Interactive Mobile Marketing Reaches Young Car Buyers

Manufacturers of traditional car brands are trying to reach younger markets by way of youthful ad campaigns and affiliations with rock groups or sports franchises.

What many automotive advertisers are discovering is that interactive mobile marketing — bi-directional messages sent to consumers via their mobile devices — is a new hot ticket to a younger customer base.

A case in point is a mobile campaign on behalf of Lincoln that sponsored a tour of the R&B group New Edition. Via plasma screen jumbotrons and signage at New Edition concerts, audience members were prompted to text a code that entered them into a sweepstakes to win a two-year lease on a 2006 Lincoln Zephyr.

There was direct consumer contact beyond the standard advertising impressions, and the average contact consisted of an 8-message dialog between concertgoers and Lincoln. Thousands of unique fan mobile numbers were collected, traffic was directed to the Lincoln website and fans' preferred content was identified.

“Because auto makers have so many different products for so many different demographics, they need to cast a wider net,” says Joe Gorelick, executive vice president of POP Solutions, a mobile marketing firm. “Mobile marketing is radically new terrain for most advertisers, but auto makers have embraced it, because they're accustomed to working with alternative marketing tools.”