Case Study: Mercedes-Benz Test-Drives Advertising in Mobile Apps

In a push to promote its E-Class vehicle, Mercedes-Benz USA has made a few interesting forays into mobile marketing to help deepen engagement, loyalty and purchase consideration. Along with a sponsorship on AutoTrader’s mobile site, Mercedes also began running rich media ads on Motor Trend’s new iPhone app.

I recently chatted with Beth Lange, a digital media specialist at the Mercedes, about the company’s objectives in sponsoring the apps and its mobile marketing goals. Here’s a snippet from the full interview, which is available on eMarketer Total Access.

eMarketer: Tell us about the Motor Trend and AutoTrader sponsorships.

Beth Lange: We observed the auto endemic sites we deal with, like AutoTrader, Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book, and their users’ behavior in accessing those sites. They’re coming to those sites through a mobile device. We realize we need to be where the users are, so reaching them on a mobile device with marketing messaging makes sense.

We chose to work with both of these partners to address two different tactics. Motor Trend is a publisher known for producing great enthusiast content, and we felt it was a good platform for us to engage our core, passionate consumer. We wanted to create an advertising opportunity where the user could remain in the app while engaging with the ad rather than going out to a browser. This tactic targets consumers who are more in the upper part of the sales funnel—further from making a purchase.

With the AutoTrader app, we are looking at the opportunity to reach the in-market consumer, who is in the lower part of the sales funnel and ready to purchase.

We were looking for partners that take a particular interest in mobile and are establishing best practices. They know the marketplace. We want to ensure a good user experience. That’s why we kind of took our time to work with these publishers.

eMarketer: When did the partnerships launch?

Ms. Lange: The AutoTrader mobile-enabled site launched March 1, and that’s still running; we’re integrated as the sole sponsor of their mobile site.

The first wave of our tie-in with the Motor Trend mobile app launched February 1 and went through March 7. The second wave is running now through mid-June, and the campaign will live again in August. We did the Motor Trend program in three separate installments to align with our campaign. We’re only getting click-through rates now. We expect the program to evolve and will be doing in-app ads for it.

eMarketer: Can you give an idea how these efforts are performing?

Ms. Lange: We’re still collecting data, but I can tell you that the mobile ads have performed better than our click-through rates with online display ads. We’re happy with the performance.

We know that people are using AutoTrader on the weekend. That’s when people are out shopping for cars and they’re low in the funnel. So, they’re looking at inventory or to find a dealer. With online display, depending where the consumer is in the sales funnel, it’s going to affect the conversion rate. Right now, it’s still a little difficult to get much more than a click-through rate.

eMarketer: What kind of messages are you trying to get across with each effort?

Ms. Lange: First, we want to drive purchase consideration, then we want to increase brand awareness and engagement with the target audience. With our sponsorship of the Motor Trend app, it’s purely about purchase consideration and brand awareness among the auto-enthusiast audience. Whereas with AutoTrader our call to action is more like, “Get in the new E-Class now.” We want to push people who are lower in the funnel to convert to the next level of interest by looking up a dealer, getting more information and so forth.

These efforts and creative are tied in to our online campaign, mobile site and main site. The overall message is that the E-Class represents the next generation of Mercedes-Benz design and technology. It showcases our experience and innovation.

eMarketer: How do you measure success of the app?

Ms. Lange: We are still evaluating that, but I would say that we have an idea as to the number of downloads of the app we would like to see and we’ll look at that versus what actually happened. We’ll look at the number of impressions from an ad standpoint and compare the mobile medium to the purely online display medium. We have to figure out how to value an immersive, creative experience versus a tiny banner or logo. And it would be nice to eventually measure beyond the click-through rate. That certainly would be a goal.

The full version of this interview is available here, to eMarketer Total Access clients only. Every day they have access to new interviews with digital marketing leaders and trendsetting entrepreneurs. Click here to learn more about how becoming an eMarketer Total Access client can strengthen your business.

Image courtesy of Apple.com