Brands such as RadioShack, Samsung and ampm are driving positive results by rewarding mobile users for interacting with their products in rich media mobile ads.

RadioShack recently drove a 57 percent lift in purchase intent via a mobile rich media ad campaign that that urged users to catch gifts as they fell from the top of the screen while ampm rewarded users for dragging their favorite drinks into a shopping basket. The results point to the need for mobile ads to take advantage of the unique attributes of smartphones and pair this with rewards.

?Like a lot of questions pertaining to mobile advertising, there are lots of companies that are taking advantage of rich media and the capabilities of mobile devices, but there's also plenty of work to do to educate the market and bring brands up the learning curve,? said Peter Dille, chief marketing officer at Tapjoy, San Francisco. ?What these results show is that major brands like Samsung, ampm and RadioShack are not only embracing rich media as a key part of their media plan, but they are seeing how effective it can be if it is done right.

?There really is not a 'one size fits all' approach with rich media and because it is so customizable, brands are embracing the creative freedom it affords,? he said.

Brand favorability
Tapjoy launched rich media ads last fall as a way to combine brand advertising with direct response marketing. The ads use Tapjoy?s Mobile Value Exchange model, which offers in-app rewards in exchange for a consumer?s engagement.

RadioShack ran an ad with Tapjoy during the holiday season in which users had to fill their stocking up by catching gifts as they fell from the top of the screen. Users were instructed to catch only their favorite gifts, and once they had caught six, they could swipe through an image carousel of those six gifts for more details on each and to be rewarded with coins. Viewers then saw a call to action directing them to the Radio Shack web site, where they could make a purchase

The results, as measured by comScore, include a 41 percent lift in brand favorability, a 23 percent post-game click-through rate, and a 57 percent lift in purchase intent. Additionally, users spent an average of 47 seconds with the ad.

For ampm, users were rewarded for dragging four of their favorite drinks from among a selection of drinks into a shopping basket. They could then locate a nearby store or share their experience on Facebook.

The results include a 43 percent lift in likelihood to recommend ampm, a 28 percent lift in opinion of ampm, 38 percent lift in message association and a 76 percent rich media completion rate.

Drag and drop
When Samsung was promoting its WA508 and DV508 lines of washer/dryers, the brand took to mobile to reinforce an important selling point that line could fit up to 35 towels into a single washing machine.

In the ads, users were instructed to drag and drop 35 towels from the top of the screen into the washer, at which point they were rewarded with coins. Afterwards they were able to learn more about the products by clicking through to a Samsung landing page.

?Mobile advertising has been criticized for being ineffective and not being able to provide an immersive experience but these results prove that brands can achieve tremendous results with the right solution,? Mr. Dille said. ?We are seeing a huge uptick in interest in rich media buys right now, as more and more brands are embracing the medium.?

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