovered in app markets?
as having a mobile strategy. An app
is essentially a bookmark for users
who want to engage with you, but the
majority of your traffic is likely coming
2 DESIGN YOUR APP FOR THE
LARGEST MOBILE PLATFORMS
from the web, not from brand-loyal
If limited resources demand that you prioritize,
power users who’ve downloaded design your apps for the mobile platforms
your app. Your mobile website is also that represent the majority of the smartphone
accessible by users across all devices, installed base. Fish where the fish are.
while apps must be designed for
specific platforms.
3
PROMOTE YOUR APP...
to keep it from vanishing into the app store’s lower
rankings. Here are some useful tips on doing just
that:
• Target existing customers through desktop and
mobile site links, client newsletters or other
channels you already use to reach them
• Link mobile ads shown in other free apps
“having an app is not the same directly to your app’s download page.
• Use mobile search ads to guide users directly
as having a mobile strategy” to the app in the marketplace.
• Time your promotional efforts to coincide
with your PR push to maximize downloads;
receiving lots of downloads really quickly
boosts rankings in some app stores.



BELOW ARE SOME BRANDS THAT ARE ACTION ITEM: PROMOTE
DOING APPS RIGHT. YOUR APP THROUGH YOUR
These apps are very compelling because they EXISTING CHANNELS AND
provide either utility or entertainment in a highly ON-DEVICE MEDIA
engaging way for their loyal mobile consumers.

HP WAL-MART
HP preferred to offer utility over A Wal-Mart app allows users to add
entertainment.18 Their ePrint app shopping list items by speaking, typing
enables consumers to print from their or barcode scanning. The app also shows
phones to an HP printer. This app drives prices, local store availability and, in
revenue for HP because it encourages select markets, even aisle location. 20
printing and ink usage, and it’s also very
convenient when travelling.

DOMINO COKE
Domino’s mobile app lets customers Coke’s simple but surprisingly entertaining
order “more than 1.8 billion pizza app lets users simulate drinking a Coke.
combinations” from anywhere, and
follow their order’s step-by-step progress
with the Domino’s Live Pizza Tracker.19

TIP: DON’T NEGLECT “PUSH”
Now that you’ve determined how you
can win moments that matter with
In a crowded email marketing space, push
notifications from within apps can send your mobile customers by adapting
customers relevant alerts and calls to action. your value proposition for the mobile
consumer and bringing it to life in a
Proceed with caution, though, and make
sure your notifications are both useful and mobile website and app, aligning your
timely; users can just block push notifications organization will help you make better
whenever they’d prefer not to receive them. decisions to promote the growth of
your business.


Make better decisions

03. Is our
organization
adapting to mobile?


03. Is our organization adapting to mobile?

Mobile Accountability
& Ownership

0
ur next question is a simple Our recommendation, at its most basic
one, and the answer to this level, is a simple one: We encourage
question will help you solve the appointment of a Mobile Champion
all the other mobile questions within your organization. This person
you’ve encountered. Who should gather a cross-functional mobile
exactly holds the mobile mantle task force to work to determine your
in your company? At Google, our company’s approach for each of the
chairman Eric Schmidt’s “Mobile First” questions listed. Benchmark your
principle calls on every team, from ads competition, understand how your
to maps to Doubleclick to YouTube, to customers use mobile through focus
include mobile in their product and groups and surveys, set aside budget,
business plans. While we can suggest talk to your agency partners, and
the right questions you should be brainstorm internally.
asking, only you and your organization
will be able to determine the answers
that are right for your business. Does ACTION ITEM: ASSIGN A MOBILE
your team have a sufficient sense of CHAMPION IN YOUR COMPANY AND
urgency around the topic? How will EMPOWER THEM WITH A CROSS
you ensure mobile is a consideration FUNCTIONAL TASK FORCE.
for all of your teams? How will you
answer the key questions we’ve
outlined in order to win the moments
that matter, make better decisions
around your mobile strategy and go “How will you answer the key questions
bigger, faster? It all starts with asking we’ve outlined in order to win the
the right questions and selecting
the right team to determine and moments that matter, make
implement the answers. better decisions around your
mobile strategy and go bigger, faster ?”


