Consumers perusing must-see television could come across the Burberry ad that is linked to its mobile commerce site. This move could at least increase awareness and at most result in transactions.

“The decision to run ads in-app with TV Guide was most likely based on the size of the subscriber base and the amount of time subscribers spend in the app,” said Scott Forshay, mobile and emerging technologies strategist for Acquity Group, Austin, TX.

“Numerous studies have shown that consumers now spend more time in apps than they do browsing the mobile Web, so it’s all about determining where the target audience spends the majority of its time and being present there.

“Additionally, we find that consumers spend more time engaging with apps that provide entertainment, information, social connection and utility,” he said. “The TV Guide app effectively meets three of these important criteria, making it an ideal app for communicating with an engaged audience.”

Mr. Forshay is not affiliated with Burberry, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

Wardrobe guide
Burberry could be targeting a younger or aspirational demographic that the TV medium reaches.

The ad appeared at the top of the page, alternating between the brand name and “explore the collection.”

Clicking on the ad takes consumers to the Burberry mobile site where consumers could scroll through the new collection.

Users could add items to their shopping carts, find out more information or further engage with the brand on the Burberry mobile site.

Burberry also included an option to find a store locator if the consumer opted out of ecommerce.

This could be helpful to Burberry in a few ways.

The first could be access to the aspirational consumer who cannot afford Burberry products yet, but could enjoy interacting with the brand.

However, this ad could reach affluent consumers who have the means and desire to buy from Burberry. Furthermore, optimizing the page for mobile is an integral step that many luxury marketers miss.

“Conventional wisdom would say that the audience doesn’t seem like the proper fit for the brand, as it’s not a more conventionally considered luxury audience profile like The New York Times or Vogue, for example,” Mr. Forshay said. “I think that conventional wisdom, in this case, is shortsighted.

“The informative nature of the app, its entertainment value and its utility make it an ideal app for reaching an engaged, although not typically targeted, audience segment,” he said.

Banner act
Aspirational consumers may not be entirely helpful to luxury brands now, but they will become the next generation of luxury consumer.

Furthermore, even though they may not be able to afford luxury products right now, they can still buy accessories, fragrances or eyewear so that they are still a part of the brand.

Since most mobile users are younger, some luxury brands are using ads as a means to reach them.

For example, jeweler Tiffany & Co. is pushing a new collection by in-house designer Paloma Picasso and its mobile commerce-enabled site via an advertisement in the Pandora iPhone app (see story).

In addition, Neiman Marcus placed ads in the fashion section of the New York Times mobile site, but failed to optimize for mobile (see story).

Depending on the brand, time of day and target audience, some marketers have a better chance than others with mobile banner ads.

“The success of the campaign will likely be dependent on the time of day the ads run most frequently, if such levels of execution are possible within the app,” Mr. Forshay said.

“Unlike a big browser digital audience, the mobile audience is dichotomous, juggling time between these active and rest states, and brand advertisers need to be cognizant of this,” he said. “The value to be gained from this strategy will be predicated on the level of communications delivery complexity available through the app as an ad platform.”

via Luxury Daily