The Nike ads are running inside the Pandora Android application. The mobile ads are part of a bigger multichannel campaign from Nike to promote warm clothing for the winter, including Web and video mediums.

“The challenge here is to target consumers who are willing to shop at the particular moment they are reached,” said Cezar Kolodziej, CEO/president of Iris Mobile, Chicago.

“Since this mobile ad is presented to consumers while they are doing something on their mobile device, we will have to wait for campaign analytics to see final results,” he said.

“I would not expect very high click-through rates. We already see mcommerce is more successful on tablets than on mobile phones and completing a buy transaction takes time. Using mobile phones that consumers use while moving around, such as on the bus or waiting for a train, is not the best time to ask for a credit card number.”

Mr. Kolodziej is not affiliated with Nike. He commented based on his expertise on the subject.

Nike  did not respond to press inquiries.

Warm up on mobile
Nike is running expandable ads with creative that reads, “Hyperwarm: Nike performance from the inside out.”

When users click on the ad, a landing page loads that pulls in Nike’s mobile site.

The landing page shows filtered to show only Nike’s Hyperwarm products for women.

Consumers can then click through to view more information about individual products, including photos, reviews and different colors that products are available in.

Shopping results can also be further filtered through categories such as featured, price and rating.

Users can then shop items and directly add them to their shopping carts and check-out via the landing page.

By directing users to a filtered product page on Nike’s mobile site, it gives users a specific incentive to click on the mobile ads, which could increase the number of impressions and conversions that the campaign generates.

Holiday sales
Consumers are shopping from their mobile devices in record numbers this holiday season.

For instance, PayPal reported that mobile transactions on Black Friday increased 193 percent year-over-year. EBay and GSI also saw mobile sales numbers spike during the shopping day (see story).

Additionally, retailers such as Rue La La, Fab and Wayfair reported a spike in sales driven from mobile devices over Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which indicates that consumers will gravitate more towards their mobile devices to shop for both low and high-ticket items this holiday season.

In this case, Nike is luring users to tap on the mobile ads with a timely promotion that helps educate consumers to shop through their mobile devices.

“Most retailers are still experimenting with the mobile channel rather then getting a serious look and integrating it as the equal member of their marketing ecosystem,” Mr. Kolodziej said.

“This lack of cohesive mobile strategy aligned with overall marketing goals leaves a lot of room for future improvements,” he said.

“Retailers are still learning how to leverage the most personal communication device, which is mobile, with their consumers and they still have some lessons to learn before they will get it right. We will definitely learn some lessons now that will help us get better for next year.”

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is associate reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York