Here are some of the questions
that could help your organization
UPGRADE ITS MOBILE PROGRAMS,
PLATFORMS AND CAPABILITIES.

1 Is mobile a key metric in your management dashboard?

2 How often do you review your mobile stats? Who reviews them?

3 Who knows what % of traffic & search queries come from mobile?

4 Who’s watching tablet traffic trends, people’s actions on your mobile
site, mobile’s inclusion in product launches and campaigns?

5 Which decisions would change if key business owners were given
timely mobile data?

6 Who’s monitoring your competition’s investment in mobile?

7 Who’s developing consumer insights through focus groups & surveys?

8 Which agencies are you relying on to help you make mobile decisions?


03. Is our organization adapting to mobile?

Without focus and accountability,
interdepartmental conflicts can arise
that can stifle your business. One of
Now that you’ve thought
our clients explained that its call center about aligning your
team got credit for calls driven to the
mobile site’s click-to-call, but the Internet
organization to make better
marketing team only got credit for decisions, how can you
form fill leads. Click-to-call may
drive mobile orders, but how many go bigger, faster?
opportunities are missed if the Internet
marketing team isn’t rewarded?

An important responsibility of this
Mobile Champion is thinking about
budget. Mobile is incremental and
needs its own budget. Within the
mobile budget you can allocate
across mobile search, mobile
display, experimental programs and
extensions of other channels
(email, social, coupons, etc.) Your
mobile owner should be able to
determine the most strategic areas
for your investment. You’ll also
need to allow budget for mobile site
development and optimization.

”Mobile is incremental
and needs its own budget.”


Go bigger, faster

04. How should our
marketing adapt
to mobile?


Search Strategy
Go bigger, faster
04.How should our marketing adapt to mobile?

AT GOOGLE WE’VE SEEN

MOBILE SEARCH QUERIES GROW
5X IN THE PAST TWO YEARS.

W
ith mobile search ads,
20% you can reach consumers
of all telecom searches when they’re searching
for your product in
the physical world.
When a consumer
types “buy jeans San Francisco,” he’s
asking a question which good ads will
30% answer. Try a few searches from your
of all restaurant searches smartphone — “best gas mileage SUV,”
“Nintendo DS,” “fast recipe dinner,”
“movie Mountain View CA.” Who finds
you and what do they say? Remember,
convincing a shopper who’s searching
for a flat-screen TV on mobile from
25% inside a major retail store to instead buy
of all movie searches online from you could be as simple as
adding “We’ll remove your old TV!” to
your mobile search ad. It’s important to
note that these searches are incremental
to your desktop search traffic. These
...are now done on
are different searches that create new
a mobile device
opportunities for your business.

ACTION ITEM: WHAT IS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE FOR A CONSUMER TRYING
TO FIND YOU AND CONNECT WITH YOU?
Take 5 minutes today and search for your brand in mobile as a consumer would.
Discuss the result with your agency.


Go bigger, faster

HOW CAN MOBILE SEARCH HELP YOU ...AND YOUR CAMPAIGNS.
GO BIGGER, FASTER?
It’s now possible to layer your search
First, separate mobile-specific ads ads with location extensions. These
from desktop search campaigns, so are additional links that appear in the
you can accurately test, measure and ad that show your business’s location
develop messaging that works best in and phone number. What’s more,
this new format. if consumers are close enough
to your business, a distance marker
LOCATION SHOULD ALSO HELP DEFINE will show up in the ad indicating how
close your business is. As we’ll see in
YOUR THINKING... this chapter, businesses are taking
advantage of location with their search
Create specific ads based on how close strategies and seeing impressive ROI
the consumer is to your business, your and conversions.
competitors or relevant locations like
airports and malls. Wouldn’t you have a
different message for a customer who’s
browsing his phone across the street
than you would for another prospect
who’s across the state?

