The fact that mothers are the target market segment for a new advertising campaign for Vick’s Behind Ear Thermometer is not surprising. What is surprising is the level of sophistication that Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide is using to determine which mothers will see the ads.
The full marketing campaign will utilize print ads, online advertising, targeted email blasts, QR codes and television commercials in 2,600 pediatricians’ offices. Much of the print, television and online advertising will be dictated by the flu season with most ads running in January and February.
What makes this advertising campaign really notable is the way it is using real time data to target mothers for the mobile marketing piece to the overall campaign.
It uses Google’s Flu Trends, demographics and location to target mothers who are close to a retail outlet that sells the thermometer in a particular region that is experiencing a high incidence of flu.
Google’s Flue Trends is based on a formula to estimated flue activity based solely on searches. Google was able to do that by correlating flu-related Web searches with actual data from the Center for Disease Control (DCD). By combining the search keywords with the IP address of searchers which provides searchers’ locations, Google is able to estimate regional flu activity within a day of outbreaks compared to a week or two lag with CDC reports.
Google’s predictive model data is combined with other data such as location, gender and whether the smart phone’s owner has children. This geo and demographic data is available from mobile apps providers and from third-party ad networks that collect the data from mobile apps’ customer base. The location-based mobile advertising network, Where, is providing the mobile ad services.
The mobile ads will be served only to devices of certain mothers that are in regions experiencing a high incidence of flu and are within two miles of retailers that carry the thermometer.
When all of the criteria; geography, demographics and flu levels are right, Where serves the ad to a specific user within the app or the visited mobile website. The ad banner says “Flu levels in your area are high. Be prepared with Vicks revolutionary Behind Ear Thermometer.” The ad also denotes the nearest store that sells the thermometer.
Mobile marketing is an important tactic to reach moms because of their reliance on smartphones to help them multi-task to balance the many demands of their hectic lifestyle. You can read more about this topic in a previous post I did on this subject:
Are You Marketing to Moms? If Not Think Again
“It understands how this mom lives and shops, and she receives the message in the most relevant manner,” said Stanton Kawer, chief executive of Blue Chip, about the campaign. “It is so fantastically targeted that it’s really amazing.”
Sarah VanHeirseele, VP of digital at Blue Chip says that the mobile campaign is already paying dividends. “Click-through rates during the soft launch period are more than double what was originally anticipated,” she said, adding that the bulk of the impressions will serve in January and February.
If she is right, the relevancy and usefulness of the advertising will outweigh any concerns moms might have about advertisers knowing where they live and shop.