NEW YORK ? Executives from General Motors Co.?s agency Starcom, Microsoft Advertising, Steve Madden and Mogreet demonstrated how mobile helps them achieve marketing objectives during a panel at ad:tech.

The session was moderated by Michael Becker, San Francisco-based managing director of North America at the Mobile Marketing Association. Starcom tapped Microsoft Advertising for a GMC campaign featuring mobile advertising and mobile-enabled digital media that successfully increased consumer engagement and purchase intent.

?Mobile is absolutely vital for GMC,? said Adam Hughes, Detroit-based digital media supervisor at Starcom. ?GMC launched the Terrain in late 2009, and the goal of the campaign was to gain traction in the competitive crossover SUV category and change the way consumers look at SUVs.

?The campaign targeted financially secure consumers who are starting to feel pressure so they?re more cost-conscious, and fuel efficiency is the cost of entry into consumers? consideration set,? he said. ?The GMC Terrain?s 32 miles-per-gallon drove the campaign as the key value proposition creating a positive effect on consumers? personal finances.

?The best gas mileage in the world means nothing if you?re not reaching your target, and our media objectives were to develop a multichannel targeted and comprehensive strategy to reach consumers ages 25-54.?

To drive consumers to interact with the GMC Terrain brand, Starcom knew the automaker had to reach them via both PCs and mobile devices.

Starcom partnered with Microsoft Advertising to create a campaign to meed GMC?s needs: to create brand awareness, consideration and purchase intent.

The GMC ads were behaviorally targeted towards consumers interested in personal finance.

The campaign featured contextually relevant media placements across the mobile Web at MSN Money, on-deck with Verizon Wireless targeted to business and money sections and within MSNBC applications.

?The mobile piece was born out of a PC campaign aligning with personal finance sites, which provide important tools for consumers planning for retirement, college savings and auto loans,? Mr. Hughes said. ?However, mobile extensions of these sites were virtually nonexistent, so an innovative way to reach consumers was to create this for consumers on mobile devices.

?Being a technology company, Microsoft jumped at the chance to create this valuable mobile resource for consumers, which is the first of its kind in the personal finance space,? he said.

The GMC mobile banner ads carried an image of the Terrain and the call-to-action ?See just how much more 32 highway MPG can save you.?

When tapped or clicked upon, consumers were redirected to a GMC Terrain mobile Web site.

Consumers were asked to enter their current vehicle?s MPG, their estimated annual highway miles driven and their average gas price per gallon. They then found out the amount of money they could save per year by driving a GMC Terrain.

The mobile campaign attracted more than a million unique users, and $2.8 million in potential savings were communicated to consumers, which GMC achieved through this mobile engagement.

?The campaign was successful because it delivered the results in a relatable, tangible way to consumers,? Mr. Hughes said. ?We achieved purchase intent numbers that we generally don?t see, to put it mildly.?

The partners also tracked the attitudinal benefits of the campaign?it achieved a 22 percent lift in purchase intent, and mobile plus online was double that?a 44 percent lift.

Of all the people who engaged with the mobile campaign, 75 percent said that they were interested in purchasing a GMC Terrain.

?More than 1 million people engaged with this tool, and for mobile that?s significant scale,? said Jeff Plaisted, national specialist sales manager at Microsoft Advertising, Redmond, WA. ?We?re seeing 30 percent growth year-over-year in the mobile medium, and consumers are spending the most time in this medium, and they?re not making as many voice calls.

?Mobile used to be used just for awareness or acquisition, but brands and agencies such as GMC and Starcom are taking advantage of the full funnel, from awareness and consideration to purchase intent and, the ultimate goal, transactions.

?It?s important to balance scale with engagement, and GMC understood the power of mobile, the scale the Web can provide and the engagement that mobile can provide.?

Steve Madden, Mogreet
Andrew Koven, president of ecommerce and customer experience at Steve Madden, New York, and James Citron, president/CEO of Mogreet, Los Angeles, shared how the mobile optimization of the brand?s Web presence and the implementation of related mobile marketing tactics such as MMS have increased customer engagement, satisfaction and orders.

Steve Madden is testing the effectiveness of MMS as a discovery and purchase mechanism, sending timely and relevant news, sales promotions and exclusive content to opted-in consumers on their mobile phones.

Consumers will be able to text various keywords (i.e. JOINSTEVE to 91919) and will receive back relevant text, picture and video messages on their mobile devices.

For example, consumers will soon be able to see the newest Steve Madden styles on mobile first, delivered as video slideshows via MMS (see story).

Mr. Koven estimated that Steve Madden has seen between $2 million and $3 million in additional revenue due to the brand's mobile initiatives.

Final Take
Starcom's Mr. Hughes

The MMA's Mr. Becker