ACTION ITEM: SEPARATE MOBILE-SPECIFIC SEARCH CAMPAIGNS
FROM DESKTOP SEARCH CAMPAIGNS SO YOU CAN TEST,
MEASURE AND DEVELOP MESSAGING SPECIFIC FOR MOBILE.


Go bigger, faster

RETHINK THE WAY YOU TRACK AND MEASURE MOBILE SEARCH ADS.

Effective mobile ads can generate everything from on-device
conversions and purchases to leads, calls, downloads and even in-store
traffic and offline conversions. Fully capturing the value of mobile search means
understanding and tracking its full impact on your business. The results can be
staggering: mobile search ads click-to-call format has been so successful for one of our
clients that they are planning to open a whole new call center to manage the interest
they’ve generated from their campaigns.
Below are more examples of effective mobile search campaigns.

COMCAST HAIR CLUB FOR MEN
Internet, phone and cable giant Hair Club for Men reports a conversion
Comcast makes it easy for mobile rate of 12% from mobile ads, beating
users to check service availability and desktop ads at 9%. Mobile ads boasted
get assistance by providing their phone a 17% conversion rate from a lead to an
number on their mobile site and in their actual sale. Hair Club for Men has seen an
search ads. Comcast built a mobile ad overall return on investment of 30:1 from
extension that lets users call directly Google mobile search ads.
from search results, a campaign that had
a 270% higher click-through-rate than
desktop search ads and led to a surge in
mobile sales.

STARWOOD GUIDING MOBILE USERS TO
USEFUL INFO WHEN THEY’RE
Click-to-call ads now drive a majority of
mobile search bookings for Starwood MAKING PURCHASING DECISIONS
Hotels, whose “hyperlocal” mobile CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS WIN
search campaign, which delivered a
click-to-call phone number and map
THE MOMENTS THAT MATTER.
to the nearest Starwood hotel right in But that information can take
the search ad, multiplied mobile paid
many forms. Lets talk now about
search ROI by 20, increased month-on-
month mobile bookings by 20% and how you can drive branding and
tripled overall mobile traffic. awareness with your mobile ad mix.


Go bigger, faster

Mobile for brand building

T
he mobile audience is at scale: Mobile rich media also entices
smartphone penetration has users while they’re already actively
reached 45% in the UK, 38% browsing—as opposed to requiring
in the U.S. and France, and them to learn a new behavior or take a
23% in Germany.21 Every new action, as with QR codes. Brands
day mobile users play 570 such as HP, Reebok, Paramount
years of Angry Birds and watch 600 Pictures, Ford, Coke and others have
million videos on YouTube Mobile; in sprung to life with cutting-edge mobile
fact, mobile is the primary way that display ads.
75% of these users access YouTube
content. Yet mobile is the most You’ll want to ask the same questions
imbalanced medium when it comes to about your mobile marketing aims as
ad spending versus time spent, at 1% you do for your overall marketing aims:
compared to 23%.22 Capturing all this who do you want to reach? How can
new opportunity means exploring rich you most effectively reach them? What
media — and now is the time to do it. actions do you want them to take?
New technology like touch screens, How can you measure it? Are you after
accelerometers (which enable better broad reach or just buzz? Some mobile
animated media) and targeting that experiences won’t have broad reach or
lets you reach the right users on their drive key metrics like rich media, but
most personal devices are turning may give you a PR spike or a unique
mobile into a branding wonderland. demo to showcase internally.

