My name is Mobi. Dot Mobi

One thing that the movie industry has taught us is that without adequate marketing and publicity their movie (product) will fail to reach their target audience (consumers). Therefore, they deploy ‘teaser’ campaigns (not the adult variety) to show their consumers snip-bits of their upcoming movie. This generates enough excitement with audiences around the world that eagerly await the release of the movie.

A new tool in their armory is the Mobi site. Both Hollywood and Bollywood have realised that they need to be where their audience is – in their pocket at all times.  This is easily achievable by creating a Mobi site that is used for mobile phones.

Some successful movie teaser campaigns have included a Mobi site that is password protected and only those who can ‘crack the code’ can enter. Consumers have to answer questions about the product and submit their answers and e-mail address via the Mobi site. Those who were correct were granted the password to unlock more content all obviously related to the product.

These campaigns achieve their goals –  generate interest in the product (those who knew nothing about the movie had to research in online), build up a database of consumers who were interested in the product and reward consumers by offering them exclusive content that only they had access to.

Now, you may think this is easy when you are marketing an exciting product such as the upcoming James Bond movie, however can these lessons be used to market something more ‘regular’?

The answer is YES.

You have to admit that as far as ‘regular’ goes, suntan lotion ranks as one of those regular products.

However, a suntan lotion brand has followed the movie industry’s Mobi site examples and followed suit. Why re-invent the wheel?

It launched a campaign whereby a trip to a secret exotic destination could be won by unlocking the mystery code. The mystery code was made up of questions which directly related to the suntan lotion and the information was easily available on the bottle itself. For example: ‘What is the SPF factor?’ ‘Is this suntan lotion the only one that doesn’t need to be re-applied after swimming?’ etc.  The first five contestants that solved the mystery on the Mobi site were winners, which were, of course, announced only on the Mobi site. This forced consumers to constantly check the site to see if they were winners. Those who were unsuccessful were offered a free sample of the suntan lotion.

Again, this achieved their goal – raise awareness, gather information about their consumers and increase sales.

Even though Mobi sites are at an early stage, they can be directly linked to successful product launches, brand awareness and sales.  There are ways and means to add Mobi value to product and brands. The only catch is to find the right company that has both the ways and the means!

Liron Segev

CEO, Swift Telecoms