Dive Brief:
- Snickers’ latest marketing tactic is using behavioral data to find people who might be impulsive because they are happy, bored or stressed, and ready to snack for targeted marketing.
- The candy maker is in the process of collecting first-party data on moods and testing messaging based on different mood signals to find out what is most effective.
- The tactic fits into the micro-moment marketing trend, which is basically the "when" portion of the marketing mantra of finding a customer when they want to hear from you with the right messaging via the right marketing channel.
Dive Insight:
Targeted marketing can be as simple as demographic groups, more detailed taking audience interests into account, and as specific as messages sent by mobile geolocation. Behavioral data can also be used for targeting, and Snickers is looking to turn behavioral data into something of a mood meter to measure when its audience is feeling impulsive, at which point the data should show they are happy, bored or stressed.
Dan Burdett, global brand director at Mars’ brand Snickers, told Digiday, "Windows of impulsivity is a moment in your life when you’re in a particular mood, time or place when you’re more likely to buy something. The goal is for us to be more noticed and better understood."
Snickers’ challenge for now is collecting enough data and testing enough messages to ensure the targeted campaigns are effective. But the effort is an interesting example of what is being called micro-moment marketing. During Advertising Week last September, Sridhar Ramaswamy, SVP of ads and commerce at Google, said, "Advertising is all about reaching people when it matters."
Margo Georgiadis, Google president for the Americas, explained how behavioral data can be applied to micro-moment marketing, "When something is top of mind you start noticing it. Our job as marketers is to be there when brands are most relevant to consumers in those micro-moments when they have a want or a need, [we need] to be the spotlight in the tent."