According to Nielsen, exposure to
rich media ads across four screens “Mobile is the most imbalanced
—mobile, tablet, PC and TV— medium when it comes to ad
yields the best branding results; spending versus time spent,
participants who saw ads across all
four formats rated a campaign more at 1% compared to 23%“
favorably on key brand metrics than
those who saw it only on TV, PC or both.23


Go bigger, faster

Viewers of Coke’s mobile rich media ad can
send a Coke to someone across the world

Learn more at www.projectrebrief.com

One excellent example of what’s possible
with mobile rich media is the memorable ACTION ITEM: RUN RICH MEDIA HTML5 ADS
Coke campaign “Hilltop” with the “I’d like to TO EXTEND YOUR BRANDING MESSAGE TO
buy the world a coke” messaging that was re- REACH THE MOBILE AUDIENCE.
imagined for today’s digital world. Viewers of
the mobile display ads were able to virtually
send a coke to someone across the world
through special vending machines located
throughout the world with personalized
messages and receive video responses.


Go bigger, faster

EXPERIMENTATION BEYOND SCALABLE GOOGLE TIP: AS ALWAYS,
RICH MEDIA MAKES SENSE... TRACKING MATTERS
...as long as you have a well-thought-out The mobile ad industry offers many
strategy as a foundation. A number trafficking and reporting solutions. Our
of companies have asked us about infrastructure advances are making
augmented reality or location-based the process of serving and tracking
check-in ads. For Valentine’s Day, mobile media even easier, with a near-
Starbucks brought their cups to life term goal of replicating the buying and
with a Cup Magic app whose augmented tracking tools that advertisers already
reality offered highly entertaining, know from online campaigns. You can
brand-boosting holiday animations, use the same Dart for Advertisers
complete with fluttering hearts. (DFA) interface to serve your ads in
mobile, for instance; just change your
ad type and placement. And our fully
integrated reporting gives you mobile
impression and click data along with
standard DFA reports.
A mobile-specific report, though,
breaks down data by wireless carrier,
mobile platform and country. You can
also serve ads from DoubleClick Rich
Media (DRM) into the AdMob network.

In our experience, though, only a NEXT, LET’S THINK EVEN BROADER
handful of brands have covered the Mobile is so pervasive that branding
main pillars of a mobile strategy shouldn’t be the only aspect of
enough to warrant investment in marketing that can be enriched by
experimental, lower reach activities. the mobile space.


Go bigger, faster

Marketing Channels
Mobile is often referred to as the connective tissue across marketing channels from
outdoor to TV to print. Adding a QR code to your print, outdoor and TV creative can
give static ads some oomph but isn’t a substitute for a mobile strategy.
In other words, adding on mobile is good; designing for mobile is better.

Here’s how to examine your marketing initiatives COUPONS AND PROMOTIONS
and channels through the mobile lens:
Whether you create a scannable
EMAIL MARKETING coupon or a code that can be keyed
Up to 30% of email opens come from into the register, be sure to track mobile
mobile.24 Are you maximizing your separately. Users move back and forth
emails for mobile users? A good way to between channels and devices; if you
start is to think carefully about layout aren’t yet able to let customers tap or
(longer rather than wider) and be scan their device at the register, mobile
selective with images. Think also about can collect opt-ins for coupons that
your calls to action and links; are you you can email to users to print out and
sending prospects to a non-optimized redeem in person.
page? Some leading email marketing
providers now let you preview your
OFFLINE MEDIA
emails in mobile mode. Take advantage Mobile can activate bonus offline
of this chance to make your mobile channels. For instance, we recently
messaging as effective as possible. ran a consumer electronics campaign
that combined mobile search, mobile
SOCIAL MEDIA display and a picture-scanning app
Social and mobile are fundamentally that let potential customers unlock
intertwined; every day more than half of exclusive content like songs from
mobile social networkers access social artists featured in the campaign. So if
content from their mobile device,25 in you’re already running offline media,
an average month 14% of mobile social why not turbocharge it with mobile,
networkers upload a photo taken from as a complement to—not a substitute
their mobile device.26 How does it change for—a solid mobile media plan.
the way you talk to your social consumers
when you know that they are navigating
the physical world—taking buses, out ACTION ITEM: ASSIGN EVERYONE IN
shopping, looking for a restaurant? YOUR MARKETING ORG THE ACTION
What could your brand do with mobile ITEM OF REVIEWING THEIR PROGRAMS
hangouts on Google+ that allow real-time THROUGH A MOBILE LENS
video conversations on smartphones?


