The ad campaign ran for two weeks prior to four major holidays in 2012 and early 2013. It featured mobile banner ads that sent users to holiday-themed custom landing pages and delivered significant user activity after the initial tap on the ad.

“Today’s consumers are roamers – they’re constantly on the move jumping in and out of different channels, devices and stores,” said Doug Stovall, executive vice president of sales and services at Hipcricket, New York.  “With their attention so fragmented, Nothing Bundt Cakes was facing big challenges in driving traffic in its stores.

“They are a new brand so it helps them drive awareness in a very new medium – mobile,” he said. “It helps them target the on-the-go and impulse shopper looking to purchase bakery items on their way home, during the day or for whatever special occasion.

“Plus we found it to be highly effective in driving calls, store lookups and digital sales.”

Campaign optimization
Nothing Bundt Cakes serves 10 flavors of bundt cakes and has multiple locations around the country.

The merchant worked with Hipcricket, a division of Augme Technologies, and advertising agency Firehouse on the campaign.

The campaign targeted women aged 25 to 54-years old while they were in close proximity to a Nothing Bundt Cakes bakery location using Hipcricket’s audience, radius and geo-targeting capabilities.

The ability to reach the right audience in the right location to offer its products and drive purchase helped the campaign deliver a 55 percent engagement rate with store directions and click-to-call functionality for qualified users.

The campaign also leveraged data and analytics to track, measure and optimize the campaign from impression to post-tap engagement.

“We used this data to better optimize the campaign on what matters most to the client – interaction/engagement with their brand – i.e. tap-to-call and find nearest bakery location – and ultimately drive foot traffic to buy products in their stores,” Mr. Stovall said.

The right creative
Additionally, the best fitting ad for each phone was served, with all content mobile optimized, to ensure a satisfying user experience.

Nothing Bundt Cake plans to continue using mobile advertising in 2013 to drive traffic into its locations.

“With sixty-eight percent of smartphone activity conducted out of the home it was crucial for Hipcricket to deliver the ads the right time and right place,” Mr. Stovall said. “Brands now want to reach consumer audiences with new levels of precision and confidence, and for the first time actually measure results for all verticals where it counts.”

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York