When Quotient signed a definitive agreement to acquire Crisp Mobile earlier this month, we did so for a number of reasons: CEO Jason Young had assembled a highly talented team with deep expertise across the board; Crisp’s partnerships with CPG brands and ad agencies made perfect sense given their track record of driving sales for specific retailers; the company had built a powerful technology platform.
But that’s far from all. Crisp has achieved something else well worth stressing: An expertise in creating and delivering a variety of creative mobile ads that are effective because they are appealing to shoppers. That’s no small accomplishment; marketers everywhere are trying to find the least intrusive ways to influence people via their smartphones.
“For us, the delivery of useful, rich content to the mobile device is really the most important element of the solution,” said Young, who’s been working with digital media the better part of two decades. “Most mobile ads are small, not viewable, not useful and ineffective. We start with the consumer experience that’s delivered in the ad itself and then build an integrated campaign – targeting, inventory, measurement – around its delivery.”
A lot of things go into making a mobile ad relevant, of course, starting with all the data that helps inform when and where to deliver which ad to a specific shopper. Another important element: A clear call to action (CTA).
“If it has all these elements, and a clear offer of something that is useful, there’s a good chance that the shopper will embrace your ad,” said Young.
Here are some examples of Crisp ad units (all of which can also be found here on Crisp’s website).
Mobile videos have become enormously popular, but most aren’t shopper friendly – meaning, they typically aren’t designed with a call to action. That’s why Crisp developed ActiVideo, which allows for the placement of multiple actionable CTAs throughout the video, such as letting you tap to get the recipe.
With Crisp’s wallet ads, shoppers can easily add offers, recipes or promo codes directly to the digital wallet built into Apple and Android phones.
The most effective mobile ads link creative with customer data, and Crisp can do this on the fly. They call it Dynamic Personalization, and the result is messaging, creative and products that adapt based on several factors, including location, weather, behavioral data and even health indices.
With the Swipe Away ad, viewers swipe their thumb over the screen to wipe away elements – say, frost or fog – to reveal a product.
With Save to Home, shoppers can easily save recipes or shopping lists to their home screen from the ad itself. The result, easy access that a shopper is more likely to engage with.
Quotient pioneered the digital coupon with its flagship site, Coupons.com, and we’re always exploring innovative ways to help retailers and shopper marketers influence consumers. Crisp does that as well, and with its M-Circular, Crisp displays a brand or retailer’s circular content in mobile ads as product galleries with images, offers and more. Crisp can even highlight if a product in in stock, which is especially useful for product launches.