Go bigger, faster

05. How can we
connect with our
tablet audience?


Go bigger, faster
05.How can we connect with our tablet audience?

Tablet Strategy

T
ablet devices don’t yet offer tremendous audience reach, but that doesn’t
mean you should overlook them.

By 2014, 208 million tablets will be sold worldwide, and 72% of tablet
owners make purchases from their devices on a weekly basis, making the
audience very desirable. 27, 28

Tablet users’ love of shopping has already spawned a new buzzword: “t-commerce.”


Go bigger, faster

HERE ARE FOUR POINTS WHICH ILLUSTRATE HOW HANDLING
THE EMERGING WORLD OF TABLETS IS A PARALLEL TO THE
STRATEGIES WE’VE DESCRIBED FOR THE BROADER MOBILE WORLD:

1 KNOW THE TABLET USER’S
EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR BUSINESS 2 BUILD UNIQUE
TABLET EXPERIENCES

Unless your desktop site is Flash Some brands have already rethought
-heavy (Flash isn’t supported on the their mobile experience for tablets.
iPad) or doesn’t function properly on Kraft’s iFood assistant mobile app
tablets, it may be passable for a short helps moms with coupon-clipping,
while; the examples we highlight here product barcode scanning, adding
are based on tablet users interacting items to shopping lists and saving
with desktop websites. recipes for quick meal ideas. The
company’s Fork & Spoon iPad app,
But we believe that marketers will by contrast, is designed for both
soon be designing sites specifically to moms and kids to use during meal
take advantage of tablet touch screens, preparations. It features recipes and
portrait/landscape orientations, videos similar to the iFood assistant,
cameras and accelerometers. but also serves up more in-depth
content and games.29

Kraft’s iFood Assistant tablet app


Go bigger, faster

3 TWEAK YOUR SEARCH
CAMPAIGNS FOR TABLET USERS 4 LET RICH MEDIA SHINE
ON TABLETS

Tablets are primarily used at home, on Volvo and Grow Interactive agency
evenings and weekends, most likely from developed the richest tablet-optimized
a comfortable couch. Adapt your ads to HTML5 creative that we’ve yet seen.
take advantage of this. “Shop now from The campaign uses various interactive
your tablet” is a stronger call to action media to profile a Volvo car that’s
than “Shop online.” Don’t ask tablet users approaching 3 million miles. A mobile-
to call by phone; tablets aren’t phones. and tablet-optimized banner shows
Segment your campaigns by device to the car’s real-time current mileage;
monitor tablet-specific performance and the HTML5 landing page features
learn about your tablet customer’s needs a Google Map that shows the car’s
and interests. Sweetwater Sound, one real time location; interactive games
of America’s largest musical equipment highlight new Volvo features like city
dealers, has seen phenomenal results brakes; embedded videos show off
from tablet-targeted search ad new models. What’s possible when
campaigns. Sweetwater Sound’s iPad rich media meets tablets?
conversion rate was 30% higher than
online, and orders originating from
iPads had 10% higher value.

“Sweetwater Sound’s iPad conversion
rate was 30% higher than online, and
orders originating from iPads had 10%
higher value.”
Volvo’s Tablet Rich Media Ad
Learn more at www.projectrebrief.com


Go bigger, faster

Tablet usage spikes in the evening,
and the tablet audience reports ACTION ITEM: CHECK OUT YOUR WEB
watching TV while browsing.30 ESPN EXPERIENCE ON A TABLET.
and Shazam let Winter X Games Take 5 minutes today and search
viewers on ESPN TV use the Shazam for your brand on a tablet as a
smartphone app for video highlights, consumer would. Maximize the
photos and exclusive music from the tablet format with rich media
creative. Discuss both these
event. The tablet revolution is gaining topics with your agencies.
momentum, as more people purchase
and use tablets to search and shop.
Even if you’re still playing catch-up in
mobile, it’s not too late to be early with
tablets. We encourage you to be one of
the first to take advantage of this new
channel. Invest now or chase
your competition later.

