Challenge: Boost customer acquisition.
Solution: Interactive banner ads from which consumers can download music directly without being forced to leave the site on which they were originally browsing.
Results: Improved ROI, which is leading to expanded testing and a probable larger rollout.
Fans watching an online video of indie rock band Black Kids’ lead singer Reggie Youngblood may prefer to continue learning how he became obsessed with music through cassette singles rather than be rerouted to a music download site.
Dada Entertainment, based in New York, figured as much, so it teamed with Tailgate Technologies of London to deliver interactive banner ads. That way, music lovers can subscribe to download the ringtone or MP3 of Black Kids’ “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You” from Dada.net while still listening to Youngblood discuss with online music community MOG.com how he got started in the business.
Tailgate, an interactive transactional marketing company, helped Dada launch the U.S. marketing approach in mid-November. Tailgate says it bridged the gap between the digital and mobile entertainment services firm’s banner ads and its e-commerce systems by allowing customers to purchase subscriptions through the banner ad itself. That means banner ads running throughout MOG.com’s advertising network are linked directly into Dada.net’s e-commerce and fulfillment system, which will sign up music fans for Dada.net’s download service while they’re still viewing MOG.com.
This point-of-sale technology appeals to the impulse buyer who probably will initiate and complete the transaction on her mobile phone, says Antonella Stellacci, Dada’s vice president of marketing. Stellacci says her company—which is a joint venture between Dada USA and Sony BMG Music Entertainment—started out in September with clickthrough banner ads that were working as a brand reminder and contextual links to Dada.net within MOG.com’s artist and track pages. But the point-of-sale ads introduced into the campaign in mid-November proved to be effective conversion tools considering they are points of sale themselves.
The clickthrough banner ads and contextual links were meant to work in tandem—those looking at a particular artist and noting that Dada.net’s link made music available could review the brand’s banner ad on MOG.com to learn more.