Watching TV while browsing with
ESPN and Shazam


CONCLUSION

H
opefully by now you’re ready “At Google, we believe that mobile
and eager to wield mobile
tools to make your brand represents a sociological shift with
more valuable to increasingly how users relate with both the digital
tech-savvy consumers and and physical world. Businesses that
spawn innovative marketing strategies
that connect you with your customers understand this will win.“
in new ways. Imagine what you might
be able to accomplish this year if you
start right now.

Start how?
Just keep asking the questions we
cover here, work closely with your
Mobile Champion, and keep your eyes
on the rising mobile tide. At Google,
we believe that mobile represents a
sociological shift with how users relate
with both the digital and physical
world. Businesses that understand
this will win.

TO SUMMARIZE THE ACTION
ITEMS INCLUDED IN THE
TO SUMMARIZE THE ACTION ITEMS INCLUDED
PLAYBOOK WE’VE PROVIDED
IN PLAYBOOK WE’VE PROVIDED THE
FOLLOWING CHECKLIST: CHECKLIST:
THE FOLLOWING


MOBILE PLAYBOOK ACTION ITEMS CHECKLIST

Define your value proposition by Search for your brand in mobile, as
determining what your consumer a consumer would. Take 5 minutes
wants to do with your business in and do this today. What’s working?
mobile. Benchmark against others What’s not?
in your industry for ideas.

Build a mobile website. Once you Separate mobile-specific search
have a mobile website, check the campaigns from desktop search
stats and optimize based campaigns so you can test,
on consumer usage. measure and develop messaging
specific for mobile.

Build an app for a subset of your Run rich media HTML5 ads to
audience after your mobile site extend your branding message
strategy is in place. Don’t forget to reach the mobile audience.
to promote your app.

Assign a Mobile Champion in your Assign everyone in your marketing
company and empower them with org the action item of reviewing their
a cross-functional task force. programs through a mobile lens.

Set up a meeting with your agencies Check out your tablet consumer’s
about what’s working and what’s not experience with your brand. Take 5
for your brand on mobile and tablets. minutes today and search for your
brand on a tablet as a consumer
would. What’s working? What’s not?
Maximize the tablet environment
with rich media creative.


ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

www.ourmobileplanet.com www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights
A Google research tool that makes it easy Google’s online destination for consumer
to learn about mobile users and mobile trends, marketing insights and industry
usage patterns around the world. research.

www.howtogomo.com www.mmaglobal.com
A Google initiative to educate businesses The Mobile Marketing Association is
large and small on the benefits of mobile a global non-profit trade association
optimized sites. representing all players in the mobile
marketing value chain.
www.google.com/mobileads
Everything you need to know about mobile www.iab.net
ads for performance and branding including
mobile search ads and mobile display ads. The Interactive Advertising Bureau educates
marketers, agencies, media companies and
www.projectrebrief.com the wider business community about the
A Google campaign that shows how value of interactive advertising.
creators of four iconic ads from the 60’s
and 70’s re-imagined their ads using
today’s digital technology.


SOURCES CITED

1. “Extreme Booking on Hotels.com.” 11. Bustillo, Miguel. “Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike
http://www.youtube.com watch?v=zXZFSMS4Uzo Fear Into Retailers.”
2. SnapTax. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487
http://turbotax.intuit.com/snaptax/mobile/ 04694004576019691769574496.html
3. Lesperance, Rich. 12. Tode, Chantal. “Sears puts iPads in shopper hands
“Mobile Marketing Is Not (Just) Mobile Marketing. to enhance in-store shopping.”
http://www.slideshare.net/mediapostlive/1145- http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/
omma-mobile-rich-lesperance?from=ss_embed software-technology/11235.html
4. “The Mobile Movement: 13. Compuware.
Understanding Smartphone Users.” “What Users Want from Mobile.” 2011.
http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2011/04/ http://www.gomez.com/resources/whitepapers/
smartphone-user-study-shows-mobile.html survey-report-what-users-want-from-mobile/
5. Google internal data, 2011. 14. “TicketsNow Mobile Ads Case Study.”
6. Schaal, Dennis. “Priceline mobile app usage shows http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_
in-destination booking trend.” embedded&v=D9-JjSBE1tU#!
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priceline-mobile-app-usage-shows-in- http://www.mediapost.com/publications/
destination-booking-trend/ article/166622/espn-deems-mobile-first-screen.
7. Butcher, Dan. “More than half of smartphone html?edition=42747
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owners-use-mobile-devices-in-retail-stores-study gets-its-influence-from-mobile-for-its-latest-design/
8. Sullivan, Laurie. “Study Analyzes Mobile Search, 17. Kessler, Sarah.
Buying Behavior In Retail.” “13 Branded Mobile Apps That Got It Right.”
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/ http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/branded-
article/162261/study-analyzes-mobile-search- mobile-apps/
buying-behavior-in-r.html 18. Patel, Kunur. “Mobile Headaches: Execs Tackle
9. Zimmerman, Ann. Difficult but Enticing Medium.”
“Showdown Over ‘Showrooming.’” http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/mobile-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240529702 headaches-execs-tackle-difficult-enticing-
04624204577177242516227440.html medium/230128/
10. Butcher, Dan. “87pc of retailers agree shoppers
can find better deals via mobile: survey.”
http://www.mobilecommercedaily.
com/2011/01/13/87pc-of-retailers-agree-
shoppers-can-find-better-deals-via-mobile-survey


SOURCES CITED

19. Goodson, Scott. 27. “Gartner to CEOs:
“How To Make Amazing Branded Apps.” Seize the iPad Opportunity Now.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1462813
marketshare/2011/11/04/how-to-make-amazing- 28. Tode, Chantal.
branded-apps/ “72pc of tablet owners make
20. Petrecca, Laura & Jayne O’Donnell. purchases on weekly basis.”
“Wal-Mart, Apple, others roll out apps http://www.mobilecommercedaily.
for holiday shoppers.” com/2012/02/02/72pc-of-tablet-owners-make-
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/ purchases-on-a-weekly-basis-study
retail/story/2011-11-08/retailer-shopping- 29. Leary, Brett.
apps/51128948/1 “Building A Branded Tablet Experience? Let Usage
21. ”New research: Global surge in smartphone Context Be Your Guide.”
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http://googlemobileads.blogspot.com/2012/01/ tablet-experience-let-usage-context-be-your-guide/
new-research-global-surge-in-smartphone.html 30. Walsh, Mark. “ESPN Deems Mobile First Screen.”
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ad-spending.html?edition=43671#ixzz1n2iTGwHP
23. ”Volvo Across Screens.”
http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/insights/library/
studies/volvo-across-screens/
24. Van Rijn, Jordie. “Mobile email usage statistics.”
http://www.emailmonday.com/mobile-email-
usage-statistics
25. “Social Networking On-The-Go:
U.S. Mobile Social Media Audience Grows 37
Percent in the Past Year.”
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Press_Releases/2011/10/Social_Networking_On-
The-Go_U.S._Mobile_Social_Media_Audience_
Grows_37_Percent_in_the_Past_Year
26. Experian Simmons 2011 Mobile Consumer Report.
http://www.experian.com/assets/simmons-
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mobile-consumer-report.pdf


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